News 9 Political Analyst Scott Mitchell Discusses Outcome Of 2024 Oklahoma Primaries

After a primary election causes a shakeup at the Oklahoma State Capitol, News 9 spoke with political analyst Scott Mitchell for his take on how the elections turned out.

Republican Oklahoma Sen. Greg McCortney, who was tapped to become the next Senate Pro Tem, was beaten by newcomer Jonathan Wingard in the race for Senate District 13.

“It was a shocker,” Mitchell said. “It basically said ‘will there be a ideological change?’ and when Greg McCortney last last night, it started all kinds of dominoes falling.”

Mitchell said this ideological change suggests Oklahoma may be shifting even further ton the political right.

As for what happened with the surprise upsets Tuesday night, Mitchell said it may have to do with Oklahoma Senate inaction over tax cuts.

“Remember those hearings?” Mitchell said. “The Senate didn’t want to take up tax cuts.”

Mitchell said the discussion on tax cuts doesn’t just affect Sen. McCortney however.

“There’s other things, there’s vaccines and guns and all kinds of stuff, but this is a shift to the right,” Mitchell said. “Sen. Jessica Garvin lost, there are a couple of folks in runoffs, there’s just a whole big shift to the right, which means that the agenda [they] pushed into the Senate, and [then] the Senate wouldn’t act, that’s what the voters thought of it.”

Making the jump from local to state politics, Nikki Nice, the Oklahoma City councilwoman for Ward 7, defeated former Oklahoma Sen. Connie Johnson for Senate District 48.

“That’ll be a big jump for her,” Mitchell said. “She has a stellar reputation with the council, and she’s going to be taken over that Senate seat. There’s 40 Republicans however, in the state senate, that’s probably not going to change much.”

Mitchell said Nice will work in that caucus with Sen. Jody Kurt, who is the new minority leader in the Senate.