Republican rancher Dillon Travis won the House District 35 election Tuesday night to succeed former Rep. Ty Burns, who resigned after pleading guilty to domestic violence charges last year. While Travis will be the last member of the Legislature sworn into office for the 2026 regular session, voters in HD 92 will also elect a lame duck successor to former Rep. Forrest Bennett the same day they elect a new member for the 61st Legislature.
With all 26 precincts reporting, Travis received 64.2 percent of the vote, although Kruse gave Democrats their best performance in the district since 2008.
After a special election in the Republican-favored Texas Senate District 9 resulted in an upset victory for the Democratic party, Oklahoma Democrats had hoped Kruse, a teacher from Stillwater, could pull off a similar upset. He raised more than $28,000 during the cycle, including more than $6,000 in the final weeks of the campaign, in a district Democrats last contested in 2022. The only sitting legislator to donate to Kruse was Rep. Trish Ranson (D-Stillwater).
Possibly watching the same results from across the Red River, Oklahoma Republicans coalesced to support Travis, a businessman and rancher from Maramec, who raised more than $84,000. Several sitting legislators gave four-figure donations, including House Speaker Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow), House Appropriations and Budget Committee Chairman Trey Caldwell (R-Faxon), Rep. Carl Newton (R-Cherokee), Rep. Scott Fetgatter (R-Okmulgee), House Majority Leader Mark Lawson (R-Sapulpa), Rep. Robert Manger (R-OKC) and Rep. Mike Osburn (R-Edmond).
“The people of this district should have safe roads to drive on, they should have safe drinking water, and they should have good sewage,” Travis said in an interview ahead of Election Night. “Being in the last three (states for education rankings), there is no excuse for that. I think our biggest thing is we need to focus on education.”
House District 35Â is centered on Pawnee County, but it also includes parts of Osage, Creek, Payne and Noble counties. HD 35 represents communities like Cleveland, Hominy, Prue, Oilton, Lawrence Creek, Drumright, Glencoe, Morrison and Red Rock, as well as a square mile around Lakeside Golf Course on the north edge of Stillwater. HD 35 also covers parts of three federally recognized tribal nations: the Osage Nation, the Pawnee Nation and the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians.
Elections results are unofficial until finalized by the Oklahoma State Election Board.
Collinsville elects, Jenks approves bonds
Northeast of HD 35’s legislative election, the City of Collinsville held a municipal election for Ward 4 on the Collinsville City Commission, where incumbent Joe Sagi held off a challenge from Elizabeth Barry. Sagi finished with 86 votes (55.5 percent) to Barry’s 69 votes (44.5 percent).
Sagi, a Cherokee Nation citizen, had the endorsement of Cherokee Nation Councilor Joe Deere. Barry is a member of the Collinsville Planning Commission, to which Collinsville city attorney Nathan Floyd recently sent a legal notice advising that the body not block or delete comments from constituents on social media.
To the south, Jenks Public Schools voters approved two bond proposals worth about $20.3 millions. Proposition 1 passed with 82.5 percent support (1,560 votes for, 331 votes against), while Proposition 2 passed with 83.3 percent (1,576 votes for, 316 votes against).
Jenks Proposition 1 authorizes $19.64 million in projects, including:
- $1.6 million for renovating the district’s Freshman Academy;
- $500,000 for acquiring textbooks, media equipment and software;
- $270,000 for district-wide safety upgrades;
- $3.71 million for district-wide technology upgrades;
- $5.9 million for upgrades to the tennis facility;
- $300,000 for school bus air conditioning;
- $2.6 million for a fieldhouse expansion;
- $3.225 million for building repairs
- $1.02 million for equipment district-wide;
- $400,000 for printing equipment; and
- $115,000 for a bond consultant and financial fees.
Jenks Proposition 2 authorizes $600,000 for transportation equipment.
