Tulsa Mayor Bill LaFortune and Democratic challenger Kathy Taylor face off in next month's general election

What started with 10 candidates has now been narrowed to just four, including 2 independents. <br/><br/>On the Democratic side, Kathy Taylor and Don McCorkell waged a bitter fight. In the end, voters

Tuesday, March 7th 2006, 10:14 am

By: News On 6

What started with 10 candidates has now been narrowed to just four, including 2 independents.

On the Democratic side, Kathy Taylor and Don McCorkell waged a bitter fight. In the end, voters overwhelmingly chose Kathy Taylor. She picked up more than 64-percent of the vote to easily win the primary. McCorkell was a distant second, with just more than 30-percent of the vote.

Taylor thanked a crowd full of supporters at her watch party in downtown Tulsa. She says she won by sticking to the important issues. Taylor says voters sent a message that they care about the future of the city. "We stuck to the issues. And I think that's what the voters of Tulsa wanted to hear was the issues. Everyday, when they go to bed, they're worried about crime. They're worried about their jobs and they're worried about whether their kids stay in school and get a good education and have opportunity. That's what I talked to voters about and I think that's what they voted for."

Taylor's opponent, Don McCorkell thanked his family and supporters at a watch party at the Greenwood Cultural Center. Despite the loss, he says his campaign brought a lot of important issues to the table and he's proud of that. â€œEvery step we took. Every decision we made, we did what we believed was the right thing to do. We will not apologize for that. We are totally proud of this campaign, this staff, these people who have stood behind us."

McCorkell has been active in politics in Oklahoma for decades, but says he's now going back to being an ordinary citizen who hopes for the best for Tulsa. Kathy Taylor now takes on incumbent Mayor Bill LaFortune.

In the Republican primary, mayor Bill LaFortune beat challenger Chris Medlock. The mayor picked up nearly 43-percent of the vote to Medlock's 34-percent. Tulsa County Commissioner Randi Miller was a distant third with more than 21-percent of the vote.

LaFortune was met by cheers of "Four More Years" by supporters at his watch party. He told the crowd the campaign is not over, and they need to redouble their efforts to win big. "We have always stayed on the positive track for our campaign and this is the best message we've had because Tulsa was down four years ago and Tulsa is up today."

The Mayor's closest challenger was city Councilor Chris Medlock. He too thanked his supporters. He says he's proud of the campaign he ran. He says he's most proud of making a point at city hall. "I think the city right now is more energized about politics, local politics I played some role in that I hope and I hope that debate continues on because there's some very important issues that have to be discussed." The Tulsa mayoral race will be decided on April 4th.
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Democrat primary [unofficial results]
Kathy Taylor 16,852
Don McCorkell 7,977
James Alexander 431
James Desmond 303
Prophet-Kelly Clark 298
A. Burns 292

Republican primary [unofficial results]
Bill LaFortune 13,894
Chris Medlock 11,105
Randi Miller 7,038
Brigitte Harper 513