John, 

Let’s start with the bad news, Luke Kruse lost the special election for House District 35; however, he won in his hometown of Morrison along with four other precincts. This proves that name recognition and a common sense candidate mean more than party affiliation. Luke over performed against the 2024 margin by 30 points!

I hope you'll join me in thanking Luke Kruse and his family as well as the many volunteers for the race they ran.

Luke's leadership and history of service in his community helped him win over voters that had not engaged with a Democratic candidate in years. 

Without paid staff, Luke, his closest supporters, and even strangers from other parts of the state took on campaigning with determination and enthusiasm. Our amazing ODP staff jumped right in with the same enthusiasm, providing support for every step of the campaign. We were able to help Luke's team send out multiple mailers and launched an aggressive canvassing program knocking doors in every county and precinct in HD35 - that district hasn't seen Democratic organizing like that since 2004.

This campaign made Republicans sweat. They sent several mailers boosting turnout in the general election. In competitive special election primaries in 2025, Republican turnout actually decreased from the runoff to the general. Our aggressive campaign with Luke forced Republicans to work the race and it was still the best Democratic performance in the district since 2008.

While his opponent out-raised Luke by more than 3-to-1 with large gifts from industry and Republican leadership, Oklahoma's grassroots Democrats helped build a visible, viable campaign competing fiercely. 

We know it’s an uphill battle in rural Oklahoma for Democrats, but Luke Kruse can give us all hope for a better future. We plan to take the same determination and hard work from HD35 across the state to elect more Democrats.

On to November!

Ilibayya'shki (We're in this together),

Kati Cain

OKDEMS Secretary

As Oklahoma Democrats, we are working every day to engage, connect, and organize Oklahomans to elect Democrats at every level of government.