Sequoyah County voters left little doubt as to who they wanted to continue to be their sheriff for the next four years by giving Sheriff Larry Lane, Jr., a wide margin of victory over his two opponents in last Tuesday night’s primary election.
Sequoyah County voters left little doubt as to who they wanted to continue to be their sheriff for the next four years by giving Sheriff Larry Lane, Jr., a wide margin of victory over his two opponents in last Tuesday night’s primary election.
With all precincts reporting, Lane easily outpaced former sheriff Ron Lockhart, winning every precinct, absentee and early voting. Lane collected a total of 2,953 votes (82.42 percent) to Lockhart’s 520 votes (14.51 percent). Eric Cope, the third man in the race for sheriff, received 110 votes (3.07 percent).
“Huge thank you to the citizens of Sequoyah County. I am overwhelmed with the election results. I have never seen a Sheriff’s election with such a huge margin of victory,” Lane said. “Thank you all for recognizing the great job that our Sheriff’s Office has done, we will keep working hard to keep our county as safe as possible and to make all of you proud to say that you live in Sequoyah County.
“And to the drug dealers and thieves: the people have spoken, they want you to stop what you’re doing or go to jail. So, it’s on for the next 4 years, this is an important life decision for you, choose wisely!
“Next; I want to thank all of my family, friends, and supporters for all your help during this election, it means the world to me. I especially want to thank my work family. The deputies, investigators, jailers, advocates, dispatch and office personnel. This blowout win is testimony to your hard work, dedication and professionalism over the last 3 1/2 years. I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now, lets keep moving forward:’ Lane said.
The race for Sequoyah County Commissioner District 2 saw the numbers a little more spread out between three candidates but Beau Burlison came out ahead of Jay Alred and Mike Cobb with 697 votes (56.85 percent). Alred received 221 votes (18.03 percent) and Mike Cobb collected 308 votes (25.12 percent).
“I appreciate the turnout and show of support at the polls. I’m not going to do anything different than what I campaigned on, leadership, a show of respect and fair representation for District 2. Those are the things I ran on and will continue to run on:’ Burlison said. “The contributing factor to my win is God. He is in control. God is very important to me and I’m very appreciative. I want to thank my family for the support they’ve given me and the people of District 2 who are ready for change. I believe it showed last night (last Tuesday):’
Burlison will face incumbent Steve Carter in the general election.
Gina Cox outdistanced Shaloa Edwards in the race for Sequoyah County Court Clerk by getting 2,463 votes (71.33 percent), while Edwards received 990 votes (28.67 percent). Cox will be facing incumbent Vicki Beaty in the general election.
“Yesterday was a day of firsts and so far I’m off to a pretty good start on my first election:’ Cox said. “First off, thank you Mr. Edwards for running a clean campaign. I wish you luck on your endeavors. Next, thank you to my family and friends who have shown their support. There is not a lot a person can do without the right support system.
“And finally, thank you voters for your support! I know those are the words a lot of candidates have used a lot of times before, but I mean it! Making sure you’re registered to vote, making the time and taking the time to go to you polling place and doing your research on the candidates is a big deal! I don’t take your effort for granted. The next election is a few months away on Nov. Cox said.
County voters gave incumbent Randy Randleman the nod over challenger Angie Brinlee in the race for State Representative District 15. Randleman received 448 votes (76.58 percent) to Brinlee’s 137 votes (23.42 percent). Randleman received a total of 2,587 votes (73.27 percent) to Brinlee’s 944 votes (26.73 percent) for the entire district.
In the race for United States Senator on the Republican ticket, county voters stuck with Jim Inhofe with 2,227 votes (63.43 percent). Inhofe’s closet competitor was J.J. Stitt who received 917 votes, followed by John Tompkins, 225 votes and Neil Mavis, 142 votes.
Local voting mirrored statewide voting where Inhofe had 277,746 votes (74.06 percent); J.J. Stitt, 57,400 votes; John Tompkins, 23,550 votes; and Neil Mavis, 16,351 votes.
On the Democrat ticket for United State Senator, county Democrats favored Abby Broyles with 1,148 votes (44.07 percent). She was followed by R.O. Joe Cassity, Jr., who had 597 votes; Sheila Bilyeu, 512 votes; and Elysabeth Britt, 348 votes.
For the most part, county voting followed the statewide voting with Broyles receiving 163,845 votes (60.46 percent); Britt, 45,166; Bilyeu, 32,320; and Cassity, 29,686.
Markwayne Mullin had overwhelming support in Sequoyah County in his bid to be re-elected as United States Representative District 2. Mullin received 2,848 votes (80.89 percent) while challengers Joseph Silk and Rhonda Hopkins received 358 and 315 votes respectively.
The same was true for districtwide voting with Mullin receiving 53,116 votes (79.91 percent) to Silks 8,440 votes and Hopkins’ 4,910 votes.
For Corporation Commissioner, county voters reflected state voting, giving Todd Hiett the nod with 2,036 votes (61.44 percent) to Harold Spradling’s 1,278 votes. On the state level, Hiett received 266,061 votes (74.59 percent), to Spradling’s 90,631.
One vote that did not coincide with the statewide vote was the State Question No. 802 Initiative Petition involving Medicaid expansion.
County voters voted 3,673 (57.03 percent) against the proposal and 2,767 for the proposal. Statewide the question was approved by a narrow margin of 340,279 (50.48 percent) for the proposal to 333,761 against the proposal.
There were also three school board races included on the ballot for Belfonte, Braggs and Vian.
At Belfonte, Lawana Turner defeated Cedia Muskrat by a vote of 140 (85.37 percent) to 24 votes.
Braggs School District involves more than one county and there were no votes for either George Chandler or Danny Doolin in Sequoyah County.
James Thornton defeated Mike Cobb in the Vian School Board election by a vote of 574 (56.22 percent to 447 votes.
These results are unofficial as of press time Friday and will be certified later on today.
