LAWTON – Elgin resident John O’Brien pulled off an upset in Tuesday’s GOP primary election, defeating longtime Comanche County Commissioner Gail Turner in the race for the District 1 seat on the commission.
O’Brien edged past Turner, capturing 1,116 votes or 51.64% of the total. Turner finished a close second with 1,045 votes or 48.36% of the total.
The two men survived a three-candidate primary race in June to advance to Tuesday’s runoff election. There were no Democrats in the race.
A veteran of the U.S. Army, O’Brien is a senior knowledge management adviser for Unity Technologies at Fort Sill.
Turner, who served on the commission for nearly 24 years, sought his seventh term in office.
The commission race wasn’t the only item on Tuesday’s ballot. Here’s a list of other election results of interest to Comanche County residents:
• In Medicine Park, voters narrowly approved a proposal to reinstate the town’s lodging tax and raise it from 5.5% to 7.5%. The measure passed 62-58, with 51.67% of voters in favor and 48.33% against.
• Voters in the Central High Public Schools District, which includes portions of Comanche, Stephens and Grady counties, rejected the district’s proposition to issue $14.5 million in bonds to finance construction of a new high school. The proposition failed on a 248-216 vote, with 53.45% of voters backing it and 46.55% opposed.