In a surprise upset, Jim Rogers, Democrat candidate for District 3 county commissioner, fended off challenges by three other candidates, including incumbent Mike Huff, to win the county commission post.

Rogers won handily, with 53.79 percent of the votes cast, or 1,235 votes. Since he won the majority of the votes and since there is no Republican candidate for the office, Rogers will take office on Jan. 1.

His closest challenger, Gary Taylor, collected 521 votes and Huff had 397 votes. The fourth candidate, Carl Reeves, had 143 votes.

The remainder of the races in Sequoyah County were wide open, with a large voter turnout, possibly attracted by the county commission races.

In the District 1 county commission election a runoff election will be needed, between Ray Watts, who garnered 791 votes, or 39.95 percent, and Michael Rhodes who had 601 votes, or 30.35 percent.

The runoff primary election will be Aug. 24. In the primary election, the candidate must have 50 percent of the vote, plus one vote, to avoid the runoff election.

The other candidates in the race for District 1 county commissioner were Paul “Shorty” Moreland, who received 133 votes; Steve L. Russell who garnered 224 votes; and Gerald Corbit who had 50 votes.

The winner of the Democrat District 1 commission runoff election must face a Republican opponent, Dennis G. Treat, in the Nov. 2 general election.

The winner will take over the post held by Bruce Tabor for over 20 years. Tabor is retiring.

District Attorney’s race

District Attorney Jerry Moore handily won his primary election against challenger W. Grant Huskey of Broken Arrow. In Sequoyah County Moore collected 3,590 votes and Huskey got 1,584 votes. Moore must now face a Republican candidate, Brian J. Kuester, 42, of Broken Arrow in the Nov. 2 general election. Moore defeated Kuester to win the district attorney’s post in 2006.

U.S. Senate race

Sequoyah County Democrat voters chose Jim Rogers (not the same man as county commissioner) to run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Tom Coburn of Muskogee. Statewide, other Democrats agreed, and Rogers will face Coburn, who swept away challengers in the primary, in the Nov. 2 general election.

District 2 U.S. Representative race

All Democrats district wide, including those in Sequoyah County, threw their support behind U.S. Rep. Dan Boren to return him to the U.S. House. Boren handily beat challenger Jim Wilson, a state senator from Tahlequah. District wide, Boren received 66,219 votes and Wilson received 21,543.

On Nov. 2 Boren must now face a Republican, which must be decided in the runoff primary. The Republican candidates are Charles Thompson and Daniel Edmonds.

Governor’s race

Sequoyah County Democrats wanted to see Drew Edmondson run for governor, but statewide, other Democrats disagreed and chose Jari Askins as the Democrat candidate by a small margin. In state vote totals Edmondson received 130,760 and Askins received 132,293.

Askins will face off against Mary Fallin, winner of the Republican primary election, and the winner of that Nov. 2 election will be the first female governor of Oklahoma.

Lieutenant Governor’s race

Kenneth Corn, outgoing state senator for all of LeFlore County and the southern half of Sequoyah County, must now face the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, Todd Lamb. Also in the Nov.2 general election race is an independent, Richard Prawdzienski.

Corn was unopposed in his bid for the Democrat nomination for lieutenant governor.

District 4 State Senator

Neil Brannon, state representative in LeFlore County, won his Democrat bid to replace Corn as the District 4 state senate candidate, and will face Republican candidate Mark Allen in the Nov. 2 general election.

For complete election results visit the Oklahoma Election Board Web site at http://elections.ok.gov.

Election board officials reminded the public that the election results will not be confirmed as official until 5 p.m. Friday.