Analysis: The Story of Oklahoma's Election Night -- Jake Merrick's Big Comeback

Jake Merrick/Photo by Oklahoma State Senate

Gentner Drummond and Mike Mazzei advanced to the Republican runoff for Oklahoma governor on Tuesday night, but they weren’t the candidates everyone was talking about. Instead, much of the discussion on social media centered around State Sen. Jake Merrick’s incredible overperformance.

Merrick, a former state senator from the Oklahoma City area, launched his campaign for governor last year and had run his campaign primarily as a grassroots, supporter-driven cause. Merrick’s campaign stunts — like jogging across Oklahoma and doing regular social media videos — earned him a dedicated following of supporters. He campaigned on an unabashedly pro-life, Christian values platform, casting himself as the candidate for a renewal of Oklahoma.

Still, Merrick had struggled in the polls and was not even invited to the televised debates between the candidates. However, that didn’t stop his campaign and its momentum.

In total, Merrick had raised just a little over $82,000 heading into election night. In comparison, the four other leading candidates — Drummond, Mazzei, former House Speaker Charles McCall, and former Public Safety Commissioner Chip Keating — had all self-funded into the millions of dollars.

On election night, however, Jake Merrick overperformed what many pundits had predicted. He won fourth place with 15 percent — ahead of McCall, who had self-funded more than $5.6 million into his campaign — and won 12 counties. This includes Canadian County — home of Yukon and suburban areas of Oklahoma City — which backed Merrick with 24.5 percent of the vote.

After the election results were announced, Merrick issued a statement on social media thanking his supporters and casting a sunny outlook for the state of Oklahoma.

“We are tremendously blessed with people,” Merrick wrote. “There's no greater blessing than to be surrounded by people who genuinely love you. To all of you who have linked up with us in this crazy life - YOU are our reward. I am humbled and honored to call you all friends.”

At this point, Merrick has not made an endorsement, but voters will likely be anxiously watching to see where the 15 percent of Oklahoma voters who backed the former state senator will end up going in the August runoff election.