Former Jenks City Councilman Brian O'Hara wins Republican Primary for Senate District 37

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Brian O'Hara speaks at a Sand Springs Chamber of Commerce candidate forum. (Photo: Scott Emigh).

The Republican Party of District 37 nominated their choice for State Senator Tuesday in a crowded primary election with seven candidates. Former Jenks City Councilman Brian O'Hara won the special election with 41.86% of the vote. He will take on Democratic nominee Allison Ikley-Freeman in a November 14 general election.

O'Hara has worked as the Deputy District Director for Congressman Jim Bridenstine in Oklahoma's First District for the past four years. In the past he has served as a Jenks City Councilman and an Oklahoma Aquarium Board Member.

O'Hara was endorsed by Congressman Bridenstine, who called O'Hara "a friend, a conservative, and a man of integrity." 

Ikley-Freeman ran unopposed in the Democratic Party and will be a heavy underdog in the general election. In the 2016 election, Republican Dan Newberry handily defeated Democrat Lloyd Snow by more than 15% of the vote in a three-way election. 

Second among Republican candidates was Sand Springs City Councilman Phil Nollan with 32.13% of the vote, followed by Sand Springs Municipal Judge R. Jay McAtee with 11.12%. Nicole Nixon received 6.75%, Rick Hardesty received 5.21%, Sand Springs City Councilman Brian Jackson received 2.33%, and Grady Grant received 0.6%.

Senate District 37 candidate Rick Hardesty speaks at community forum

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Rick Hardesty, a Republican candidate for Senate District 37, spoke at the Sand Springs Chamber of Commerce candidate forum at Tulsa Technology Center Monday morning in Sand Springs.

The following is a transcript of his opening remarks. Candidates were given a five-minute time limit, followed by a question and answer session.

"What I'm hearing is, we need to get our schools better funding. We need to get more money into our education system. To me that makes sense as a small business owner in needing to have a viable workforce and things like that...The reason I started running, the main reason, was I sat and watched...and they have practically closed every school over there and it kind of got me angry.

Normally I'm not that politically involved, but after seeing all this going on I decided that our legislators that we currently have in Oklahoma City aren't really doing the job that they're supposed to be doing. That's looking out for the best interests of our state, not just a few corporate entities. 

The reason I think I can do a fairly good job over there is that I also do real estate, and in real estate we negotiate stuff every day. That's what real estate is. If I take a contract with a customer to sell their house or sell their business, I'm gonna get them the exact highest price we can get. And vice-versa. If I'm working with a buyer, I'm going to get them a property as cheap as I can. So every day, we're negotiating and I'm good at it. 

It's gonna take the citizens in the community to get together with public forums and let them know exactly how you feel.

We have over 75 different business tax incentives in Oklahoma in the name of promoting new business. They're not working. Very few of them give us a return on our investment and that's by their own studies. We have a tax incentive commission and they randomly pick different ones. And of the last report they did, ten out of the eleven that they did had a negative impact on our state. The businesses that are taking advantage of the tax incentives are the larger corporate people who are trying to hit a home run. 

I think that we had the opportunity to get our horizontal well drilling credit back to 7% and we missed out on it. In Oklahoma they've been paying 1%. Now it's 2%, which is far below the national average. If they go to Texas they're going to pay 11-13%. If they go to North Dakota they're going to pay 13%. In Oklahoma they pay 2%. I think it's time to do away with that. That was set up in times for if oil prices dropped below $15 per barrel. That's costing us hundreds of millions of dollars a year that could go toward other things. 

In all the surveys that are taken to attract businesses into Oklahoma, good education system was the number one answer to attract corporations and companies to start businesses in Oklahoma. It's not tax incentives. We need to get our priorities straight, put money back where it matters. That's my goal."

Deputy District Director Brian O'Hara launches campaign for Senate District 37

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Senator Dan Newberry has resigned his seat, effective January 31, 2018.

Brian O'Hara, Deputy District Director for Congressman Jim Bridenstine, has declared his intent to pursue the Senate District 37 seat that will soon be vacated by Senator Dan Newberry.

Newberry won reelection to a third term in November, but tendered his resignation earlier this month to pursue his private sector career. His resignation will not take effect until January 31, 2018. 

SEE RELATED: State Senator Dan Newberry resigns seat to pursue professional promotion

The filing period for the District 37 election will be June 26-28 with a primary election being held September 12, and the general election on November 14. In the event that a primary election is not necessary, the general election will be September 12. 

O'Hara was previously a City Councilman for the City of Jenks from 2011-2013 and the Senior Vice President of Omni Financial from 2010-2013. 

O'Hara graduated from Kempsville High School in Virginia, then achieved an Associates Degree from Montreat College and a Bachelor's in History from Belhaven College. Both of his degrees are from private Christian colleges. Montreat is located in North Carolina, and Belhaven is in Mississippi.

He has been married to his wife, Karen, for 34 years and has five children. Three of his kids graduated from Jenks Public School. He has been a host parent for exchange students from Denmark, Brazil, Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands. 

Some of his civic service includes serving on the Home Owner's Association boards for Elwood Park and Stonehorse, both located in Jenks. He has been an Elder at River Oaks Presbyterian Church and Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church, and was a Deacon at Madison Presbyterian Church. He graduated Leadership Broken Arrow, Leadership Bixby, Leadership Sand Springs, and Leadership Glenpool. Each is a four-month educational class on organizations, charities, and government entities within those communities.

He has served in various volunteer positions with the Salvation Army and Red Cross and is a member of the Bixby and Jenks Rotary Clubs. He has previously served as a Board Member for the Jenks Public Works Authority, the Oklahoma Aquarium Authority, the Madison County Cultural Center, and Turn Tulsa Pink.

O'Hara will be holding a Campaign Kickoff Event Monday, June 19 at 6:30 p.m. at Los Cabos Mexican Grill in Jenks. Congressman Bridenstine is expected to attend the event.

Bridenstine sent out an endorsement email calling O'Hara "a friend, a conservative, and a man of integrity. I am confident he will serve his constituents with honor in the Oklahoma State Senate, and I am proud to endorse him." 

Governor Mary Fallin Calls Special Election for State Senate District 37 Seat

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Governor Mary Fallin ordered a special election to fill the vacancy in Oklahoma Senate District 37 caused by the irrevocable resignation of Senator Dan Newberry. His resignation will become effective January 31, 2018.

The filing period for the special election is June 26-28. The special primary election is set for September 12 and the special general election is scheduled for November 14.

In the event that a special primary election is not necessary, the special general election will be September 12.

Newberry, of Tulsa, announced his resignation earlier this month. Senate District 37 covers parts of Tulsa County, including Sand Springs, Jenks, and West and South Tulsa.

Sand Springs plays pivotal role in several County and State elections

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Tuesday was Primary election day for the State of Oklahoma and Sand Springs was well represented in candidacy. Eight of the candidates for various State and County positions were registered with Sand Springs addresses, and even more had Sand Springs ties. Gross voter turnout was up slightly for the Sand Springs area at over 3,200, as opposed to 3,000 in 2014, which translates to approximately 22.7% of voting-age citizens.

Robert T. Murphy defeated Dax Ewbank for the Libertarian nomination for US Senator. Murphy has previously ran for US Congress five times and has never won more than 25% of the vote. He will take on incumbent Republican Senator James Lankford and Democratic nominee Mike Workman in November, along with independent candidates Sean Braddy and Mark Beard. Murphy won the Primary with 56.65% of the vote. Sand Springs voters supported Murphy 15 to 10.

Incumbent Republican Representative Jim Bridenstine won the Republican primary for Congressional District 1 with a landslide over Tom Atkinson and Evelyn L. Rogers. Bridenstine brought home 79.5% of the vote, Atkinson snagged 17.11% and Rogers got 3.39%. Sand Springs voters supported Bridenstine 1673 to 388. No Democrats filed and the lone independent has dropped out leaving the seat uncontested for Bridenstine.

Incumbent Republican Senator Dan Newberry easily warded off a pair of challengers for the State Senate District 37 nomination. Newberry won 69.18% of the vote followed by Sand Springs City Councilman Brian Jackson with 20.26% and Paula L. Patterson with 10.55%. Jackson fared slightly better in his native city with 29% of the vote, but was unable to rally voters to a campaign that focused solely on public education and never mentioned other issues. Newberry won Sand Springs 1244 to 805.

Outgoing Sand Springs Superintendent Lloyd Snow swept the Democratic side of the Senate 37 race with 77.04% of the vote over Cory Gage with 12.96% and Andrew Nutter with 10.00%. Snow's Sandite backing was especially apparent in that he won 88.61% of the vote in Sand Springs. Outside of his school district he still had an impressive record at nearly 70%. Snow won Sand springs 1090-140.

Snow and Newberry will face off against independent Shawn W. Ketcher, also of Sand Springs, in November.

Incumbent Republican Representative Jadine Nollan had little difficulty in fending off Emily G. Delozier for the State Representative District 66 nomination with 74.57% of the vote. Sand Springs supported the hometown representative 1450 to 378. Nollan's November opponent will be Democratic nominee Dianna Phillips, also of Sand Springs. Interestingly, it was Nollan's husband Phil who unseated Dianna's husband Michael in the City Council election this March. 

In the County Court Clerk election, Donald Newberry came out on top of an incredible close election, one of the closest in recent memory. Newberry claimed 35.16% of the vote, followed by Ron Phillips with 33.10% and Mary Atkinson with 31.74%. Newberry and Phillips will now go to a runoff election on August 23rd with the winner taking on Democratic nominee John R. Andrew in November. Sand Springs was nearly as evenly divided as the rest of the County, but put Atkinson ahead of Phillips. Newberry won the Sandite city 726 to 618 to 563.

Rex Berry bested Arthur Jackson 66.61% to 33.39% for the Democratic nomination for Tulsa County Sheriff. Sand Springs held almost identical figures at 756 to 369. Berry will face off against incumbent Vic Regalado in November.

Regalado shrugged off a vicious negative campaign from Luke Sherman with surprising ease for the Republican nomination. After less than three months on the job since winning a special election to replace Stanley Glanz, Regalado defended his position with a 64.31% victory over Sherman with 28.86% and Russell Crow with 6.83%. Once again, the candidate with the best ties to Sand Springs prevailed. The Sandites favored Regalado 1394 to Sherman with 489 and Crow with 172.

Michael Willis bested Nancy Rothman 59.32% to 40.68% in the Republican primary for Tulsa County Clerk. No Democrats, Independents, or Libertarians filed for the position, meaning Willis will win it unopposed. Sand Springs backed Willis 1139 to 743.

Incumbent County Commissioner Karen Keith warded off Deanna Vincent for the Democratic nomination for her position. Keith had the biggest blowout in Tulsa County with 81.95% of the vote and will take on a Republican challenger from Sand Springs in November.

Josh R. Turley won a close race with Jonathan Grable for the Republican nomination for County Commissioner with 52.55% of the vote. Sand Springs backed the Sandite 1157-722.

Lloyd Snow clinches Democratic nomination, will face Newberry in November

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Outgoing Sand Springs Superintendent Lloyd Snow has the Democratic nomination for Senate District 37 all locked up after a landslide victory over Cory Gage and Andrew Nutter. Snow has been serving the Sand Springs community for sixteen years, and looks to continue doing so in a new field.

After sixteen years as the City Superintendent, Snow's era will come to an end on June 30th when Sherry Durkee officially takes over the office. While Snow initially intended to retire upon leaving the Superintendent position, dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs in the Capitol lead him to launch a campaign for the Senate District 37 seat in April.

When he launched his campaign he stated "I am frustrated, disappointed, and discouraged with the challenges our children, families, citizens, and communities continue to face due to devastating budget reductions and poor policies in the areas of public education, health, safety, and transportation."

In December Snow talked to Sandite Pride about his reservations in running for office and his desire for any other worthy candidate to step up. When nobody came forward for Snow to rally behind, he filed his candidacy as "an obligation to be a voice of reason, common sense, and responsibility for our families and communities."

Snow has a long history of recognition for community service. In 1997 he was named the Oklahoma Administrator of the Year. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Educators Hall of Fame in 2013 and received the Medal for Excellence in Administration. Most recently he was issued a proclamation from the City of Sand Springs for his service to the community in May and received the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration Lifetime Achievement award earlier this month.

Two and half months of campaigning led to a massive victory over the Democratic field, but Snow was quick to acknowledge that it's only the beginning. In the Tuesday night primary, Snow won 77.04% of the vote against Cory Gage with 12.95% and Andrew Nutter with 10%. 

Snow gave a victory speech at the Snow For Senate Watch Party at Hampton Inn and Suites in Tulsa Hills, expressing his desire "to make it better for kids, to make it better for people that have health needs...to make it better for Oklahoma...for better roads and bridges and infrastructure. Trying to craft a budget that can be sustained and actually work for people and for families and for communities.

"We as a State are at that point in time where enough is enough. I am a different kind of candidate in a lot of ways because this is not my life ambition. I've lived my life ambition, my passion. Now it's more of a purpose, it's more of an obligation. It's more of what I consider to be, 'how are we going to solve the problems we face?' And the solutions are having more people vote, more people in campaigns, have more people participating. I'm going to be at this full time."

First Annual Taste of Sand Springs boasts delicious dining experience

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The first annual Taste of Sand Springs was a success Thursday evening at the Charles Page High School cafeteria. The Chamber of Commerce event served as a fundraiser for the organization Junior Achievement. 

The dining started off with some delicious sliders from Osage Casino. Napoli's Italian Restaurant provided pasta. Reasor's deli had broccoli salad and deviled egg potato salad. Rib Crib served colossal portions of baked beans and mac and cheese with bacon. Charlie's Chicken had hearty portions of green beans and broccoli grape salad. Gander Mountain Vineyard provided open-faced roast beef sandwiches and mushroom casserole with key lime cheesecake for dessert. 

Other sweet options included Harper's Hut Shaved Ice, Sandlot Snoballs and brownies from Meadowlake Ranch. Livi Lee's donuts had a delicious treat called "Strawberry Fields," consisting of a glazed cake donut with strawberries and whipped cream. Also on hand were sixth-graders Taylor Blackwell and Sydnee Porter selling lemonade to raise money for the Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

Sand Springs City Councilman Brian Jackson was the spokesman for the evening and entertained the customers with periodic giveaways including car detailing certificates, Starbucks packages, Crescent Cafe gift cards and more. Jackson serves as the Development Manager at Junior Achievement of Eastern Oklahoma and is currently running for the Senate Seat 37.

Money raised from the event will benefit more than ten CPHS students participating in the Junior Achievement life skills programs.

“Just a short 15 years ago, I was a junior at CPHS and I had the fortune to be inspired by my community classroom volunteer with Junior Achievement.  That classroom time gave me direction to live out my American Dream alongside my wife and daughter,” said Jackson.