After mounting a statewide effort to oust Senate Republican leadership members, the hardline conservative Freedom Caucus saw one of its leaders defeated Tuesday and two other allies pushed into runoffs.
The vice chairman of the Freedom Caucus, Sen. Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin), finished last in a three-way primary contest in the Lawton area, boxing him out of the Aug. 25 runoff and ousting him from the seat he won with only 37 percent of the vote in a 2023 special election.
According to unofficial results, Deevers drew 29.9 percent support (1,470 votes) in SD 32. Baptist pastor Curtis Erwin received 33.1 percent (1,627 votes), and Dr. Jean Hausheer received 37 percent (1,815 votes). Deevers defeated Hausheer in the 2023 special election. Hausheer and Erwin will face off in the August runoff.
In a statement, Hausheer said the results sent a clear message.
“Our community is tired of drama and political games and ready for effective conservative representation that delivers for our families,” Hausheer said. “I will keep fighting for the commonsense, constitutional conservative principles I have run on since day one — protecting the unborn and the Second Amendment, expanding school choice, cutting taxes, slashing regulations and bringing down the cost of health care.”
Hausheer is the medical director for the Pregnancy Resource Center of Southwest Oklahoma. She was a member of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority Board until she was removed by Gov. Kevin Stitt. At the time, she told KSWO that she felt the decision was political. Hausheer, like Deevers, is staunchly anti-abortion.
Erwin, who is also anti-abortion, had criticized the Freedom Caucus as losing its way and characterized the hardline group to KSWO as a “disruption.” He criticized Deevers for not supporting HB 1168, which outlawed the possession or delivery of abortion pills. He also vowed to defend religious liberties on his campaign website.
In a Facebook video, Erwin celebrated Tuesday night’s results.
“We made it to a runoff — it has been a long election,” he said. “We have two more months until the runoff, and I appreciate your vote, and it is a good night, but we will move forward.”
While Deevers had not posted a statement about his defeat prior to the publication of this article, he has made a series of “thank you” posts on Twitter in reply to accounts grieving his defeat.
During his short time in the Legislature, Deevers routinely used his pastoral experience to attempt to gain an upper hand in policy debates, such as those concerning “human composting.” In May, Deevers suggested that opting to forgo a traditional burial in favor of composting would prevent an individual from being resurrected by God.
On Wednesday afternoon, Deevers posted a three-minute video on Twitter thanking his supporters, discussing his defeat and explaining his perspective.
“Ordinary people rarely get a voice in power that isn’t ultimately answerable to monied interests, and for a time, they had one,” Deevers said. “But my prayer going forward is not bitterness. It’s for the flourishing of southwest Oklahoma, for our families, and our churches, our children, our small businesses and farmers and ranchers — and our veterans — and every taxpayer who simply wants a government that serves them rather than feeds off of and devours them. The prophet Jeremiah told God’s people to seek the welfare of the city where God had placed them, and that remains my desire — to seek the good of this place and these people, to see the American dream alive and well for ourselves and our prosperity. So I look forward to serving out the remainder of my term, and I commit to praying for whomever the voters ultimately choose to fill this office. I respect the voters, and more than anything I trust the lord of glory, and I remain committed to truth and righteousness and liberty and the good of the people wherever God places me next.”
Freedom Caucus fails to oust ‘Swamp 7’
Hardline conservatives pushed an effort to oust at least seven members of the Senate Republican Caucus, whom they dubbed the “Swamp 7.” While the efforts included Freedom Caucus leadership campaigning around the state for various candidates, they overwhelmingly failed.
Senate Appropriations and Budget Committee Chairman Chuck Hall (R-Perry), Senate Education Vice Committee Chairwoman Ally Seifried (R-Claremore), Sen. Bill Coleman (R-Ponca City), Sen. Tom Woods (R-Westville), Sen. Todd Gollihare (R-Kellyville), Senate Energy Committee Chairman Grant Green (R-Wellston) and Sen. Brenda Stanley (R-Midwest City) each drew and defeated primary challengers. Most of the insurgent challengers were aligned with the Freedom Caucus to one extent or another.
Frustration with Senate leaders reached a tipping point toward the end of the session. In addition to an abrupt decision to adjourn early during a deadline week, Senate leaders orchestrated a procedural run-around on HB 4423, which would have required the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to verify Medicaid applicants’ immigration status through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Enrollment system. Senate Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle) and Freedom Caucus Chairman Sen. Shane Jett had traded barbs throughout the session, with Paxton labeling Jett (R-Shawnee) the “Karen of the Senate.”
With Jett term limited and Deevers defeated, it is unclear who might lead the diminished Freedom Caucus in 2027.
In the week leading up to the election, Deevers made several social media posts about the opposition against him. In one post, he claimed that “dark money attacks against me are laughable and desperate.” In a Facebook post, Deevers posted a screenshot of independent expenditures made opposing him, two other members of the Freedom Caucus and Brady Butler, a Jett-endorsed candidate for SD 26.
Butler failed to qualify for a runoff after receiving 28.8 percent (2,901 votes) compared to Jessica Winegeart, who received 33.6 percent (3,378 votes) and Rick Koch, who drew 37.6 percent (3,785 votes).
Elsewhere, Freedom Caucus member Sen. Dana Prieto (R-Tulsa) is headed to the Aug. 25 runoff against Aaron Forst. Prieto received 29.4 percent (1,594 votes) and Forst drew 27.3 percent (1,479 votes).
Sen. Jack Stewart (R-Yukon), who has increasingly sided with the Freedom Caucus, will also face Tyler Herring in the runoff. Stewart drew 45.8 percent (3,663 votes). Herring received 35.2 percent (2,821 votes).
In Senate District 17, which was vacated by term-limited Jett, Justin Wood, who drew 45.3 percent (4,225 votes) and Abby Thompson, who received 18.9 percent (1,761 votes), will compete in the August runoff.
(Update: This article was updated at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, to include reference to and a quote from Deevers’ social media video.)
