Last Updated on March 6, 2024, 8:35 AM | Published: March 6, 2024
OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — Oklahoma voters made their choices clear Tuesday night regarding their preferred presidental candidates, with primary election results revealing President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump as the frontrunners for their respective races.
The former president maintained his dominance in the Republican primary races nationwide, despite losing one state, Vermont, to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
According to unofficial OK election results, Trump easily won the GOP primary race with over 81.8% of the total vote within the state, while his only major opponent Haley managed to garner nearly 16% with all precincts reporting.
President Biden won the Oklahoma Democratic Primary with nearly 73%, while his closests opponents Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips each concluded the race with approximately 9% of the vote.
None of the leading candidates in the polls have made appearances in Oklahoma.
Delegate count estimates
The 15 states that voted Tuesday did not offer enough delegates for Trump or Biden to clinch their party’s nomination. Nonetheless, both incumbents significantly advanced toward solidifying their anticipated rematch for the presidental election following Tuesday nights results.
Super Tuesday is the biggest voting day in the 2024 race, with 16 states and one US territory collectively allocating over a third of the delegates available across the entire nomination process, wielding considerable influence in shaping the outcome of the general election come November.
The outcome of Super Tuesday depends not only on which candidates secures victories in states, but also on how many of the major candidates remaining surpass the 15% threshold to accumulate delegates.
On the Republican side, a total of 865 delegates were available Tuesday night. Trump needs 1,215 to secure the nomination, and he currently holds 995 with the count ongoing.
On the Democratic side, Biden needs 1,968 delegates to win the nomination and he currently holds 1,497 with the count ongoing.
As a winner-take-all state, all of Oklahoma’s electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who wins the popular vote.
County level
According to the unofficial results, Trump emerged as the favored candidate in every county within the state.
In the Democratic primary, Biden fell short of securing every county within the state, with Cimarron County in the panhandle being the exception where nearly 46% of the democratic and independent voters selected Dean Phillips.
In Oklahoma County, the state’s most populous county, the majority of Republican voters favored Trump, who garnered 72.2% of the vote, while Haley secured nearly 25% of the county’s GOP vote.
The unofficial results show that Biden won 82.1% of the democratic vote within the county, while Williamson trailed behind with 7.6%.
Oklahoma has a closed-party voting system that requires voters to cast ballots only in their registered parties primary. However, the Democratic party has authorized registered independents to vote in its primary.
Since 1968, Republican nominees have consistently won in Oklahoma. The last Democrat to carry the state was former president Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
Biden protest vote in other states – ‘uncommitted vote‘
Despite significant victories on Tuesday night, Biden faces resistance within his own party. There are widespread concerns regarding Biden’s age and declining confidence in his leadership, especially as it pertains to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Many democratic voters in several states, including Minnesota, have opted to mark their ballots “uncommitted” as a protest vote against Biden, expressing their opposition to his support for Israel’s actions against Hamas in Gaza.
However, the “uncommitted” option is not available in Oklahoma primaries.
Based to election results, only about 14% of registered voters participated in Tuesday’s voting, including absentee and mail in ballots.
Norman vote on O.G.&E. franchise closest of all
While each major party had one runaway choice statewide, the real drama of the evening’s results was the vote for an O.G.& E. franchise in the City of Norman.
For the second time in a row, City of Norman voters rejected establishing a franchise with OG&E, this time by only 33 votes.
Cities typically vote for the franchise without much fanfare.
But, Norman residents have been resolved to send a message to the company because of poor service, blackouts, and brownouts.
It is not yet clear what will happen to the relationship with OG&E, the current provider of power to businesses and residents of the city.
“Franchise agreements are almost ubiquitous in the municipalities OG&E serves, but Norman has operated without one since 2018 when the City Council declined to put an agreement renewal to a public vote,” reads Wednesday’s Norman Transcript. “The Oklahoma Constitution requires all franchise agreements be approved by voters, so the previous agreement expired after the City Council’s decision.”
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.
