Oklahoma Election: Mary Fallin, Jari Askins to face off in November
July 28, 2010NewsOK.com
By Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
Oklahomans are poised to elect the state's first woman governor.
U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin managed to win the Republican gubernatorial primary election without a runoff, garnering about 55 percent of the vote according to unofficial returns. State Sen. Randy Brogdon, of Owasso, got about 39 percent.
Lt. Gov. Jari Askins won a nail-biter against Attorney General Drew Edmondson, as she won about 1 percent more of the votes.
Fallin, who had to scramble Tuesday night to get back home from Washington to be with supporters, said she hoped to work with Brogdon in her campaign leading up to the Nov. 2 general election.
“Sen. Brogdon and I are both conservatives,” said Fallin, R-Oklahoma City. “We're both concerned about the direction our national government is going and we're both concerned about our Constitution, our state's rights. I hope to join hands with Sen. Brogdon and all of his supporters who want to help elect a conservative governor.”
Fallin said she was satisfied with her margin of victory.
“We've had some really stiff competition with Sen. Brogdon,” she said. “He's certainly done a great job campaigning statewide and certainly giving many good, fiery speeches. In the end we both stand for the same thing and believe in the same values that are important to moving Oklahoma forward and we will all work together to elect a conservative governor.”
Fallin, dressed in a red suit and white pearls, gave a thumbs up to someone in the screaming crowd at the Will Rogers Theater. Supporters chanted, “Mary, Mary, Mary,” and held up deep red “Mary Fallin Governor” signs.
The crowd cheered and clapped repeatedly as she ticked off the conservative values she said she will uphold: a free market, the Constitution, promoting a vigorous business environment and getting the government out of people’s lives.
“We believe in the right to bear arms,” she said to applause and shouts.
“We believe in protecting ... especially the lives of the unborn,” she told the buoyant crowd.
Perhaps the greatest shouts came for her comments lambasting the Obama administration and “the failed policies of big government.”
Fallin, R-Oklahoma City, went to Washington earlier in the day to vote for an emergency funding measure for military operations in Afghanistan.
After voting for the measure, which among other things would pay for a 30,000-troop surge in Afghanistan,
Fallin rushed to a Washington airport to board a chartered jet to bring her back to Oklahoma City to watch late voting returns with supporters at the Will Rogers Theater.
Askins led throughout the night, but her lead withered from about 7 percent to less than 1 percent.
Edmondson, who passed up seeking a fifth term as attorney general to run for governor, conceded his race against Askins about 11 p.m.
“We have done the number crunching,” he told supporters. “The gap is going to close, but there is not going to be enough numbers to make it up.
Edmondson said he called Askins and congratulated her on “running an excellent campaign.”
“I have pledged my efforts to this fall to help her get elected governor of the state of Oklahoma,” he said.
Brogdon, who passed up seeking a third term in the Senate, said he was disappointed after waging a long, hard battle.
“We've worked our heads off,” he said. “We'll just have to regroup."
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