2025 Oklahoma House of Representatives District 71 special election

2025 Oklahoma House of Representatives District 71 special election

←  2024 June 10, 2025 2026 →
Oklahoma House of Representatives District 71
Candidate Amanda Clinton Beverly A. Atteberry Party Democratic Republican
Representative before election Amanda Swope Democratic Elected Representative TBD

A special election in the U.S. state of Oklahoma is scheduled to be held on June 10, 2025, to elect a new member for the 71st District in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, representing a portion of Tulsa County. The election will fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Democratic state representative Amanda Swope upon her appointment to become the Tulsa Director of Tribal Policy & Partnership.

Procedure and background

Voter party registration in HD 71 as of January 15, 2025 per the Oklahoma State Election Board:

1. Libertarian (1.19%)
2. Republican (36.18%)
3. Democratic (38.26%)
4. Independent (24.37%)

Two-round special primary elections are held before the general election. If a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the first round of a primary, they automatically win the nomination and precede to the general election. However, if no candidate receives 50%, a second round is held between the top two candidates. Political parties may choose whether to have open primaries or closed primaries. The Oklahoma Democratic Party has open primaries and allows independents to vote in their primaries, while the Oklahoma Republican Party and the Oklahoma Libertarian Party have closed primaries, where only party members can vote. If only one candidate files for the primary, no primary election is held and they automatically win the nomination, and if they have no opponents in the general election, no general election is held. ^[1]

The special election was made necessary by the resignation of incumbent Democratic representative Amanda Swope effective January 28, 2025, to become Tulsa's director of tribal policy. She had served in the state house since November 2022.

The primary election was scheduled for April 1, 2025, with a runoff on May 13. The general election will be held on June 10. ^[2] The winner of the general election will serve the remainder of the unexpired term until November 2026.

As of January 15, 2025, there were 24,626 registered voters in HD 71, with 9,421 Democrats (38%), 8,909 Republicans (36%), 294 Libertarians (1%), and 6,002 independents (24%). ^[3]

Previous results

This table shows every election in HD 71 won by the previous incumbent, Democrat Amanda Swope, and the election immediately preceding.

Year	Democrats			Republicans			Mgn.	Ref.
2024	Amanda Swope (i)	Unopp.					D+100	[4]
2022	Amanda Swope	7,028	60.79%	Mike Masters	4,534	39.21%	D+21.58	[5]
2020	Denise Brewer (i)	8,042	54.30%	Mike Masters	6,767	45.70%	D+8.60	[6]

Republican primary

Candidates

Advanced to runoff

• Beverly A. Atteberry, attorney and businesswoman, candidate for this seat in 2020 and 2018
• Tania Garza, real estate and insurance agent

Eliminated in first round

• Heidemarie Fuentes

Results

First round

Republican primary first round precinct results

Atteberry:   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   80–90% Tie:   30–40%   40–50%

Garza:   50–60%   60–70% Fuentes:   30–40%   50–60%   60–70%

2025 Oklahoma House of Representatives District 71 special Republican primary (first round) ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Beverly A. Atteberry	219	48.56%
	Republican	Tania Garza	132	29.27%
	Republican	Heidemarie Fuentes	100	22.17%
Total votes			451	100.00%

Runoff

Republican primary runoff precinct results

Atteberry:   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100%

Garza:   50–60%   80–90% Tie:   50%

2025 Oklahoma House of Representatives District 71 special Republican primary (runoff) ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Beverly A. Atteberry	147	66.22%
	Republican	Tania Garza	75	33.79%
Total votes			222	100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Amanda Clinton, businesswoman and adjunct professor, Cherokee Nation employee ^[9]

Eliminated in primary

• Dennis Baker, former police officer and FBI worker, candidate for U.S. Senate in 2022, nominee for Oklahoma's 1st congressional district in 2024 ^[9]
• Hudson Harder, teacher ^[9]
• Ben Riggs, teacher ^[9]

Endorsements

Dennis Baker

Politicians

• Jena Nelson, nominee for state superintendent in 2022 ^[9]

Organizations

• Advance Native Political Leadership (co-endorsement with Clinton) ^[10]

Amanda Clinton

Politicians

• Monroe Nichols, mayor of Tulsa (2024–present) ^[9]

Organizations

• Advance Native Political Leadership (co-endorsement with Baker) ^[10]

Ben Riggs

Politicians

• Amanda Swope, state representative for this district (2022–2025) ^[9]

Results

Democratic primary precinct results

Clinton:   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%

Tie:   40–50%

2025 Oklahoma House of Representatives District 71 special Democratic primary ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Amanda Clinton	1,146	51.25%
	Democratic	Dennis Baker	587	26.25%
	Democratic	Ben Riggs	363	16.23%
	Democratic	Hudson Harder	140	6.26%
Total votes			2,236	100.00%

General election

2025 Oklahoma House of Representatives District 71 special election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Amanda Clinton
	Republican	Beverly A. Atteberry

Fundraising

2025 HD 71 special election campaign finance ^[11]

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	As of...
Dennis Baker (D)	$189,345.87	$132,841.47	May 5, 2025
Amanda Clinton (D)	$95,185.00	$85,023.15	May 5, 2025
Heidemarie Fuentes (R)	$3,625.00	$5,832.30	May 5, 2025
Tania Garza (R)	$4,322.88	$2,024.41	May 5, 2025
Hudson Harder (D)	$15,358.00	$15,358.00	May 4, 2025
Ben Riggs (D)	$43,515.00	$24,791.05	May 5, 2025
Total	$351,351.75	$265,870.38

See also

• 2025 Oklahoma elections
• 2025 Oklahoma House of Representatives District 74 special election
• 2025 Oklahoma Senate District 8 special election
• 2025 United States state legislative special elections

External links

• Voting information (Oklahoma State Election Board)

Official campaign Web sites

• Amanda Clinton (D)
• Tania Garza (R)
• Dennis Baker (D, eliminated)
• Heidemarie Fuentes (R, eliminated)
• Hudson Harder (D, eliminated)
• Ben Riggs (D, eliminated)

References

1. "Primary and Runoff Primary Elections". Oklahoma State Election Board. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
2. "Oklahoma House of Representatives District 71". Ballotpedia. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
3. "Current Registration Statistics by District" (PDF). Oklahoma State Election Board. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
4. "NOVEMBER 05 2024 Official Results". Oklahoma State Election Board. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
5. "NOVEMBER 08 2022 Official Results". Oklahoma State Election Board. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
6. "NOVEMBER 03 2020 Official Results". Oklahoma State Election Board. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
7. "Official Results: April 1, 2025". OK Election Results. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
8. "FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 71 (UNEXPIRED TERM)". OK Election Results. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
9. Loveless, Tristan (March 27, 2025). "Cheat sheet: With $305,000 raised, 4 Democrats compete in expensive HD 71 primary". NonDoc. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
10. "2025 Endorsements". Advance Native Political Leadership. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
11. "The Guardian". Oklahoma Ethics Commission. Retrieved May 7, 2025.