District Two Democrats will compete in runoff, Ewing wins Republican nomination

There's going to be a runoff for the Democratic nomination in the Second District.<br><br>State Representative Bill Settle and Claremore attorney Brad Carson will face each other in a September 19th

Tuesday, August 22nd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

There's going to be a runoff for the Democratic nomination in the Second District.

State Representative Bill Settle and Claremore attorney Brad Carson will face each other in a September 19th runoff election.

Carson finished the primary with 45% of the votes cast, compared to 39% for Settle. Jim Bob Wilson received 16% of the vote.

"We knew it would be a tight election," said Carson. "The runoff will be a tight election too. We now just have to take the election to the people."

Settle said he was happy with the runoff after he joined the race for the Democratic nomination later than his opponent.

"I'll work a lot harder than we've worked so far," said Settle. "My hopes is that we make up enough votes to win this race."

The winner of the runoff will face Andy Ewing in the November general election. Ewing won the Republican nomination with 60% of his party's votes.

Ewing defeated six other candidates. His closest competitor was Jack Ross with less than 28% of the votes.

Ross and Ewing had spent the week leading up to the elsction feuding over one of Ross' television commercials. In the ad, a woman called Ewing "sort of a goober".

Ewing took offense to the ad and asked for an apology from his opponent but never received one. "We've had a lot of people say that his ad backfired against him," said Ewing.

"This has been a wonderful journey for us," said Ross during his concession speech. "We know now that the good lord doesn't want us to go into politics."

Ewing was considered the front-runner for the Republican nomination since the retirement of Congressman Dr. Tom Coburn. Coburn endorses Ewing to take his place in Washington.