A runoff election Tuesday will settle a bitter Republican primary fight for a rural southeast Oklahoma House seat, and because no Democrat filed for the race, whoever wins effectively becomes the district's next state representative. Former Pushmataha County Commissioner Michael Brittingham and businessman Anthony DeVore are the two Republicans left standing after a three-way June primary that came down to a razor-thin margin for second place.
A 24-Vote Squeaker Sets Up the Rematch
In the June 16 primary, Brittingham finished first with 49.1% of the vote, or 2,053 ballots, just short of the outright majority he needed to avoid a runoff, according to MultiState Elections. DeVore edged into second place with 25.7% of the vote, beating out third-place finisher Derek Porter by just 24 votes out of more than 4,100 ballots cast. Because no Democratic or third-party candidate filed for House District 19 this year, Oklahoma election law makes Tuesday's runoff the de facto final contest for the seat, as reported by Tulsa World.
The Oklahoman describes the contest as a bitter legislative race being waged in a sprawling southeast Oklahoma House district, with the runoff set to determine the seat's next occupant, according to The Oklahoman. House District 19 covers all of Choctaw and Pushmataha counties along with parts of Atoka and Bryan counties, an area where poverty rates in some counties run between 17% and 20%, well above the state average.
DeVore's Cockfighting Plea Becomes a Campaign Flashpoint
DeVore, a former president of the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission who has run a residential solar energy business for more than a decade, pleaded no contest in April to a misdemeanor charge of attending an illegal cockfight as a spectator. The plea, entered in McIntosh County District Court, came with a six-month suspended sentence, a $100 fine, and 20 hours of community service, per the same account from Animal Wellness Action published by Animals 24-7. The case traced back to June 2024, when Animal Wellness Action obtained undercover drone footage showing DeVore participating in a cockfighting derby on tribal land, though charges were not formally filed until September 2025.
Cockfighting has been a felony in Oklahoma since voters approved a statewide ban in 2002, and the Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission has long lobbied to reduce those penalties to misdemeanors, according to KGOU. That lobbying history ties directly back to outgoing Rep. Justin Humphrey, who authored multiple bills during his decade in office attempting to soften cockfighting penalties.
Filling Humphrey's Seat in Bigfoot Country
The seat is open because Humphrey, a five-term Republican first elected in November 2016 who often ran uncontested in later cycles, announced last July that he would not seek reelection to the House and would instead run for lieutenant governor, according to Wikipedia's account of his record. Humphrey built a national profile in the district partly through his 2021 push for House Bill 1648, which directed the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission to establish a regulated Bigfoot hunting season and later included a proposed $3 million bounty to capture the creature unharmed, reports the NRA Institute for Legislative Action. That legacy helped cement the district's reputation as Oklahoma's Bigfoot country, a nickname tied to the annual Honobia Bigfoot Festival that draws thousands of tourists to Pushmataha County each fall, a dynamic Hoodline previously reported when a viral TikTok video of a purported sighting racked up more than 2 million views ahead of the 2024 festival. Hoodline has also covered Humphrey's tenure through his proposal to rename the state's Department of Corrections and his outreach to federal officials over a local law enforcement raid.
Endorsements and Economic Pitches Diverge
Brittingham has leaned on institutional support, earning the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Ag Fund's endorsement this year, according to the group's 2026 voter guide. He also previously received a Governor's Commendation in 2016 for risking his life to rescue a woman from floodwaters, a credential his campaign has highlighted alongside a platform focused on public safety partnerships with tribal authorities and county infrastructure upgrades.
DeVore has built his campaign around opposition to eminent domain land seizures in rural Oklahoma for wind farms, solar farms, and AI data centers, according to Townhall. The property-rights message has resonated in a district where land-use disputes over commercial energy and technology projects have become a significant point of contention across rural Oklahoma. With no Democrat on the ballot and the seat's fate resting entirely on Tuesday's runoff, Choctaw, Pushmataha, Atoka, and Bryan county voters are left to weigh a candidate's institutional backing against a rival's populist land-rights message, all set against the backdrop of a district still shaped by its outgoing lawmaker's unconventional legacy.
