Republicans Miss Senate Control By 137 Votes

Republicans missed taking complete control of the Oklahoma State Senate by just 137 votes in Tuesday's voting.

Having won the Senate District 12 (Brian Bingman over John Mark Young) and Senate District 24 (Anthony Sykes over Daisy Lawler) races, it came down to the surprisingly close Senate District 26 race in southwestern Oklahoma, where Republican Todd Russ and Democrat Tom Ivester had battled to within a few votes of each other. When all the votes were counted, Ivester won 9,383 to 9,110, giving Ivester a margin of 273 votes. Thus, a switch of just 137 votes would have made Russ the winner (9,247 vs 9,246 for Ivester) and given Republicans a 25-23 Senate majority.

The Ivester-Russ race was so close there was election night talk of a recount or a challenge of the results, but sources this morning said it appears the results will stand.

Senate Minority Leader Glenn Coffee focused on the GOP two-seat gain in an election night news release: "Today the people of Oklahoma said they are tired of the old guard leadership in the State Senate. Voters elected a record number of Republicans to the State Senate because they want a new direction in the Senate for the new Oklahoma century.

"State Rep. Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, won Senate District 12 for the GOP, an open seat held by outgoing Senate Majority Leader Ted Fisher. Republican Anthony Sykes of Moore defeated incumbent Democrat State Sen. Daisy Lawler of Comanche in Senate District 24," he said.

Coffee said the Republican victories in key Senate races show that Oklahoma voters are ready for change. The top issues in GOP campaigns were tax reform, job creation, immigration reform, education, lawsuit reform, and traditional values.

"Voters want the Oklahoma Senate to start being part of the solution in moving Oklahoma forward. Our candidates ran excellent campaigns and were very successful in running on a positive agenda of change for the State of Oklahoma," Coffee said.

For the state's first 100 years, the State Senate was controlled by Democrats. For the time ever, Democrats will not have a Senate majority in the 2007 Legislature -- and Republicans will have a clear advantage to win the majority in 2008, Coffee added.

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