2018 Oklahoma gubernatorial election


The 2018 Oklahoma gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the next governor of Oklahoma. Incumbent Republican governor Mary Fallin was term-limited, and was prohibited by the Constitution of Oklahoma from seeking a third term. Republican Businessman Kevin Stitt was elected with 54.3% of the vote, defeating Democratic nominee and former Oklahoma attorney general Drew Edmondson.
Primary elections occurred on June 26, 2018. Edmondson won the Democratic nomination outright. Stitt, however, faced a runoff election against former Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett. On August 28, 2018, Stitt won the Republican primary runoff and became the Republican nominee for the office. The Libertarian Party also held a primary, which advanced to a runoff, with Chris Powell, a former chair of the Libertarian Party of Oklahoma, winning the nomination.
Stitt won the general election with 54.33% of the vote. This was the first time ever that the Libertarian Party was on the ballot in a gubernatorial election in Oklahoma, and the only time since 1986 that a candidate from the incumbent president's party was elected Governor of Oklahoma.
A member of the Cherokee Nation, Stitt became the first tribally enrolled Native American to serve as governor of a U.S. state. Despite his victory, Stitt lost four counties that voted Republican in the 2016 U.S. presidential race: Cherokee, Cleveland, Muskogee, and Oklahoma.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominated

Eliminated in the primary runoff

Eliminated in the initial primary

First round

Polling

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Jim
Bridenstine		Todd
Lamb		Scott
Pruitt		Undecided
SoonerPollSeptember 1–15, 2017403± 4.9%19%33%16%32%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominated

Eliminated in the primary

Withdrew

Declined

Polling

with Norman Brown

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Norman
Brown		Drew
Edmondson		Connie
Johnson		Undecided
SoonerPollMarch 14–22, 2018264–4%34%13%50%
SoonerPollJanuary 4–9, 2018162–4%40%21%35%

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominated

Eliminated in the primary runoff

Eliminated in the initial primary

General election

Oklahoma determines ballot order by a random drawing which took place for this election cycle on July 12, resulting in the Libertarian Party being listed first, Republicans second, and Democrats third.

Debates

Polling

Graphical summary

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Kevin
Stitt 		Drew
Chris
Powell 		Undecided
SoonerPollOctober 31 – November 3, 2018338± 5.3%47%44%3%6%
SoonerPollOctober 23–25, 2018447± 4.6%46%42%4%8%
Magellan Strategies October 22–23, 2018500± 4.4%51%44%1%4%
Cole Hargrave Snodgrass September 25–29, 2018500± 4.3%46%40%4%–
Right Strategy Group September 25–26, 20181,058± 3.0%47%43%2%8%
SoonerPollSeptember 5–10, 2018407± 4.9%47%44%3%6%
Right Strategy Group August 1–2, 2018737± 4.0%41%42%–17%
SoonerPollJuly 18–20, 2018404± 4.9%39%40%–21%
SoonerPollMay 15–23, 2018622± 3.9%25%32%–43%

with Mick Cornett

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Mick
Drew
Undecided
Right Strategy Group August 1–2, 2018737± 4.0%39%39%21%
SoonerPollJuly 18–20, 2018404± 4.9%43%35%23%
SoonerPollMay 15–23, 2018622± 3.9%33%27%40%

with Todd Lamb

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Todd
Lamb 		Drew
Undecided
SoonerPollMay 15–23, 2018622± 3.9%33%28%39%

Results

By county

Stitt won 73 counties, while Edmondson won four. Stitt won 56 counties with at least 60% of the popular vote, 14 counties with at least 70%, and three counties - Beaver, Cimarron, and Ellis - with upwards of 80%. Stitt had the largest margin of victory in Cimarron with 73.09% more votes than Edmondson's 12.27%, the latter's lowest county performance in the election. The largest county per vote count won by Stitt was Tulsa County, home of Tulsa. Oklahoma County, of which Oklahoma City is county seat, was the only county where Stitt failed to acquire three out of every seven votes.
Edmondson won Muskogee by a single vote, and had an 11.84% margin of victory - his only margin of victory above 10% - in Oklahoma County. Edmondson won his four counties with typically narrower margins than that of Stitt, having missed 50% of the popular vote in Muskogee. Powell never came close to winning any counties, but won his highest percentage of votes in Washita County, with 4.97%
CountyStittVotesEdmondsonVotesPowellVotesTotal
Adair61.61%3,18733.73%1,7454.66%2415,173
Alfalfa74.01%1,33321.71%3914.28%771,801
Atoka69.05%2,78928.6%1,1552.35%954,039
Beaver80.82%1,45415.12%2724.06%731,799
Beckham71.18%4,06124.47%1,3964.35%2485,705
Blaine65.73%1,94130.1%8894.17%1232,953
Bryan64.33%7,30133.01%3,7462.66%30211,349
Caddo54.97%4,04741.33%3,0433.69%2727,362
Canadian59.65%27,41036.44%16,7443.91%1,79745,951
Carter64.91%9,09031.74%4,4453.35%46914,004
Cherokee45.58%6,33650.14%6,9704.28%59513,901
Choctaw65.28%2,63431.87%1,2862.85%1154,035
Cimarron85.36%68212.27%982.38%19799
Cleveland45.87%42,26850.62%46,6483.51%3,23192,147
Coal61.05%1,12735.7%6593.25%601,846
Comanche49.66%13,18046.48%12,3363.87%1,02726,543
Cotton65.44%1,31229.83%5984.74%952,005
Craig60.4%2,86336.14%1,7133.46%1644,740
Creek65.53%14,87031.06%7,0483.42%77522,693
Custer63.21%5,23932.76%2,6154.03%3348,288
Delaware65.21%8,54331.4%4,1143.39%44413,101
Dewey79.41%1,40417.82%3152.77%491,768
Ellis80.3%1,18615.98%2363.72%551,477
Garfield63.36%11,00832.31%5,6134.34%75417,375
Garvin64.91%5,14031.7%2,5103.4%2697,919
Grady65.16%11,17330.8%5,2814.05%69417,148
Grant73.36%1,25022.18%3784.46%761,704
Greer64.22%94631.84%4693.94%581,473
Harmon59.38%44337.13%2773.49%26746
Harper78.35%94817.69%2143.97%481,210
Haskell63.44%2,34833.67%1,2462.89%1073,701
Hughes60.73%2,32334.93%1,3364.34%1663,825
Jackson66.31%4,30130.67%1,9893.02%1966,486
Jefferson70.04%1,09927.02%4242.93%461,569
Johnston65.45%1,97631.86%9622.68%813,019
Kay60.51%7,85935.28%4,5824.22%54812,989
Kingfisher75.23%3,84620.81%1,0643.95%2025,112
Kiowa60.61%1,64535.81%9723.57%972,714
Latimer58.8%1,77437.25%1,1253.91%1183,017
Le Flore62.56%8,00934.89%4,4672.55%32712,803
Lincoln64.94%7,32330.31%3,4184.74%53511,276
Logan62.09%9,84733.87%5,3714.04%64115,859
Love68.69%1,90229.18%8082.13%592,769
Major79.28%2,17717.12%4703.61%992,746
Marshall66.66%2,94330.6%1,3512.74%1214,415
Mayes60.63%7,83735.62%4,6043.76%48612,927
McClain65.35%9,02131.05%4,2863.6%49713,804
McCurtain68.43%5,17829.22%2,2112.35%1787,567
McIntosh54.56%3,61242.07%2,7853.37%2236,620
Murray62.97%2,75133.03%1,4434.01%1754,369
Muskogee48.30%9,51548.31%9,5163.39%66819,699
Noble63.83%2,54331.43%1,2524.74%1893,984
Nowata66.14%2,31928.98%1,0164.88%1713,506
Okfuskee56.44%1,75239.98%1,2413.58%1113,104
Oklahoma42.38%98,99454.22%126,6673.4%7,938233,599
Okmulgee52.96%5,84643.93%4,8493.11%34311,043
Osage56.2%8,62940.39%6,2023.21%52415,355
Ottawa55.74%4,75241.08%3,5023.18%2718,525
Pawnee62.42%3,07633.38%1,6454.2%2074,928
Payne49.18%11,19346.8%10,6504.02%91422,757
Pittsburg59.66%7,98636.17%4,8424.16%55713,385
Pontotoc52.43%6,23344.52%5,2933.05%36311,889
Pottawatomie57.06%11,99638.5%8,0934.44%93321,022
Pushmataha63.07%2,10233.18%1,1063.75%1253,333
Roger Mills77.13%1,15718.87%2834%601,500
Rogers64.76%21,45032.02%10,6053.23%1,06933,124
Seminole55.99%3,68139.66%2,6074.35%2866,574
Sequoyah58.31%6,69539.02%4,4802.67%30711,482
Stephens67.48%9,31429.57%4,0812.95%40713,802
Texas74.84%3,09721.6%8943.55%1474,138
Tillman62.89%1,31534.24%7162.87%602,091
Tulsa50.11%101,51847.07%95,3502.82%5,716202,584
Wagoner63%16,34633.53%8,7003.47%9017,276
Washington62.96%11,22633.74%6,0173.3%58817,831
Washita69.72%2,65325.31%9634.97%1893,805
Woods67.83%1,92928.02%7974.15%1182,844
Woodward73.35%4,32623.53%1,3883.12%1845,898

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

By congressional district

Stitt won four of five congressional districts.
DistrictEdmondsonStittRepresentative
1st44%53%Kevin Hern
2nd37%60%Markwayne Mullin
3rd34%63%Frank Lucas
4th43%54%Tom Cole
5th53%44%Steve Russell
5th53%44%Kendra Horn