Sullivan wins reelection in contested DA race
Jun. 29—Republican voters reelected District 18 District Chuck Sullivan to another term in a contested race Tuesday.
Sullivan won Tuesday's Republican primary election against McAlester-based defense attorney Matthew Sheets to win reelection after no other candidates filed in any other parties.
The District 18 District Attorney's Office covers Pittsburg and Haskell Counties in southeast Oklahoma.
Sullivan received a total of 2,896 votes, or 57.26 percent of the vote in Pittsburg and Haskell counties — while Sheets garnered 2,162 votes, for 42.74 percent of the ballots cast.
Preliminary results from the Oklahoma State Election Board show Sullivan carried Pittsburg County with a 247-vote margin while carrying Haskell County with a 487-vote margin.
"I'm very, very grateful for all the wonderful support I received," Sullivan said. "It's always a thrill to be a part of the democratic process where folks get to turn out and decide their leadership.
"I'm humbled and grateful," he added.
Sheets thanked his supporters in a social media post and said although the votes "may not have gone our way" the message is still clear.
"We want to see things improve," Sheets wrote. "I will never stop fighting to make things better."
Sullivan said now that the election is over, his office is now looking forward for a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in Castro-Huerta v. Oklahoma, which stems from the court's 2020 ruling in McGirt.
The 2020 ruling gave the federal government exclusive prosecutorial power in cases involving Native American defendants and victims within tribal lands under federal jurisdiction, as per the Major Crimes Act.
Judges with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals in 2021 applied the ruling to the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Quapaw Nations in eastern Oklahoma and ruled the General Laws Act preempted state prosecutions for crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians in Indian country.
The state of Oklahoma is asking SCOTUS to rule whether states should have concurrent criminal jurisdiction over offenses perpetrated by non-Indians against Indians on reservation lands.
"That may effect things," Sullivan said. "We're going to see what happens with that and we'll be prepared to move forward."
Sullivan first became the District 18 District Attorney after then-Gov. Mary Fallin appointed him in 2016 and he was elected in 2018.
The 2009 University of Tulsa graduate worked with the Steidley and Neal law firm in McAlester and in 2011 joined then-District 18 DA Farley Ward's office. He worked as a public defender in Tulsa County from 2013 until Ward asked him to become his top assistant in 2016.
Contact Derrick James at djames@mcalesternews.com
