Hard work pays off for Lockhart

By CRAIG HALL
Over the last year, James Lockhart has put some 20,000 miles on his truck and wore the tires slick on his truck while campaigning to represent LeFlore County in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

All that hard work is paying off, so far.

Lockhart, a Heavener Democrat, surprised some by finishing second in Tuesday’s primary election and will now face front-runner Matt Webb in the Aug. 24 runoff election.

After hearing the good news that he survived the primary election, Lockhart got to bed at 2:30 in the morning and was up at 6:30 for another day of campaigning.

“I’ve been on the road ever since,” he said.

While many expected either Jake Leming or Traci Barnes to be in the primary along with Webb, Lockhart used his popularity in the southern part of the county to stay alive for the House seat.

“I knew the vote would be real close,” Lockhart said. “When Matt ran against Neil Brannon, I went out and got the numbers from the precincts around the county. I figured that if I got fifty percent of the votes south of Heavener that I would have a real good chance.”

While Lockhart did well in his hometown of Heavener, his numbers from Hodgen, Haw Creek, Reichert and Stapp-Zoe propelled him past the other challengers.

“I carried those really heavily,” he said. “Everywhere else I got a few votes here and there.”

Lockhart and his supporters passed out some 13,000 brochures during his campaign.

“I really tried to cover my territories,” Lockhart said.

One thing Lockhart has really enjoyed during his campaign is meeting some people. He met a woman in Reichert who at one time cleaned John F. Kennedy’s home . He also met a man in Arkoma who was struggling with Alzheimer’s and asked if Lockhart could help.

Lockhart called former Representative Neil Brannon, who said there were programs available. Lockhart passed on the information to the man and he got help.