Seven Oklahoma school districts hold primaries on February 8


Eight school board seats in seven Oklahoma school districts covered by Ballotpedia were up for nonpartisan primary elections on Feb. 8, 2022. Candidates competed to advance to the general election scheduled for Apr. 5.

The districts holding primaries included Broken Arrow, Catoosa, Edmond, Mustang, Piedmont, Tulsa, and Union Public Schools. 

Three candidates won the election outright on Feb. 8 by earning more than 50% of the vote in the primary. Katie Cornman, Stefan Swaggerty, and Debbie Taylor won a seat on the board for Piedmont, Catoosa, and Broken Arrow Public Schools, respectively. Candidates advanced to the general election for the remaining five seats.

  1. In the Edmond Public School District, Courtney Hobgood and Cheryl Williams advanced to the general election for the District 2 seat. Incumbent Marcus Jones and Michael Grande advanced to the general in the special election for District 5.
  2. Robert Rader and Audra Tucker advanced to the general election for Seat 2 on the Mustang Public Schools Board of Education.
  3. Incumbent Chris McNeil and challenger Shelley Gwartney advanced to the general election for Union Public Schools Board of Education Zone 2.
  4. In the Tulsa Public School District, Susan Lamkin and Tim Harris advanced to the general election for the District 7 seat.

Primaries in 19 other school districts covered by Ballotpedia were canceled after fewer than three candidates filed to run for each seat up for election. Twenty out of the 28 Oklahoma school board races covered by Ballotpedia this year, which represents 71% of these races, were not competitive enough to include a primary. In 2021, primaries were canceled in 30 out of 35 races (86%). In 2020, 24 out of 30 races (80%) had canceled primaries.

The 26 Oklahoma school boards covered by Ballotpedia served a total of 267,432 students during the 2017-2018 school year.

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