The Omens in Oklahoma

Photo Steve Gooch

The Oklahoma governorship ... in play? You don't say! "Oklahoma! Where the wave comes sweepin' down the plain!" That wave is blue.

Drew Edmondson, a former four-term attorney general of the state, easily won the Democratic primary last night, and he will be competitive this fall. The Republicans are currently stuck in a two-month purgatory. Ten Republicans ran for governor in their primary yesterday, and none of them cracked 30%. There'll be a run-off in August. Meanwhile, Drew Edmondson will be out there, reminding Oklahomans that they've been governed for eight years by the second most unpopular Republican administration in the country (looking at you, Mary Fallin).

Also campaigning in a state where Democrats flipped a state House district last September. The Democrat in that race won by more than double the margin that Trump won over Hillary in the same district in 2016. Then last November another Democrat flipped a state Senate seat. To date, a total of four state legislative seats have flipped since Twitterman moved into the White House.

A state where public school teachers revolted and got action, winning raises and more school funding after staging a statewide April walkout. At the end of that nine-day work stoppage, the head of the Oklahoma Education Association sent her troops forward to work on flipping more legislative seats. “We got here by electing the wrong people to office,” Ms. Priest said. “We have the opportunity to make our voices heard at the ballot box.”

A state that also legalized medical marijuana in yesterday's primary.

How many omens do you require?

Flippin' Awesome!

If a Democrat can flip an Oklahoma state House district that went to Trump last fall by 10 points, then just about anything can happen. Okla-frickin'-homa.

On Tuesday, in a special Oklahoma House race to replace a Republican who resigned to take a better job, school teacher Jacob Rosecrants beat some Republican businessman by more than double the margin that Trump won over Hillary in the same district last fall. Rosecrants buried his Republican opponent by 21 points.

Holy crap. Oklahoma. Where the wind comes whistling down the plain.

Also on Tuesday, another formerly Republican safe seat in New Hampshire flipped Democrat in another special election, in a district that went to Trump last fall by 16 points.