Candidates file for city seats
Dec. 29—Candidates filed for four McAlester city council seats set for a Feb. 8 primary election.
The filing period for Feb. 8 primary elections for the city of McAlester council seats in Wards 2, 3, 4 and 6 closed at 5 p.m. Wednesday — with two posts decided and the remaining set for races.
McAlester Vice Mayor Cully Stevens is the current Ward 2 city councilor and did not file for reelection by the 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline. Justin Few, Myles Lear Jett, and Richard Dominic all filed to run as candidates for the Ward 2 seat.
Voters elected Randy Roden in September as the Ward 4 Councilor to fill an unexpired term left vacant following the February death of longtime councilor and educator James Brown, who was being treated for COVID-19. Roden filed for reelection and faces a challenger after former McAlester Mayor Kevin Priddle filed as a candidate for the seat.
Ward 6 Councilor Zach Prichard also did not file for reelection by the deadline. Local realtor Kevin Beaty is the lone candidate to file for the seat.
Elections in those races were moved to the day already set for a special election to fill the vacancy in the Ward 3 city council seat. Then-Ward 3 Councilor Steve Cox resigned effective Sept. 14 after receiving a promotion in his job at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant.
Cliff House is the lone candidate to file as a candidate for the Ward 3 post.
Candidates do not run as a member of any political party in McAlester's non-partisan city elections. If a race with more than two candidates running in the February primaries does not have a candidate receiving more than 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the most votes advance to the April 5 general election.
Voters planning to vote in the council races must register by Jan. 14. Deadline for absentee ballot requests is 5 p.m. Jan. 24.
Early voting is set for 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4.
Polls will open for primary election day at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. on Feb. 8.
McAlester city councilors previously moved primary elections for upcoming vacancies in city council seats for Wards 2, 4 and 6 to the same day as a special election to fill a vacancy in Ward 3.
Those moves came after a conflict with measures passed by the Oklahoma legislature that required the elections for Wards 2, 4 and 6 not be held as originally scheduled in March as per the McAlester City Charter.
State lawmakers voted to prohibit elections in March 2022 that cause the conflict in McAlester's election cycle and prompted conversations between McAlester Mayor John Browne, City Attorney John Hammons and city councilors.
The McAlester News-Capital offers each candidate one announcement with a picture at no charge. The announcement is limited to 400 words and will run at the top of the opinion page.
Campaign announcements will not be guaranteed to publish on a particular day and will not be published on Saturdays.
Any candidate interested in running this free announcement should contact the newsroom by emailing editor@mcalesternews.com or calling 918-421-2022.
The newspaper will also provide regular election coverage with stories, candidate forums and more.
Contact Adrian O'Hanlon III at aohanlon@mcalesternews.com
