Former journalist, 22-year-old among those entering races on last day of candidate filing

A longtime journalist who reported on energy matters for more than a quarter-century jumped into the lone statewide race on the 2024 election ballot on Friday as the three-day candidate filing period for federal and state offices ended.

Also among those who filed for office on Friday was a 22-year-old man from Fairfax who's making his second run for elected office. All told, 43 people had filed their candidacy forms on Friday, increasing the number of candidates for federal or state office to 285. That's the lowest number of candidates in a presidential election year since 2012, when 275 candidates filed.

Protests concerning candidates' eligibility must be filed by 5 p.m. Tuesday. If any protests are filed, the contest hearings will be April 18-19, said Paul Ziriax, the secretary of the Oklahoma State Election Board.

"This has probably been on the low end of normal, as far as our expectations are concerned," Ziriax said concerning the number of candidates who filed. "Every filing period is different, and sometimes there are issues or events that drive more people to file for office and sometimes there are not."

The average age of those filing for office this year was 52, according to the state Election Board.

The only statewide race on this year's ballot is for the seat on the Corporation Commission being vacated due to term limits by Bob Anthony, who’s served since 1988 on the three-person board that has responsibilities for licensing and regulating utilities handling electric power, natural gas, drinking water and telecommunications.

Russell Ray, 55, filed as a Republican for the open seat. He’ll face former Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman, 70, of Sapulpa, and Justin Hornback, 40, of Broken Arrow, in the GOP primary on June 18. Democrat Harold Spradling, of Oklahoma City, and Libertarian Chad Williams, of Choctaw, also have filed for the seat.

Ray, from Edmond, spent 26 years as an energy reporter, most of that time in Oklahoma, where he worked for the Tulsa World, The Journal Record in Oklahoma City and Power Engineering magazine, based in Tulsa. He’s currently the communications director for the Oklahoma CareerTech system.

“I took a look around and I kind of feel the people of Oklahoma deserve an honest choice, a real choice,” Ray told The Oklahoman. “This election is important because this is a choice between the political establishment and someone who’s unafraid to vote his conscience. It’s a choice between more transparency and less transparency.”

More: Oklahoma election season is here: Candidates begin filing to run for office at the state Capitol

He said his experience as a reporter who has closely followed the commission’s actions means that, “I have a better background for this job vs. someone who is a career politician.” Running for the commission “has always been in the back of my mind. I think it’s now or never.”

Bingman is making his second run for a commission seat. He lost to Anthony during the 2018 Republican primary. Since then, he’s served as Oklahoma’s secretary of state and as an adviser to Gov. Kevin Stitt.

College student files to run against longtime Osage County legislator

The youngest person filing Friday was 22-year-old Carter Rogers, of Fairfax, who is running as an independent for the District 37 seat in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Rogers will face a political veteran in the November general election in 70-year-old Rep. Ken Luttrell, R-Ponca City, who is seeking what would be his sixth and final term in the House. No Democrat filed for the seat.

Rogers is a college senior who's only 18 credit hours shy of earning a bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy, which he plans to complete this fall. The Oklahoma House race will be his second run for office. In 2023, while serving as the student body president at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., he ran for a seat on the Durango City Council. He received 530 votes and finished fourth in a five-person race that drew 7,540 voters.

“I really love this kind of stuff,” Rogers said. “I don’t think people can wait to run now, because we need people to run who actually want to change the direction of the state.”

More: What happens if candidates for a school board seat end up in a tie?

For people who might think he’s too young to serve, Carter said, “I would ask them to look at the current state of politics at the state and the national level, and how many people they hear ask how we got into the situation we’re in now, and say it’s time to pass the torch on to younger Oklahomans who have the energy and want to run.”

Cole, Lucas draw GOP primary challenges in U.S. House races

Longtime U.S. Rep. Tom Cole drew two more challengers in the Republican 4th District primary Friday when 38-year-old Nick Hankins, of Moore — Cole’s hometown — filed his paperwork, as did Rick WhiteBear Harris, 73, of Norman. Hankins, Harris and Cole will be joined on the primary ballot by Andrew Hayes, 40, of Lawton, and Paul Bondar, 44, of Stonewall. Two Democrats and an independent also have filed for the seat.

Two sitting GOP members of Congress — U.S. Rep. Josh Brecheen in the 2nd District and U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice in the 5th District — drew no primary challengers.

The state’s 3rd District representative, U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, will have two primary challengers in Darren Hamilton, 52, of Fort Supply, and Robin Lynn Carder, 57, of Sand Springs. No Democrats, Libertarians or independents filed for the 3rd District seat, meaning the GOP will hold the seat in November no matter who wins the primary.

Oklahoma's 1st District representative, U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern, drew a primary challenge late Friday from 53-year-old Paul Royse of Tulsa.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Who filed for office in Oklahoma? Hundreds turned in paperwork