The 1994 Oklahoma gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1994, and was a race for Governor of Oklahoma. Former United States Associate Attorney General Frank Keating pulled an upset in the three-way race to become only the third Republican governor in Oklahoma history.
The Democratic vote was split between Lieutenant Governor Jack Mildren, an Oklahoma Sooners star quarterback from 1969 to 1971, and former Democratic congressman Wes Watkins, who ran as an independent. Watkins won 24% of the vote and carried numerous counties (by wide margins in some cases); his 233,000 votes far exceeded Keating's 171,000-vote winning margin over Mildren.
This was the first time since Oklahoma statehood that Jackson, Stephens, and Grady counties voted Republican in a gubernatorial election, and the first time since 1914 that Comanche county voted Republican.
Primary election
Primary elections were held on August 23, 1994 with runoffs occurring on September 20, 1994.
Democratic party
Lt. Governor Jack Mildren and Bernice Shedrick advanced to the runoff where both candidates received vote totals similar to the first primary, securing the win for Mildren.
Candidates
- Jack Mildren, Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma
- Bernice Shedrick, state senator
- Joe Vickers
- Danny Williams
Republican party
Frank Keating, a former assistant attorney general and member of the Reagan and Bush administrations, defeated four other Republicans to win the GOP nomination.
Candidates
- Virginia Hale
- Frank Keating- Assistant Attorney General, General Counsel member, and Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H. W. Bush; Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and United States Associate Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan
- Jerry Kobyluk
- Thomas H. Lay
- Jerry Pierce, member of Oklahoma Senate
General election
Wes Watkins, a former representative from Oklahoma's 3rd congressional district, mounted an independent campaign for governor. Watkins had previously sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 1990, but narrowly lost in a runoff to David Walters despite having received the most votes in the initial three-way primary.
Results by county
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
- Adair
- Alfalfa
- Beckham
- Blaine
- Canadian
- Cimarron
- Cleveland
- Comanche
- Creek
- Custer
- Delaware
- Ellis
- Garfield
- Grady
- Grant
- Harper
- Jackson
- Kay
- Kingfisher
- Lincoln
- Logan
- Major
- McClain
- Noble
- Oklahoma
- Pawnee
- Pottawatomie
- Roger Mills
- Rogers
- Stephens
- Tulsa
- Wagoner
- Washington
- Washita
- Woods
- Woodward
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Independent
- Atoka
- Bryan
- Carter
- Choctaw
- Coal
- Cotton
- Dewey
- Garvin
- Haskell
- Hughes
- Jefferson
- Johnston
- Latimer
- Le Flore
- Love
- Marshall
- McCurtain
- Murray
- Okfuskee
- Payne
- Pittsburg
- Pontotoc
- Pushmataha
- Seminole