Tulsa's mayoral race

The race for mayor of Tulsa took a turn Wednesday with a Tulsa County commissioner announcing plans to run against Mayor Bill LaFortune. <br/><br/>News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says Tulsa's Republican

Wednesday, January 11th 2006, 5:58 am

By: News On 6

The race for mayor of Tulsa took a turn Wednesday with a Tulsa County commissioner announcing plans to run against Mayor Bill LaFortune.

News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says Tulsa's Republican mayor now has two well known Republicans running against him. A city councilor and a county commissioner will face LaFortune in the primary two months from now.

There are now 8 candidates who want to occupy the top floor corner office at city hall. Since Monday, candidates for city offices have bumped into each other at the Tulsa County Election Board. The crowd had thinned out by Wednesday when Randi Miller became the last candidate to file for the mayors race.

Miller is running against incumbent mayor Bill LaFortune, and she once held the city council seat occupied by another candidate, Chris Medlock. Randi Miller: "I have a different style than the current mayor and Chris Medlock, and I feel like I need to be the one, right now, controlling the city to get us what where we need to be."

Republicans will have four candidates on the ballot - LaFortune and Medlock, Miller and Brigitte Harper. She's active in the party, but unlike her opponents, has not held a city office before.

City councilor and mayoral candidate Medlock says he's happy the Republican Party has choices. "As a like minded conservative that jumps into the race, which gives credence to our claim that we need a change at city hall."

There are 4 Democrats running - Don McCorkell and Kathy Taylor, Accountability Burns and Kelly Clark. McCorkell is a former state legislator; Taylor was most recently the state Secretary of Commerce.

The incumbent Mayor Bill LaFortune announced his campaign last October and can point to the progress of the Vision Plan as one of his key accomplishments. Whoever is Tulsa's next mayor will deal with the next four years of construction in the Vision plan - as well as the questions about how well money is being spent.

County Commissioner Miller and city councilor Medlock will remain in their current offices until the election. Miller could remain a Tulsa County commissioner if she loses, but Medlock's council seat is up for grabs in the same election - so it's make or break politically for him.