Monroe Nichols, Karen Keith headed to runoff election in Tulsa mayor's race (2024)

Monroe Nichols on Tuesday did what he always insisted he could do and what many thought was unlikely: He won more votes than any other candidate in the seven-person race for Tulsa mayor.

That was not enough to make him Tulsa’s next mayor — not yet, anyway. In a razor-close race Nichols won 33.1% of the vote, with Karen Keith close behind at 32.6%, according to unofficial, final results from the Tulsa County Election Board.

As the top vote-getters whose combined tallies exceeded 50% of the total votes cast, they are headed for a runoff election on Nov. 5.

Brent VanNorman, who moved to Tulsa only three years ago and was a City Council candidate three months ago, almost sneaked into the runoff with 31.8% of the vote.

“We just talked to people. We gave people confidence,” Nichols said. “And the vision that we granted for the city gave people confidence in the plans that we had for the city. I think we just gave people confidence in the future.”

Nichols said he and his supporters would begin work immediately to win the runoff election.

“Karen was the front runner; Karen had the most money, all of those things,” Nichols said. “But we decided to talk to the people. … That was the difference-maker.”

Keith vowed to be mayor for Republicans and Democrats and said she is going to stick to her strategy of running a bipartisan race as she heads into the runoff election.

“I think that’s critical to winning in November, and I think we’ll be able to distinguish ourselves from the other candidate,” Keith said. “If people truly take a look at resumes and what people have done, there’s a huge difference. And I think that’s going to be clear to everyone. My hope is that the left and the right take a look at who can actually do the work and move the city forward.”

VanNorman said he was proud of his campaign team and everyone who contributed in some way to his race.

“We did, we worked hard. We left it on the field, and at the end of the day, we were probably a week short of being able to overtake the second place finisher there,” VanNorman said. “So I just think I’m proud of all our volunteers.”

Turnout was abysmal. Only 56,585 of the city’s 219,897 registered voters, or 26%, cast ballots Tuesday.

Only 710 votes separated Nichols and VanNorman, and just 438 votes separated Keith from VanNorman.

Speaking late Tuesday, VanNorman said his team would examine the results to determine whether to challenge them but indicated that was unlikely.

“I don’t perceive we’ll challenge anything, but we’re going to give it overnight to look at it,” he said.

Nichols, 40, represented House District 72 for four terms. He’s also worked for former Mayor Kathy Taylor and at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa for former President Gerard Clancy.

During the campaign, Nichols ran as an agent of change with concrete plans to address the city’s major challenges, including a housing shortage, homelessness and the sometimes complicated relations with area tribes.

“I think voters saw that we had plans for how we are going to address the biggest problems facing Tulsa,” Nichols said. “It wasn’t about how long people know somebody. … It was who has the ability to lead.”

Keith, 70, was a longtime television newscaster before going to work for former Mayor Bill LaFortune and the Tulsa Regional Chamber. She has represented District 2 on the Tulsa County Board of Commissioners since 2008.

VanNorman is an accountant, lawyer and former pastor who moved to Tulsa in August 2021.

The other candidates to actively campaign for mayor were Casey Bradford and John Jolley, neither of whom broke 2% of the vote.

The city’s municipal elections are nonpartisan, but it’s fair to say that Tuesday’s mayoral election was a good one for Democrats. VanNorman is a lifelong Republican who played up his conservative Christian credentials throughout the campaign. But it was Keith and Nichols, lifelong Democrats, who finished the day with the vast majority of votes.

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