By Constitution Staff

The June 24 Primary Election settled some races for state offices, and selected the party nominees in others. Only the Democrat nomination for State School Superintendent will be on the ballot in the August 26 Runoff Election.

Republican's granted Governor Mary Fallin nomination for a second term with over 75% of the vote. Fallin, 59, had drawn two little known primary challengers who spent little on their campaigns. Chad Moody, 46, of Oklahoma City finished second with 15% of the vote, and Dax Ewbank, 38, of Guthrie won 9%. The only Democrat to file for the office was Joe Dorman, 43, of Rush Springs. In addition to Fallin and Dorman, there will be two Independents on the November ballot: Richard Prawdzienski, 66, of Edmond; and Kimberly Willis, 51, of Oklahoma City.

There were no candidates for lieutenant governor on the Primary Election ballot. Incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, 42, will face Democrat Cathy Cummings, 52, of Oklahoma City in the November General Election.

Likewise, state Labor Commissioner Mark Costello, 58, will be challenged in the November election by Democrat Mike Workman, 63, of Tulsa.

Insurance Commissioner John Doak, 51, won 77% of the vote over Bill Viner, 61, of Moore who challenged Doak for the GOP nomination. Since no Democrats nor Independents filed for the office, Doak has been reelected to a second term.

State Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones, Attorney General Scott Pruitt, and Treasurer Ken Miller all avoided any competition in either the Republican Primary or the General Election, and will be reelected to their posts they first won in the Republican sweep of 2010.

The race for Superintendent of Public Instruction attracted a large field of candidates from both parties. Incumbent Republican Janet Barresi, 62, was first elected in the Republican tidal wave of 2010. Barresi's strong support for the set of educational standards known as Common Core, which the Republican-dominated Legislature voted this year to repeal, was largely responsible for her defeat in the June 24 Primary Election. Even after Gov. Fallin, an early Common Core supporter, reluctantly signed the repeal legislation, Barresi did not back away.

Common Core, praised by Democrat President Barack Obama, is widely considered by conservative activists as an attempt to implement liberal national standards into the public schools, and even in private schools. Many Republicans were also shocked when Barresi made the former chief lobbyist for the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA) her chief of staff.

Joy Hofmeister, 49, of Tulsa was the winner of the Republican Primary with 58% of the vote. Brian Kelly, 50, of Edmond actually finished slightly ahead of Barresi with just over 21%. Kelly ran for the office in 2010, and lost to Barresi in the Republican Primary.

Hofmeister, was a member of the state school board and stepped down to make the race. Hofmeister has been a teacher, beginning her career in Fort Worth, while her husband attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. She has spent the past 14 years operating Kumon Math and Reading Centers, which works through parent partnerships to ensure higher academic achievement for children. Leading a staff of 40, she serves 750 students from public, private, charter, and home schools. She is earning her Master's Degree in Education Administration from OU.

There were four Democrats running for Superintendent of Public Instruction and since none was able to garner more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters will be in the August 26 Runoff Primary. Dr. John Cox, 50, of Hulbert finished first with 41%. Dr. Freda Deskin, 65, of Edmond took second place with 38%. Jack Herron, 68, of Norman received 13% and Dr. Ivan Holmes, 77, of Oklahoma City 7%.

Dr. John Cox is a career educator, in his 20th year as a school superintendent and his 28th year in the field of education. He also serves as an adjunct professor of education at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. At Northeastern, Cox teaches leadership and administration courses to aspiring principals and superintendents and educational research to master's candidates.

Cox earned a doctorate at Oklahoma State. He serves as president of the Organization of Rural Elementary Schools (with 102 member schools) and as vice-hair of the Oklahoma Schools Assurance Group (with 488 member schools). In addition, Cox co-chairs the Vision Committee sponsored by the Oklahoma State School Boards Association and the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration.

Dr. Freda Deskin has more than 40 years of education experience. She served as a teacher, principal or superintendent in public schools in Oklahoma City, Lexington, Pauls Valley and Whitebead. She was a Dean at Oklahoma City University, trained teachers at the University of Oklahoma, and also worked at Oklahoma State Department of Education. In the 1980s, Deskin was one of two Oklahoma candidates in the nationwide competition to become the first teacher in space, before the NASA Teacher in Space Project was canceled following the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. Deskin is the CEO and founder of Advanced Science & Technology Education Charter Schools (ASTEC ) in Oklahoma City, one of the first charter schools in the state. Chairing Deskin's campaign is former First Lady Kim Henry. Henry taught at Shawnee High School before her husband Brad Henry was elected governor in 2002.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission regulates oil and gas drilling, electric and gas utilities, trucking, pipelines, and telecommunications in Oklahoma. There are three Corporation Commission seats with six-year staggered terms. Dana Murphy was reelected in 2010 and Bob Anthony in 2012. Patrice Douglas was appointed by Governor Mary Fallin as an interim replacement for Commissioner Jeff Cloud who resigned before the end of his term. Since Cloud's term was not up until 2014, there was an election scheduled in 2012 to fill the remaining two years of his term. Douglas was the only candidate to file so she was automatically elected. Instead of running for reelection to a full six-year term this year, Douglas is instead running for the open Fifth District seat in Congress.

Since no Democrats and no Independents filed for the open Corporation Commission seat was decided in the Republican Primary. Todd Hiett, a rancher from Kellyville, won the contest with 52% of the vote over state Senator Cliff Branan who received 48%. Hiett, 46, was the first Republican House Speaker in Oklahoma since 1921. Hiett's supporters contend that he was greatly responsible for reform of the process in the House, large tax cuts, significant gun rights and pro-life legislation, workers' comp reform, and pointed to his past inclusion on the Top Conservatives list. Despite the claim in Branan campaign commercials that he was a "rock solid conservative," Branan's 65% average score on the Oklahoma Conservative Index, and only 50% this year, countered the claim.