Adam Pugh to stay on state superintendent ballot, Oklahoma election board decides

OKLAHOMA CITY — An attempt to remove Sen. Adam Pugh from the election ballot for state superintendent has failed.

The Oklahoma State Election Board decided at a hearing Thursday that Pugh, R-Edmond, can continue running for the state’s top education office. His primary election opponent and fellow state legislator, Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin, contested his candidacy.

“I just first want to thank the board really for acting swiftly and fairly and justly,” Pugh said after the hearing. “I’m relieved, obviously, and it’s time to be back on the campaign trail, which I will be tonight.”

Hasenbeck said she will ask the Oklahoma Supreme Court to hear the contest of candidacy case, particularly for further review of the constitutional questions it raises.

“Our challenge to Senator Pugh’s candidacy is rooted in Oklahoma constitutional law,” she wrote in a statement. “This is not the type of election-law challenge with which the Election Board typically deals.”

She contended Pugh is ineligible for the position because his Senate term would overlap with an increase to the state superintendent’s salary, which she said would violate the Oklahoma Constitution.

The Statewide Official Compensation Commission voted in November to raise the superintendent’s annual pay from $124,373 to $175,000, but it exempted any sitting state lawmaker from receiving the higher rate. The raise will take effect after this year’s November General Election. 

Pugh and Hasenbeck’s legislative terms overlapped with the commission’s approval of the pay increase, but Hasenbeck’s House term will end before the raise is officially implemented.

Pugh’s Senate term doesn’t end until 2028, meaning it overlaps with both the commission’s vote and the implementation of the salary increase. This should disqualify him, even though he didn’t vote on the pay raise, Hasenbeck’s attorney, Spencer Habluetzel, said.

An independent commission, not the Legislature, approved the salary increase, Pugh’s written response states. The commission ordered that the pay raise wouldn’t apply to any sitting member of the Legislature elected to statewide office. That means Pugh wouldn’t receive the higher salary if he wins the superintendent election, he contended.

The contest of his candidacy is “nothing more than a campaign stunt,” his response states.

The three-member state Election Board voted unanimously to deny Hasenbeck’s request to strike him from the ballot. The board heard arguments from Hasenbeck’s and Pugh’s attorneys, asked questions and deliberated privately for more than an hour before reaching its decision.

Along with Pugh and Hasenbeck, the Republican primary ballot will include Peggs Public Schools Superintendent John Cox, former Tulsa Technology Center administrator and state board official Robert Franklin, teacher and pastor James Taylor, Southern Nazarene University senior research analyst Debra Herlihy and William Crozier.

Former El Reno Public Schools Superintendent Craig McVay and former Tulsa Board of Education member Jennettie Marshall are running for the Democratic nomination.

Polls will open June 11-13 for early voting and on the primary election date June 16. If no candidate earns more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote earners will advance to a runoff election Aug. 25.