For Norman’s 2022 municipal cycle, Wards 2, 4, 6 and 8 are up for election, with incumbents facing one challenger each in Wards 2, 6 and 8. In Ward 4, four candidates are seeking an open seat. A full list of the City Council candidates can be found here.

Meanwhile, the incumbent Norman mayor will face three challengers of her own.

Breea Clark: The current mayor of Norman is seeking her second term. Clark announced her reelection campaign with a YouTube video April 7, in which she touts her track record...

Larry Heikkila: Heikkila became Clark’s first challenger, announcing his campaign in July. His campaign website says he is running because Norman needs a mayor who will “lead our Council, focus on the citizens of Norman and our infrastructure needs…not on how the city caters to the homeless and focusing on the agenda of the progressive elite. No More!”...

Nicole Kish: An optometrist and 22-year Norman resident, Kish has said she also plans to return the reallocated funds to NPD if elected...

Alice Stephenson-Leuck: Leuck was the last candidate to file for the mayoral race, submitting her registration on Dec. 5. Her campaign will also focus on homelessness and NPD’s budget. She told The Transcript that she got involved in politics after the council’s decision to reallocate the police department’s proposed budget increase...

Bob Thompson: Thompson has lived in Norman for 40 years and has owned the Midway Deli for 36 years. He previously served on the Norman City Council from 2005-2009, representing Ward 1. “Recently, local issues have take a back seat to national politics in our community,” Thompson said in a campaign video, a shift that he said is “a mistake... As mayor, I intend to take serious steps to ensure that our policy-making process reflects the values that we share as a community,” he said in the video.

In Midwest City, three men have filed to challenge incumbent Mayor Matt Dukes in the 2022 municipal election.

Bill Bridges: Bridges, 82, does not appear to have a website or social media presence. Minutes of Midwest City Council meetings indicate that Bridges has spoken before the City Council on several occasions.

Ren Caldwell: The 29-year-old filed to run for mayor Dec. 8., shortly before the deadline. Caldwell is a Realtor but does not appear to have an active online campaign presence thus far. In 2015, he posted on Facebook that he had started a company called “The Deck Box Club” to sell custom decks and packages of Magic The Gathering cards.

Matt Dukes: Dukes, 65, has served as Midwest City’s mayor since his election in 2016. Dukes announced his reelection campaign Dec. 6. In his announcement, Dukes touted his accomplishments since he took office, including a $53 million bond package passed by voters to fund infrastructure improvements, $117 million in commercial investment and the sale of Midwest City Hospital.

Voters in Oklahoma City will have four choices for mayor on their Feb. 8 ballot. If no one tops 50 percent, the two candidates receiving the most votes will face off in an April 5 general election.

Carol Hefner: The 60-year-old Hefner announced her candidacy in November after previously endorsing another candidate, Frank Urbanic, in an October Facebook post, which she later deleted. In her announcement, Hefner highlighted her conservative credentials. She served as a co-chairperson for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in Oklahoma, according to her website.

David Holt: Holt, 42, easily won election as Oklahoma City’s mayor in 2018, getting 78 percent of the vote. Holt has already brought in more than $600,000 for his reelection campaign.

Holt’s signature accomplishment since becoming mayor has been the successful 2019 MAPS 4 campaign, which voters approved by a wide margin.

Jimmy Lawson: The 42-year-old Lawson is the director of permitting services at the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission and an economics professor at Rose State College.

“I am running for Oklahoma City mayor because I believe that access to resources and programs for all communities is important,” he wrote on his campaign website. “Creating a city that puts emphasis on equity is vital. OKC suffers from an increasing homeless population. Nobody should succumb to the fact of living on the streets. Everybody makes mistakes and we all deserve a second chance.”

Frank Urbanic: Urbanic, 41, is an Oklahoma City criminal defense attorney and U.S. Air Force combat veteran who served in four deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq while earning the rank of major.

Urbanic opposed efforts to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in a court challenge against the City of Guthrie. He also sued to stop executive orders restricting the sale of food and beverages after 11 p.m. on both the state and city level.

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