“I was very hopeful,” Gaddis said. “I thought it would be very close, and apparently it was.”

Gaddis, who lost to then-Rep. Dan Kirby in last November’s general election with 40 percent of the vote, finished with 52 percent Tuesday to 48 percent for Republican Tressa Nunley.

The final count was 1,072 to 977.

Gaddis said her earlier campaign, and perhaps some Republican complacency, helped her overcome tradition and a double-digit deficit in party registration.

“When I knocked on doors, people knew who I was,” she said. “We worked really hard, and I think more Democrats came out to vote. I think the Republicans may have thought it would just be the way it always is.”

The seat came open in February when Kirby resigned after being accused of having improper relationships with two female employees.

Gaddis campaigned primarily on education issues and what she said has been Republican mismanagement of state government.

House Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, a 2018 gubernatorial candidate, was among those who campaigned for Gaddis on the final weekend of the campaign.

This is the second straight time Democrats have picked up Republican seats in off-year special elections — although the overall trend for the party has been downward in the Legislature.

Also Tuesday night, Democrats picked up a state Senate seat as attorney Michael Brooks defeated former House of Representatives employee Joe Griffin to win Senate District 44 in the Oklahoma City metro area. That seat opened up as the result of another sex scandal, this one involving Sen. Ralph Shortey.

In a third special legislative election, Darin Chambers was the easy winner in a three-way Republican primary to replace former Rep. Scott Martin, who resigned to head the Norman Chamber of Commerce.