Retired police officer Ross Ford edged out Shelley Brumbaugh and Brian Elliott to win the five-way Republican special election primary in state House District 76 on Tuesday.
Teacher Chris VanLandingham defeated Forrest Mayer, also by a narrow margin, in the Democratic primary.
“People seemed to be more comfortable with me on the public education side,” said Ford, a former Union Public Schools security director and school board member. “They knew I’m friendly to the public schools, and I think that was a lot of it.”
Ford finished with 645 votes to 626 for Brumbaugh, the widow of Rep. David Brumbaugh, whose death last spring created the present opening.
Elliott, a Union math teacher and award-winning soccer coach, was third with 598 votes.
Teacher and writer Cliff Johns received 201 votes, and businessman Jess Guthrie had 27.
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“I stuck to four basic issues: public education, public safety, mental health and infrastructure,” Ford said.
Shelley Brumbaugh was endorsed by a school choice organization associated with U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who is unpopular with some public education advocates.
VanLandingham, a politics and government teacher, defeated Mayer, a science educator, 285-241 in the Democratic primary.
VanLandingham could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday night but said last week that he knows winning the general election will be difficult. Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district by more than 2-to-1.
Also Tuesday, Glenpool voters overwhelmingly approved a utility franchise renewal.
In the Oklahoma City area, Moore real estate agent Paul Rosino defeated six other candidates to win the state Senate District 45 Republican special election primary.
Rosino will face Democrat Steven Vincent in the November general election.
