NewsOK    September 14, 2009

By: MICHAEL MCNUTT

Democratic and Republican leaders say whoever wins next month’s special House District 55 race may not necessarily signal how candidates will fare in the 2010 statewide and legislative elections.

"I don’t think you can base any trends based on one race especially out in a rural area like that,” state Republican Party Chairman Gary Jones said.

Democrat Larry Peck of Sentinel and Republican Todd Russ of Cordell advanced to the Oct. 13 general election after last week’s primary elections for the district that covers Washita County and parts of Caddo, Canadian and Kiowa counties. Each seeks to succeed Ryan McMullen, a Democrat, who recently accepted a federal agriculture post.

A Democrat has represented House District 55 since 1965.

"We’re cautiously optimistic,” stateDemocratic Party Chairman Todd Goodman said. "It’s been a Democratic seat for a long-standing time.”

GOP direction grows
Republicans have made steady gains in the House, claiming the majority after the 2004 elections. Their margin has increased from 57-44 after Republicans won the majority in the 2004 elections to 61-40 after the 2008 elections.

Republicans have made progress in claiming rural House seats west of Interstate 35, picking up eight seats since 2004. Only three rural seats west of I-35, including House District 55, were held by Democrats during this year’s legislative session.

"Democrats have obviously gone to the left and more liberal than what they have in the past,” Jones said. "They’re going a different direction than what the citizens ofOklahoma are going.”

"It’s no secret that western Oklahoma’s kind of been trending away from theDemocratic Party for a number of years,” Goodman said. "But it starts with the candidate and Larry Peck is a great candidate.”

Russ won nearly four out of every five Republican votes cast in the western Oklahoma district while Peck won more than three out of four votes in his race.

Russ received 1,046 votes, or 89.3 percent, while Jeff Ledford of Hobart received 125 votes, or 10.7 percent, according to unofficial returns from the state Election Board. Peck won 2,017 votes, or 78.6 percent, while Alex Damon, the mayor of Cordell, garnered 550 votes, or 21.5 percent. Results are unofficial until the state Election Board certifies them.

Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 2-1 margin in House District 55. The district has 10,812 registered Democrats and 5,065 registered Republicans, according to the state Election Board. It also has 1,332 independents who could not vote in last week’s primaries.

"Out in the rural areas you’ve got folks that tend to be more independent in how they vote whether they’re registered Republican or registered Democrat,” Jones said. "Especially in open seats, they have a greater tendency to look and make decisions on who they think the best person for the job is.”

Both candidates have about a month to campaign before voters go to the polls. Both are familiar with campaigning: Russ narrowly lost the District 26 Senate race in November 2006 to Democrat Tom Ivester, 9,386-9,111. Peck finished third in that year’s Democratic primary for the Senate seat.

Russ, a member of the Cordell City Council and past president and chief executive officer of Washita State Bank in Burns Flat, said he’ll pick up some Democratic votes in next month’s election.

"When you get out here, it’s not about party,” Russ said. "It’s about who can relate to their needs and execute on solutions to solve their problems.”

Peck, who recently retired as an agriculture education instructor and FFA adviser atSentinel High School, said, "I’m not sure it comes down to a D and R (Democrat and Republican) fight, it becomes a rural and an urban fight, maybe.”