MIDWEST CITY (Free Press) — Three candidates have filed to run for the mayor of Midwest City, setting the field for the upcoming race on February 10.
Voters in Midwest City will decide on a new mayor after 10 years, following the current Mayor Matt Dukes’s decision not to seek re-election. Rick Rice, Espaniola Bowen, and Rita Maxwell, all with experience serving the city, will appear on the ballot.
Rick Rice
Rice, a longtime Midwest City resident and attorney, began his career as the city prosecutor and then later served as a city council member and vice mayor. He currently serves on the city planning commission.
According to his campaign website, one of his priorities is to rehabilitate the blighted Heritage Park Mall, which has been closed since 2010 and has received over 150 code violations.
For years, the city and the property’s owner, Ahmad Bahreini, have been locked in a legal dispute over the property’s condition. As of early 2025, the city plans to acquire the Heritage Park mall and a nearby vacant Whataburger also owned by Bahreini. The only portion of the mall currently in use is the west side of the property, occupied by Life.Church.
“The mall is dilapidated – it couldn’t be occupied if someone wanted to occupy it without a great deal of investment into fixing it,” Rice said in an interview with Free Press. “There are electrical problems, water problems, there’s damage on the inside, all from deferred maintenance. The mall needs to be taken down and replaced with something more valuable in that footprint that would benefit the city.”
Rice envisions a Community Resource Center that could include housing for senior citizens.
“A community resource center would be fantastic there, because there’s a number of non-profits and resources for our citizens of Eastern Oklahoma County, but they’re not in any centralized location, and so if somebody needs assistance of any type, they don’t know where to go,” Rice said. “It would be nice if we could give them one place to go, and that location would be able to help find them and their needs.”
Some of Rice’s other priorities include economic development, infrastructure improvement, more vigorous code enforcement, additional housing options for seniors and single-person households, and establishing a system to handle anticipated population growth.
“I think that my experience with the city well suits me for being able to sit in that chair to lead the council to effectuate the change that citizens want, which is positive growth for the city in the future,” Rick said.
Espaniola Bowen
Bowen, who previously served as Ward 3 councilwoman from 2018 to 2022, has a long history of involvement in the Midwest City community. She has served on the Citizens’ Advisory Board for 19 years and as president of her neighborhood association for over 25 years. Bowen ran in a special election to fill the Ward 3 seat in 2024, but was defeated by Maxwell.
She has a long tenure of 27 years with the Oklahoma State Health Department and retired in August 2024.
Some of Bowen’s priorities include economic development, sidewalks, walkability, park upgrades, affordable housing, and securing better wages and benefits for city employees.
She shares a similar vision for the Heritage Park Mall center as her opponent, with plans to demolish the current structure, transform the space into a senior living facility and resource center, and include family-friendly amenities such as a trampoline park or indoor water park.
“My plan will be to tear down the current building and make that either a senior living and resource center for seniors aging in place,” Bowen said in an interview with the Free Press. “You have a lot of seniors who don’t want to go to a nursing home and are not really ready for that level of care yet.?
Bowen also emphasized improving walkability and public transportation, addressing water management, expanding housing and services for people experiencing homelessness, and increasing collaboration with neighboring cities to improve city services.
“We have surrounding cities, we have Del City, Spencer, Choctaw, Nicoma Park, and some of Oklahoma City as well – so we have to have better collaboration between our sister cities next to us, because they call us for fire protection, we call them for police protection so being more collaborative with our sister cities is the best thing I would do coming into it,” Bowen said.
Bowen expressed her dedication to Midwest City and her desire to continue the progress initiated by the current mayor and to contribute to improvements that advance the city.
“My heart has always been in Midwest City – I’m running because I love the city,” Bowen said. “I want to continue the progress made by the mayor, bring new ideas, and helping the neighborhoods drive even more…. Progress is not just in the building; it’s about the people. We have to build Midwest City that honors our history, that serves our present, and invests in our future. That’s what I want to do, that’s my focus for Midwest City.”
Rita Maxwell
Maxwell, the current Ward 3 councilwoman, has centered her campaign around transparency, modernization, and equitable growth.
She defeated five candidates to win the Ward 3 seat in April 2024, a seat vacated by Meagan Bain after she announced her resignation.
Maxwell’s platform focuses on making city codes more ‘citizen-friendly’ and easier to navigate, ensuring improvements reach every neighborhood across the city, and strengthening community involvement and communication.
Voting information
The primary election will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. In the race for mayor, a candidate must receive a majority of the vote in the primary election to be sworn in April 2026. If no candidate collects more than 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the most votes will appear in a general election on April 7, 2026.
All registered voters in Midwest City will be eligible to cast a vote in the mayoral race. The last day to register to vote in the upcoming primary election is January 16. Absentee ballots must be requested by January 26, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board.
Brianna Garcia is a freelance journalist covering local politics and culture for Free Press. She has a degree in Journalism from the University of Central Oklahoma.
