Outside groups spent big in Oklahoma’s primary elections but decided little, data shows

A screen capture of an attack ad against Oklahoma 1st Congressional District Republican candidate Kevin Hern by the Washington D.C.-based Club for Growth Action, taken out in the run-up to Tuesday’s primary election. Hern will face Tim Harris in a runoff election on Aug. 28. Courtesy/YouTube

Outside groups reported spending more than $1.8 million combined to support and oppose candidates in the days leading up to Oklahoma’s primary election on Tuesday, according to an analysis of campaign data by The Frontier.

Numerous incumbents in the state Legislature, mostly in the Republican primaries, were either unseated or forced into runoff elections when record numbers of Oklahomans showed up to vote in the primary Tuesday.

In the final days before the election, candidates and outside groups both spent heavily on last-minute television, radio, print, direct mail and social media ads, as well as other election activity, campaign data shows.

Non-candidate groups, such as super PACs and so-called “dark money” groups that do not report their donors, spent heavily on numerous races throughout the state, election data shows.

To examine the influence of non-candidate groups participating in the election, The Frontier examined “independent expenditures” filed during the last two weeks leading up to the election with both the Oklahoma Ethics Commission and the Federal Election Commission. The analysis did not include spending on State Question 788, the medical marijuana ballot measure passed by voters Tuesday, or outside groups that did not report their spending, such as the dark money groups Citizens for Free States, which backed Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Fisher.

The data shows that two-thirds of the $1.8 million total spent by outside groups supporting or opposing candidates, or nearly $1.2 million, was in races that will now require a runoff election, meaning no candidate got a majority of votes.

A runoff election is scheduled for Aug. 28 to determine the final outcome of those races.

In Congressional District 1’s Republican primary race, which featured five candidates vying for the seat vacated by former Congressman Jim Bridenstine, the Washington D.C.-based group Club for Growth Action spent more than $345,000 opposing candidate Kevin Hern, a McDonald’s franchisee who had vastly outspent his opponents. But despite the influx of cash, Hern was able to earn enough support for the runoff election, where he will face former Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris.

Another race where outside groups spent heavily in the primary but ultimately ended in a runoff being necessary includes the Attorney General, where outside groups supporting incumbent Mike Hunter and challenger Gentner Drummond have thus far spent more than three-quarters of a million dollars combined slugging it out in the hotly contested race.

However, among the primary races that were clearly decided on Tuesday night, the majority of non-candidate spending ultimately failed to sway voters, the data shows.

More than $368,000 was spent by outside groups in races with a clear winner who was either not supported or outright opposed by those groups, the data shows.

One example of this occurred in Tulsa’s House District 67, where Republican incumbent Scott McEachin faced off against challenger Jeff Boatman, chief technical officer at Tulsa-based Global Client Solutions.

Though Boatman, whose campaign was almost entirely funded from a $150,000 loan he gave his campaign, outspent McEachin in the race, McEachin was assisted by at least two outside groups that spent money buying ads and attacking Boatman on his behalf.

Catalyst Oklahoma, a dark-money group linked to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, spent $17,500 on McEachin’s behalf a little more than a week before the election, records show, while Oklahoma Federation for Children Action Fund, an education-choice group formerly run by now-U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, spent more than $5,000 in direct support of McEachin and nearly $6,000 attacking Boatman.

However, Boatman won the primary election with 62 percent of the vote, and will face Democrat Carly Hotvedt in the November general election.

In Congressional District 1’s Republican primary, $321,119 was spent by four separate outside groups promoting candidate Andy Coleman. Coleman finished fourth among the five candidates.

Meanwhile, only $239,269 was spent by outside groups in races where a clear winner who was supported by those groups emerged on Tuesday night, according to the data.