Oklahoma lawmakers to be sworn in next week

OKLAHOMA CITY – Newly elected Oklahoma state lawmakers will be sworn into office next week.

Senators will be sworn into office at 2 p.m. Monday while House members will take the oath of office at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

The recent elections didn’t change the balance of power in the Senate.

Six of the eight Senate Democrats were reelected unopposed.

The Senate will have 40 Republicans and eight Democrats with the lieutenant governor casting a vote if there is a tie. T.W. Shannon, a Republican and former House Speaker, was elected lieutenant governor, replacing Matt Pinnell, a Republican who could not run again due to term limits.

Some more vocal members of the conservative Freedom Caucus lost their bids for reelection, including Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin. Deevers didn’t make it out of the primary in Senate District 32. Republican Curtis W. Erwin was elected to the post.

Democrats picked up six seats in the House by defeating five Republican incumbents and taking an open seat previously held by the GOP.

The election results bring the balance of power to 75 Republicans and 26 Democrats in the 101-member body. 

Statewide officials will take their oaths of office in January.