City Council Elections

Oklahoma City – Sheryl Janis, Candidate for Edmond City Council (Ward 4), officially filed her Petition for Recount today with the Oklahoma County Election Board. Faced with an impossible deadline, and $0 left in the campaign budget, Janis’ supporters rallied to her defense Thursday evening and raised an astounding $1,975 in only 3 hours in a fundraiser spearheaded by Ignite Liberty.

An overwhelmed Janis stated that her concern is solely that the election reflected the will of the voters. “My only goal is to ensure that the election reflects the true and accurate will of the Edmond voters,” Janis remarked, “regardless of who ends up winning in the end.”

She added, “I am overwhelmed and deeply humbled that people would rally around me for this reason. I am astonished at the enormous outpouring of love and support from those who supported me, and even those who did not. It’s obvious that Edmond voters care deeply about election integrity, and I am committed to ensuring that our elections are truly the safest and most secure in the country.”

The recount has been officially scheduled for April 20th at the Oklahoma County Election Board. Counting will begin at 10:00am sharp and continue around the clock until all cast ballots (including absentee) have been recounted. Ignite Liberty will be spearheading the efforts to organize volunteers to serve as poll watchers/counters/challengers for the Janis Campaign. Those interested in volunteering to help the recount can email us directly at patriot@igniteliberty.net.

Best and Lariviere Stand Down

Meanwhile both the Margaret Best (Edmond School Board) and Derek Lariviere (Deer Creek School Board) campaigns have decided not to challenge the Tuesday elections. While there was evidence of suspicious activity at some of the polling places, neither campaign felt that the results of a recount would flip their races. Best lost to Lee Ann Kuhlman by 320 votes (8.9% of the vote). Lariviere lost to Michael Kiehn by 152 votes (5.6% of the vote).

In an interview with Ignite Liberty, Lariviere thanked his supporters, stating, “I am deeply grateful for the enormous support that I received from the Deer Creek community. My family and I have lived here for years, and my kids have attended Deer Creek schools since Kindergarten. Despite our loss this Tuesday, we remain deeply committed to our friends and neighbors, and I look forward to continuing to serve our community.Stay tuned for my next steps, this is just the beginning!”

Best echoed those sentiments when speaking with Ignite Liberty Thursday evening. “I am overwhelmed by the incredible support I have received from the Edmond community. While the relentless attacks my family and I have received during this campaign have been extremely difficult, we remain committed to the Edmond community and to making Edmond Public School the best school district in the state.”

Both Best and Lariviere have pledged their support to help Sheryl Janis’ recount efforts, and have called upon their supporters to volunteer.

Oklahoma City – In a night when the future of liberty and freedom in Oklahoma City literally hung by a thread, Liberty Candidates Jake Merrick, Bradley Carter, Barbara Young and Stacie Peterson scored huge victories over establishment candidates.

While all of the Liberty Candidates trailed after the absentee voting, a typical pattern given the predilection of Democrats and liberal Republican to vote absentee, the biggest rally of the night belonged to Stacie Peterson, Edmond Ward 4. Peterson trailed by several hundred votes when the night began, only to pull out a 317-vote victory as the last precincts rolled in.

The biggest surprise of the night came from the bellwether OKC Ward 3 race where Barbara Young, who failed to take a single precinct in the February primary, rallied from a slim 34-vote deficit in the absentee votes tonight to storm to a resounding 552-vote victory over the Republican imposter Jessica Martinez-Brooks. Overwhelmed with her victory, the jubilant Young Campaign released the following statement:

“Thank you OKC neighbors! From supporting law enforcement, fighting for infrastructure and investment in our part of OKC to keeping taxes low and creating jobs for our families, I’ll champion our shared values, and my door is open to everyone. I appreciate the robust debate we’ve had about the future of the city during this campaign, and I commend my opponent for putting her name on the ballot… an act of love, dedication and courage! I’ll represent everyone if you voted for me or not, and I look forward to working hard for our ward three families.”

The closest race of the evening belonged to OKC Ward 1. For most of the night as little as 1 vote separated Bradley Carter and Shay Varnell. As the Canadian County results rolled in, which broke for Carter by a whopping 714votes, he was able to overcome a 62-vote absentee vote deficit for a 372 vote victory.

The largest margin of victory of the night belonged to Jake Merrick, who overcame a 245-vote deficit early to win by an astonishing 3,500 votes in the staunchly conservative Senate District 22 to replace US Congresswoman Stephanie Bice (CD 5).

Sadly, the evening wasn’t a complete sweep for the Liberty Candidates, as Margaret Best, Sheryl Janis, and Nathan Walters suffered defeats in the Edmond municipal races, likely due to the Edmond City Council ending the mask mandate two weeks ago. It seems the voters of Edmond have much shorter memories than expected.

Derrick Lariviere fought valiantly in the Deer Creek School Board (Ward 1) election, challenging the incumbent Michael Kiehn in a hotly contested race. Despite the strong efforts, Lariviere eventually lost to Kiehn by only 152 votes. Given his strong showing, and the fact that Councilman Stonecipher (OKC Ward 8) is up for re-election in 2 years, this may not be the last we’ve heard of Mr. Lariviere.

Edmond results not withstanding, the future of liberty and freedom in Oklahoma City is bright. When faced with losing the last bastions of conservatism in the capital city, the citizens of Oklahoma City’s Wards 1 and 3 rose to the occasion and stood tall. With tonight’s victory they preserved the opportunity to retake the city council with the ’23 election cycle. It’s a night to celebrate for sure.

Oklahoma City – As early voting begins in the metro area’s municipal races, the gap between the two candidates for OKC’s Ward 1 is widening.

Bradley Carter’s campaign, buoyed by his resounding primary victory, has continued its upward momentum by focusing their efforts on the three Oklahoma County precincts where Varnell bested them in February (the only precincts that Varnell actually won). This continues the strategy that carried them to the February 9th victory, where they focused the entirety of the campaign’s energy on shoring up support in their own back yard of Canadian County.

Now the strategy appears to be paying off in spades, as Carter continues to hold a commanding lead in Canadian County, allowing him to turn his focus to capturing the three precincts that Varnell won. According to the campaign, the results have been strong, with the residents of the west OKC neighborhoods responding overwhelmingly favorably to Carter’s strong leadership, and quiet resolve.

Varnell, on the other hand, appears to have spread himself too thin from the beginning leaving him struggling to find votes as we near the finish line. Varnell split his focus in the primaries between Oklahoma and Canadian County, and as a result won neither. He split the Oklahoma County precincts with Jay Sherrill, Nana Dankwa, and the rest of the primary candidates, picking up only 3. Meanwhile, he lost every single precinct in Canadian County to Carter by a resounding margin.

Now as we near the finish line, reports from the field state that Varnell’s campaign has gone stone-dead silent on social media, while the candidate has spent the majority of the last couple of weeks going to the voters who voted in February begging them to switch sides and vote for him over Carter.

It appears like Varnell, having spent all of his political capital in February, is out of gas…and out of time.

Oklahoma City – With early voting in the local municipal races beginning tomorrow, there is perhaps no other race this election season that is a more perfect microcosm of the fight for liberty and freedom in OKC, and indeed the state as a whole, than the OKC Ward 3 race.

On one hand is the Liberty Candidate, Barbara Young, whose biography reads like the poster-child for conservative grassroots candidates. A 3rd generation Oklahoman and Air Force Brat, Young graduated from Putnam City High School before attending UCO as a Political Science major. She then went on to work as a 911 dispatcher for OCPD for three years before landing at Love’s where she has enjoyed a hugely successful career while raising five children with her husband, Michael.

Young is endorsed by every major conservative organization in the city, to include OK2A, OCPAC, OKHPR, OKC Republican Women’s Club, and even has received support from the more centrist OKC Chamber of Commerce PAC (though in fairness they likely are “supporting” every candidate). Her individual endorsements of note include Ignite Liberty President and CD5 Committeeman Bryan Armstrong, OK County GOP Executive Committee Secretary Melissa Armstrong, current Ward 3 Councilman Larry McAtee (a long-time conservative stalwart on the city council), Kelli Payne, Canadian County CD4 Committeewoman, and Tim Long (former Ward 3 candidate).

Young is the epitome of a limited government, pro business, pro liberty conservative who is as authentic as an Oklahoma sunset. While not the most bombastic of candidates, her steely resolve and quiet strength are immediately apparent in face-to-face conversations. It is no wonder why the conservative citizens of Ward 3 have swung hard in her direction since the February primaries.

Meanwhile, Jessica Martinez-Brooks is the poster-child for an imposter. Claiming to be a Republican, and even having spoke at the Oklahoma and Canadian County GOP Conventions, Brooks is anything but. Aside from the deeply concerning issues mentioned in yesterday’s article, Brooks FEC record shows numerous contributions to both the Biden Campaign and Abby Broyles Campaigns. In a state where all 77 counties went for President Trump, no honest conservative  Republican would have done that.

Plain and simple, Brooks is nothing but a Democrat in Republican clothing, and is betting that the conservative residents of Ward 3 are too ignorant or ill-informed to notice.

Her husband, Senator Michael Brooks (D-Oklahoma City), is no friend of liberty either. Of the 21 senate bills on Ignite Liberty’s Legislative tracker, so far Brooks has voted against 19. He abstained from one. The only bill he voted for was SB 926, which authorizes municipalities to issue citations for firing airsoft guns within city limits (what anti-gun Democrat wouldn’t support that?). Senator Brooks has also made significant contributions to Democrat Abby Broyles senate campaign, and supported perhaps the most far-left Democratic Presidential Candidate of all – Cory Booker.

Interesting of note, Senator Brooks made his personal donations under the name Michael Andrew Brooks-Jimenez – the name under which he practices law, likely because he focuses his practice primarily on immigration law and is influential in the Hispanic community in SW OKC. After all, immigrants (illegal and otherwise) are more likely to go to an attorney with a hispanic last name. When it came time to run for office, however, the Jimenez was conveniently dropped so as to appeal to a larger demographic.

From this, it appears as if the one thing the Martinez-Brooks-Jimenez family has mastered is pandering for power – trying to appeal to whichever demographic they think can get them elected. Now Jessica is counting on her pandering to the conservatives of Ward 3 to get her elected. Fortunately for all of us, it appears like Brooks’ charade is falling apart…and not a moment too soon.

Oklahoma City – Liberty Candidate Barbara Young has rallied from her primary election deficit to pull even with Jessica Martinez-Brooks in the OKC Ward 3 race with only a week left before the April 6th general election, overcoming a huge influx of dark money in support of Martinez-Brooks.

In recent weeks, leftist dark money has poured into the Ward using tactics seen by the Kendra Horn campaign during the CD5 race in 2018. Tens of thousands flyers supporting Martinez-Brooks were sent out to residents of the SW OKC Ward complete with Absentee Ballot applications to be returned to the Canadian County Election Board. (see right)

In what appears to be a clear violation of campaign laws, the flyers were bought and paid for by Build and Protect OKC, LLC. While it is not illegal for LLC’s to support candidates, it is illegal for non-existent LLC’s to do so. A search of the Oklahoma Secretary of State’s website revealed that there is no LLC registered in the State of Oklahoma by the name “Build and Protect OKC.” Furthermore, the LLC’s website is little more than a page with an overly vague two-paragraph mission statement. Nothing more.

Despite this blatant attempt at subterfuge, a closer examination of the flyer gives clues as to it’s source (see below). Below “PAID” in the postmark is the word CAMP. CAMP stands for Campaign Advocacy Management Professionals, the political strategist organization founded by none other than Fount Holland – the “Thanos” of Oklahoma politics (to coin the popular Avengers: Endgame movie).

Sadly, Holland is not new to this kind of dirty political tricks. A 2018 Seattle Times article outlined how Holland partnered with a dark-money Federal super PAC based out of Virginia (the now-defunct Conservative Alliance PAC) to take out several staunch conservatives from the state legislature who wouldn’t play nice with the GOP establishment. Now it appears he’s once again up to his old tricks.

The fact that Barbara Young has still managed to erase the lead Martinez-Brooks had after the primary in the face of such staunch opposition is a strong testament not only to her leadership and conservative values, but is also a sign that the voters of Ward 3 have awoken to the dirty tactics of the Left and aren’t going to fall for it.

It’s a good thing, too. With City Council elections historically having low turnouts, Young will need every single freedom-loving conservative in Ward 3 to show up and vote for her. As we will see in tomorrow’s candidate profile article on Martinez-Brooks, the future of freedom and liberty in OKC depends on it.

Oklahoma City – Arctic weather couldn’t keep the fierce, passionate supporters of the metro area’s Liberty Slate of candidates from the polls yesterday as all six candidates finished in first or second, securing their spot in the general election runoff on April 6th. The night was not as kind to the establishment candidates, with two of the favorites suffering defeat.

Canadian County proved to be pivotal to Jake Merrick (SD22) and Bradley Carter (OKC Ward 1), as both candidates took commanding leads in the staunchly conservative county – a lead that held up as Oklahoma County votes rolled in later in the evening.

Merrick’s race proved to be the outlier of the night as all of the Liberty candidates had to overcome significant deficits in the absentee votes except for him. Merrick only trailed establishment favorite Keri Shipley by only 41 votes after the absentee votes were counted. That changed quickly, however, as the Canadian County votes came in as Merrick opened up a nearly 500 vote lead. That lead continued as Oklahoma County votes came in with Merrick taking Oklahoma County by 172 votes.

Bradley Carter initially trailed liberal candidates Megan Scott and Nana Abram Dankwa by 69 votes and 59 votes, respectively. That quickly changed, however, as Carter stormed to a lead in Canadian County, outpacing his closest competitor by 354 votes. Carter’s lead held through the night as he only trailed establishment favorite Shay Varnell in Oklahoma County by 100 votes. Carter ended up in first place by 298 votes at the end of the night.

When asked about his showing in Oklahoma County, Carter’s campaign was quick to point out that the vast majority of their campaigning focused solely in Canadian County. This was largely done out of respect to the Varnell and Sherrill campaigns, a courtesy that was not returned by Varnell. This bodes well for Carter’s chances in the April runoff as his campaign will turn their sights to the Oklahoma County precincts within Ward 1.

The closest aspect of the Ward 1 race was in the race for second. Mick Cornett endorsee Jay Sherrill, whose campaign reportedly raised over $50,000, was neck and neck with Varnell and Dankwa early, but faded as the night went on leaving a two man race for second. That race was holding in Dankwa’s favor until Varnell’s precinct results put him over the top for good.

OKC’s Ward 3 race was perhaps the toughest of the night for the Liberty candidate, as Barbara Young had to battle all night to stay in second place. Young trailed left-leaning candidate Jessica Martinez-Brooks by 54 votes in the absentee ballots. That deficit widened throughout the evening as she trailed Brooks by 112 in Election Day votes, resulting in a second-place finish by 164 votes.

Young was chased all night by Tim Long and Kelli Payne, but managed to secure a place in the runoff elections by 95 votes. This likely bodes well for Young in the runoff as she is likely to pick up the votes from Payne supporters as well as those from Allen Swanda.

The rally trend of the night continued in the Edmond races, as all three Liberty candidates overcame huge deficits in absentee votes to finish in first place. The largest comeback of the three belonged to Margaret Best, who trailed by nearly 100 votes early only to rally and win the Election Day ballots by 247 votes in the race for Edmond Public Schools Office No.1. Best secured her spot in the April runoff by beating in incumbent Lee Ann Kuhlman by 160 votes.

The second largest rally was held by Sheryl Janis in the Edmond Ward 3 race. Janis only mustered 28 votes in the absentee ballots and trailed by 78 votes going into the Election Day tallies. That deficit didn’t last long as Janis stormed to a resounding 718-414 victory over second place finisher Christin Mugg, a local attorney. That turnout nearly gave Janis enough to secure the victory outright as she finished with 45.76% of the vote. Janis and Mugg both now head to the April runoff election.

The Edmond Ward 4 race seemed the most peculiar of the night, as the vote tally seemed to stall after only 2 of the 8 precincts reported. Ignite Liberty has not been able to confirm the reason for this, however it was likely due to poor roads from winter weather that delayed the reporting. Stacie Peterson, the Liberty candidate, only trailed David Miller, former Edmond city councilman, by 42 votes after absentee.

As the evening wore on, the race stalled out with Miller and Peterson neck in neck for a couple hours. Once the precincts finally came in, however, Peterson finished with a commanding 238 vote victory over Miller in a four-way race after winning Election Day ballots by 280 votes. The two will now head to the April runoff.

Throughout the night one thing seemed certain, the passionate supporters of the Liberty candidates refused to be deterred by the record-breaking arctic weather. While this is very encouraging for the future of freedom and liberty in the metro area, the work is only half done. Every candidate will have to double down their efforts in order to weather the certain onslaught from an angry establishment. As the April runoff approaches, it is incumbent upon us, the people, to get out and support each of these candidates through donating, volunteering, knocking on doors, etc. That is the only way we can guarantee that the success of last night extends into the future.

Oklahoma City – With early voting for OKC’s Ward 1 race beginning today, late-breaking revelations are leaving a pall over the campaign of former front-runner, Jay Sherrill. Sherrill, endorsed by former OKC Mayor and failed gubernatorial candidate Mick Cornett, made himself out to be a champion of conservative causes from the beginning of his campaign.

In the mailers sent out to the residents of Ward 1, he stated, “Progressives are hard at work trying to stall our city’s future.” He then went on to highlight how he’ll be the candidate that is “standing strong for law enforcement.” These positions seemed to be strengthened by his early performance at the NW OKC Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum.

However, As part of Ignite Liberty’s investigation into the leading candidates, several social media posts were discovered by those closest to Mr. Sherrill that have cast more than a shadow of doubt on those claims.

A search of Facebook posts made by Sherrills wife, Jessica Smith Sherrill, over the last year reveal multiple posts supportive of the exact same Progressive agenda that Sherrill’s campaign claims to stand against. Several posts show support of Black Lives Matter, a Uber-leftist, anti-cop organization run by admitted trained Marxists Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi.

Black Lives Matter led the violent riots across the country, and even here in the metro area, against the police, spouting anti-cop rhetoric such as, “What do we want? Dead cops. When do we want it? Now” and “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon.” (“Pigs” was a reference to police officers, while  “blanket” was a reference to body bags.).

Black Lives Matter rioters were also responsible for spray painting ACAB, an acronym for “All Cops Are B*stards” on buildings along 23rd Street in Downtown OKC. You can read more about the violent extremist history of Black Lives Matter, including their ties to the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (a front organization for the Chinese Communist Party) here.

Additionally, Mrs. Sherrill’s timeline boasts proud support for the Biden Administration, and particularly Kamala Harris:

Though these posts have not been made by the candidate directly, they do leave the residents of Ward 1 wondering where his loyalties lie. Do they lie with the staunchly conservative residents of Ward 1, many of whom are still reeling from the staggering theft of the Presidential election by Ms. Sherrill’s favorite candidate. Or do they lie with his wife, an apparent proud leftist.

With Marxists fully in control in Washington D.C., and already having representation on the City Council in JoBeth Hamon and James Cooper, it is questionable whether Candidate Sherrill can truly defend the city, and the residents of Ward 1 from the Marxist onslaught that threatens the very liberty and freedom that Oklahomans hold dear.

For the voters of Ward 1 who had considered supporting Sherrill, this wake-up call has come as a shock. If he gets elected to City Council, that shock may very well extend to the entire city.

Copyright, Ignite Liberty, 2021