1994 Oklahoma gubernatorial election

none January 2025 September 2023 1994 Oklahoma gubernatorial election Oklahoma 1988 presidential no 1990 Oklahoma gubernatorial election 1990 November 8, 1994 1998 Oklahoma gubernatorial election 1998 150x150px File:Frank Keating at a conference, Oct 20, 2001 - cropped.jpg Frank Keating Republican Party (United States) 466,740 46.91% File:Jack Mildren.jpg Jack Mildren Democratic Party (United States) 294,936 29.64% Wes Watkins, 1989.jpg Wes Watkins Independent 233,336 23.45% 1994 Oklahoma gubernatorial election results map by county.svg 300px County resultsKeating: #ffc8cd 30–40% #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70%Mildren: #bdd3ff 30–40% #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60%Watkins: #e6e6e6 30–40% #d3d3d3 40–50% #b0b0b0 50–60% #7e7e7e 60–70% Governor David Walters Democratic Party (United States) Frank Keating Republican Party (United States) 42% 9.19 pp The 1994 Oklahoma gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1994, and was a race for Governor of Oklahoma. Former United States Associate Attorney General Frank Keating pulled an upset in the three-way race to become only the third Republican governor in Oklahoma history. The Democratic vote was split between Lieutenant Governor Jack Mildren, an Oklahoma Sooners star quarterback from 1969 to 1971, and former Democratic congressman Wes Watkins, who ran as an independent. Watkins won 24% of the vote and carried numerous counties (by wide margins in some cases); his 233,000 votes far exceeded Keating's 171,000-vote winning margin over Mildren. This was the first time since Oklahoma statehood that Jackson, Stephens, and Grady counties voted Republican in a gubernatorial election, and the first time since 1914 that Comanche county voted Republican. Primary election Primary elections were held on August 23, 1994 with runoffs occurring on September 20, 1994. Democratic party Lt. Governor Jack Mildren and Bernice Shedrick advanced to the runoff where both candidates received vote totals similar to the first primary, securing the win for Mildren. Candidates Jack Mildren, Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma Bernice Shedrick, state senator Joe Vickers Danny Williams Results Democratic primary results1994 Primary Results https://www.oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/elections/election-results/1994-election-results/1994-primary-results.pdf Oklahoma State Election Board 8 January 2026Ward Lance State of Oklahoma Election Results and Statistics 1994 1994 Oklahoma State Election Board Oklahoma City https://digitalprairie.ok.gov/digital/collection/stgovpub/id/13877 8 January 2026 Jack Mildren Democratic Party (United States) 214,765 48.56% Bernice Shedrick Democratic Party (United States) 165,066 37.33% Danny Williams Democratic Party (United States) 46,571 10.53% Joe Vickers Democratic Party (United States) 15,821 3.58% 442,223 100.00% Democratic primary runoff results1994 Runoff Results https://www.oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/elections/election-results/1994-election-results/1994-runoff-results.pdf Oklahoma State Election Board 8 January 2026 Jack Mildren Democratic Party (United States) 223,861 58.82% Bernice Shedrick Democratic Party (United States) 156,749 41.18% 380,610 100.00% Republican party Frank Keating, a former assistant attorney general and member of the Reagan and Bush administrations, defeated four other Republicans to win the GOP nomination. Candidates Virginia Hale Frank Keating- Assistant Attorney General, General Counsel member, and Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H. W. Bush; Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and United States Associate Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan Jerry Kobyluk Thomas H. Lay Jerry Pierce, member of Oklahoma Senate Results Republican primary results Frank Keating Republican Party (United States) 117,265 56.94% Jerry Pierce Republican Party (United States) 60,280 29.27% Virginia Hale Republican Party (United States) 15,229 7.39% Thomas H. Lay Republican Party (United States) 7,744 3.76% Jerry Kobyluk Republican Party (United States) 5,429 2.64% 205,947 100.00% General election Wes Watkins, a former representative from Oklahoma's 3rd congressional district, mounted an independent campaign for governor. Watkins had previously sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 1990, but narrowly lost in a runoff to David Walters despite having received the most votes in the initial three-way primary. Polling Source Date Keating (R) Mildren (D) Watkins (I) KSWO-TV Nov. 4, 1994 40% 39% 15% Tulsa World Nov. 1, 1994 28% 29% 21% Results 1994 Oklahoma gubernatorial election1994 General Results https://www.oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/elections/election-results/1994-election-results/1994-general-results.pdf Oklahoma State Election Board 8 January 20261994 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Oklahoma https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1994&fips=40&f=0&off=5&elect=0 uselectionatlas.org Republican Party (United States) Frank Keating 466,740 46.91% +14.25% Democratic Party (United States) Jack Mildren 294,936 29.64% -27.77% Independent politician Wes Watkins 233,336 23.45% 995,012 100.00% 171,804 17.27% Republican Party (United States) Democratic Party (United States) +42.02% Results by county County Frank KeatingRepublican Jack MildrenDemocratic Wes WatkinsIndependent MarginBecause this was a three-way race, the margins between county winners and county runners up vary among the candidates. The default margin is Keating over Mildren and other combinations are noted for each county. Total votes cast # % # % # % # %Adair2,06341.95%1,93739.39%91818.67%1262.56%4,918Alfalfa1,01743.44%55023.49%77433.06%243"KeatingWatkins" Keating's margin over Watkins10.38%2,341Atoka83923.18%76121.03%2,01955.79%-1,180"WatkinsKeating" Watkins' margin over Keating-32.61%3,619Beaver1.25258.95%41619.59%45621.47%796"KeatingWatkins"37.48%2,124Beckham2,23541.85%1,59029.77%1,51628.38%64512.08%5,341Blaine1,80342.58%1,07625.41%1,35532.00%448"KeatingWatkins"10.58%4,234Bryan1,68317.19%2,25123.00%5,85559.81%-3,604"WatkinsMildren" Watkins' margin over Mildren-36.82%9,789Caddo2,60732.88%2,70534.11%2,61833.01%-87"MildrenWatkins" Mildren's margin over Watkins-1.10%7,930Canadian15,00460.53%5,46022.03%4,32217.44%9,54438.51%24,786Carter3,78830.41%3,31626.62%5,35242.97%-1,564"WatkinsKeating"-12.56%12,456Cherokee3,62034.63%4,56943.71%2,26521.67%-949-9.08%10,454Choctaw65215.14%1,12726.17%2,52858.70%-1,401"WatkinsMildren"-32.53%4,307Cimarron83060.01%22616.34%32723.64%503"KeatingWatkins"36.37%1,383Cleveland31,45954.29%17,40930.04%9,07615.66%14,05024.25%57,944Coal38119.86%55228.78%98551.36%-433"WatkinsMildren"-22.58%1,918Comanche10,03240.97%9,55439.02%4,90220.02%4781.95%24,488Cotton54523.28%88537.80%91138.91%-26"WatkinsMildren"-1.11%2,341Craig1,56135.50%1,76040.03%1,07624.47%-199-4.53%4,397Creek7,82542.71%6,47635.35%4,02021.94%1,3497.36%18,321Custer3,85747.46%2,09825.82%2,17126.72%1,686"KeatingWatkins"20.75%8,126Delaware4,05043.08%3,61938.50%1,73218.42%4314.58%9,401Dewey87038.91%47221.11%89439.98%-24"WatkinsKeating"-1.07%2,236Ellis78443.58%36520.29%65036.13%134"KeatingWatkins"7.45%1,799Garfield11,12035.34%5,13125.53%3,84319.13%5,98929.80%20,094Garvin2,79533.06%2,67731.66%2,98335.28%-188"WatkinsKeating"-2.22%8,455Grady5,82243.81%3,92129.51%3,54526.68%1,90114.31%13,288Grant1,00440.96%59624.32%85134.72%153"KeatingWatkins"6.24%2,451Greer60930.00%84741.72%57428.28%-238-11.72%2,030Harmon25222.60%46041.26%40336.14%-57"MildrenWatkins"-5.11%1,115Harper72242.55%38522.69%59034.77%132"KeatingWatkins"7.78%1,697Haskell73622.22%1,22036.82%1,35740.96%-137"WatkinsMildren"-4.14%3,313Hughes80518.19%1,11925.29%2,50156.52%-1,382"WatkinsMildren"-31.23%4,425Jackson2,60437.89%2,18031.72%2,08930.39%4246.17%6,873Jefferson40817.17%97240.91%99641.92%-24"WatkinsMildren"-1.01%2,376Johnston50516.84%62020.67%1,87462.49%-1,254"WatkinsMildren"-41.81%2,999Kay8,65248.52%5,24329.40%3,93822.08%3,40919.12%17,833Kingfisher2,62848.74%97418.06%1,79033.20%838"KeatingWatkins"15.54%5,392Kiowa1,35735.41%1,49038.88%98525.70%-133-3.47%3,832Latimer50916.81%1,12137.02%1,39846.17%-277"WatkinsMildren"-9.15%3,028Le Flore2,69926.77%3,52935.00%3,85438.23%-325"WatkinsMildren"-3.22%10,082Lincoln3,77739.49%2,25023.52%3,53836.99%239"KeatingWatkins"2.50%9,565Logan5,02051.39%2,52625.86%2,22322.76%2,49425.53%9,769Love36614.86%54522.13%1,55263.01%-1,007"WatkinsMildren"-40.89%2,463Major1,58849.19%57917.94%1,06132.87%527"KeatingWatkins"16.33%3,228Marshall83121.78%1,07528.18%1,90950.04%-834"WatkinsMildren"-21.86%3,815Mayes3,90236.47%4,45341.62%2,34521.92%-551-5.15%10,700McClain3,54543.16%2,42129.47%2,24827.37%1,12413.68%8,214McCurtain1,55318.57%2,46129.43%4,34852.00%-1,887"WatkinsMildren"-22.57%8,362McIntosh1,93127.67%2,99042.85%2,05729.48%-933"MildrenWatkins"-13.37%6,978Murray1,01125.71%1,18830.21%1,73444.09%-546"WatkinsMildren"-13.88%3,933Muskogee6,72833.93%8,51542.94%4,58723.13%-1,787-9.01%19,830Noble1,86543.01%84019.37%1,63137.62%234"KeatingWatkins"5.40%4,336Nowata1,14836.06%1,19537.53%84126.41%-47-1.48%3,184Okfuskee1,01828.29%1,25334.82%1,32736.88%-74"WatkinsMildren"-2.06%3,598Oklahoma107,48958.15%50,58927.37%26,78514.49%56,90030.78%184,863Okmulgee3,33531.23%4,71844.18%2,62624.59%-1,383-12.95%10,679Osage4,86339.15%5,04040.58%2,51820.27%-177-1.43%12,421Ottawa2,98534.62%4,32550.16%1,31215.22%-1,340-15.54%8,622Pawnee2,03838.27%1,88935.47%1,39926.27%1492.80%5,326Payne7,51836.95%3,45516.98%9,37446.07%-1,856"WatkinsKeating"-9.12%20,347Pittsburg3,35224.27%4,55833.00%5,90342.74%-1,345"WatkinsMildren"-9.74%13,813Pontotoc2,45620.41%2,37719.75%7,20159.84%-4,745"WatkinsKeating"-39.43%12,034Pottawatomie7,45841.08%4,96727.36%5,73031.56%1,728"KeatingWatkins"9.52%18,155Pushmataha76018.21%1,11526.71%2,29955.08%-1,184"WatkinsMildren"-28.37%4,174Roger Mills70538.55%47926.19%64535.27%60"KeatingWatkins"3.28%1,829Rogers9,99150.34%6,10630.76%3,75118.90%3,88519.57%19,848Seminole2,04927.32%1,94325.91%3,50746.77%-1,458"WatkinsKeating"-19.44%7,499Sequoyah2,82735.03%3,91148.46%1,33316.52%-1,084-13.43%8,071Stephens5,55636.57%4,93132.46%4,70430.97%6254.11%15,191Texas2,66859.13%79217.55%1,05223.32%1,616"KeatingWatkins"35.82%4,512Tillman76628.02%1,21544.44%75327.54%-449-16.42%2,734Tulsa99,60659.93%45,54927.41%21,04412.66%54,05732.53%166,199Wagoner7,31947.35%5,16733.43%2,97219.23%2,15213.92%15,458Washington10,31959.77%4,40125.49%2,54414.74%5,91834.28%17,264Washita1,64540.07%1,29331.50%1,16728.43%3528.57%4,105Woods1,64844.50%83022.41%1,22533.08%423"KeatingWatkins"11.42%3,703Woodward3,12049.89%1,33621.36%1,79828.75%1,322"KeatingWatkins"21.14%6,254Totals466,47046.91%294,93629.64%233,33623.45%171,80417.27%995,012 Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Adair Alfalfa Beckham Blaine Canadian Cimarron Cleveland Comanche Creek Custer Delaware Ellis Garfield Grady Grant Harper Jackson Kay Kingfisher Lincoln Logan Major McClain Noble Oklahoma Pawnee Pottawatomie Roger Mills Rogers Stephens Tulsa Wagoner Washington Washita Woods Woodward Counties that flipped from Democratic to Independent Atoka Bryan Carter Choctaw Coal Cotton Dewey Garvin Haskell Hughes Jefferson Johnston Latimer Le Flore Love Marshall McCurtain Murray Okfuskee Payne Pittsburg Pontotoc Pushmataha Seminole Notes References 1994 Gubernatorial Okla Category:November 1994 in the United States Category:1994 in Oklahoma Category:Long stubs with short prose