(Update:Â On Tuesday, June 16, GOP candidates Pamela Gordon and Rep. David Smith advanced to an Aug. 25 runoff election.)
Seeking his fifth term in office, Rep. David Smith (R-Arpelar) is looking to defend his House District 18 seat against a former educator and a retired fire chief who say issues are not being addressed at the Oklahoma State Capitol.
Along with Smith, who narrowly ousted a Democratic incumbent in 2018, fellow Republicans Shelton Foster and Pamela Gordon filed for the HD 18 seat, which represents all of Hughes County and portions of Pittsburg, Coal, and Okfuskee counties in southeast Oklahoma.
HD 18 covers the communities of Calvin, McAlester, Holdenville, Okemah, Wetumka, Weleetka, Boley and Paden.
The candidates appeared at an April 11 candidate forum in McAlester.
If no HD 18 candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in the June 16 Republican primary, the top two finishers will advance to an Aug. 25 runoff. The winner will take the seat, as no candidates from other parties filed.
The following cheat sheet provides an overview of HD 18 candidates and is derived from publicly available information, such as campaign websites, social media pages, news articles and podcast appearances. Candidates are listed alphabetically.
Shelton Foster
Age: 47
Profession/background: According to his Facebook, Shelton Foster served 25 years with the Holdenville Fire Department before retiring as fire chief in 2023. He is also the current president of the Hughes County Cattle Association.
Platform: During the candidate forum held April 11 at the Southeast Expo Center in McAlester, Foster said he wants better representation for rural areas.
“We have a lot of issues in rural areas that don’t seem to be heard at the Capitol and get kind of abandoned at the Capitol because all the money comes from the bigger metropolitan areas,” Foster said. “And that’s where I’ve seen the most need for some extra representation is from the rural area, and that’s why I threw my hat in.”
Foster said he also wants to see a better family structure in rural communities after having adopted two children into his family.
“We have a lot of broken families out there, and we need to get that family group back together, keep those families back together, keep them together, and it’ll help us out in the long run on everything, but (a) full family at home exalts a lot of problems,” Foster said.
Pamela Gordon
Age: 66
Profession/background: According to a story by KFOR in 2024, Pamela Gordon was the head of the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s grant writing program under former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters. However, she resigned after feeling like the department was losing money owing to Walters’ detachment from day-to-day functions. Before taking the job with OSDE, she was the superintendent for Caney Public Schools and has worked in education for more than 30 years.
Gordon previously ran for the Republican nomination for Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District in 2022, garnering only 3 percent support in the crowded primary.
Platform: On Facebook, she said educators are needed at the decision-making table.
“People who understand the realities of the classroom, the bus route, the budget, and the community,” Gordon said. “I bring that experience, and I will be a voice for practical, responsible solutions that strengthen, not undermine, rural schools.”
In an interview with McAlester Radio’s Chase McNutt, Gordon said protecting rural property owners from eminent domain and investing in legacy farmers and ranchers are also part of her platform.
“When we have to worry about the possibility of eminent domain because of something that our bureaucracy wants to implement, we have a problem with that. We ought to be able to make our own decisions on what we want to do with our land,” Gordon said. “We also need to invest in legacy farming and ranching, because there are some of our kids who want to come back, and you know, if they’re away, because we have very little ability to make a good living around here, and they want to come back and be on their family farms and ranches, we need to make sure that they have capital to make that initial investment to begin their careers with the legacy farm or ranch.”
Links: Facebook | Website | Twitter
David Smith (incumbent)
Age: 57
Profession/background: David Smith has been HD 18’s representative since he defeated Rep. Donnie Condit (D-McAlester) by 340 votes in the 2018 general election. That year, Smith said he felt God told him to run for state office, and he ousted the incumbent despite doing little more on the campaign trail than putting up some signs.
According to his legislative biography, Smith dropped out of school at 15 and got a job to help support his family. After finding jobs in the construction and oil industries, Smith completed his GED and joined the U.S. Army, specializing in military intelligence, before he was honorably discharged.
Platform: During the 2026 session, Smith sponsored House Bill 3934, which allows dental assistants and hygienists to perform more supervised duties.
“This will help us fill gaps, particularly in rural Oklahoma, where people lack access to dentists,” Smith said. “This becoming law means people can get necessary dental care where they are instead of having to travel long distances or suffering without treatment.”
Gov. Kevin Stitt signed the bill into law May 5.
A second bill proposed by Smith, which would have frozen property taxes on destroyed homes, passed the House unanimously, but it stalled in the Senate.
He was honored as representative of the year by the Oklahoma Veterans Council in 2025.
During the candidate forum held April 11, Smith apologized to those who feel he isn’t doing a good job at the Capitol.
“As for people in rural Oklahoma not feeling that I’m doing a good job, all I can do is apologize for that. You can feel that way, but for the last eight years, you haven’t. We’ve run some bills to actually help the district, and they have passed, which, that’s a good thing,” Smith said. “I don’t know if anybody knows how hard it is to get a bill passed, but there’s more to it than just going up to the State Capitol for four months, because not only while we’re up there, but people in the district still have problems, so we have to work on those problems. The eight months that we’re not up there, there’s still problems.”
Links: Facebook
