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Karen Gaddis
Karen Gaddis (Democratic Party) was a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, representing District 75. She assumed office in 2017. She left office on November 21, 2018.
Gaddis (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Oklahoma State Senate to represent District 25. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Gaddis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Karen Gaddis was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma. She earned a high school diploma from Tulsa Memorial High School and a graduate degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1974. Gaddis' career experience includes working as a educator.[1]
She has been affiliated with the following organizations:
- Oklahoma Federation of Democratic Women
- Heart of the Party (Past President)
- Oklahoma Retired Educators Association
- Tulsa Metro Retired Educators Association
- Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance
- Tulsa City/County Library Friends
- University of Oklahoma Alumni Association
Elections
2024
See also: Oklahoma State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Oklahoma State Senate District 25
Brian Guthrie defeated Karen Gaddis in the general election for Oklahoma State Senate District 25 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Brian Guthrie (R)  | 67.2 | 25,787 |
 | Karen Gaddis (D) | 32.8 | 12,605 | |
| Total votes: 38,392 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Karen Gaddis advanced from the Democratic primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 25.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 25
Brian Guthrie defeated Jeff Boatman in the Republican primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 25 on June 18, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brian Guthrie | 57.1 | 3,073 |
 | Jeff Boatman | 42.9 | 2,307 | |
| Total votes: 5,380 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Gaddis in this election.
2018
General election
General election for Oklahoma House of Representatives District 75
T. Marti defeated incumbent Karen Gaddis and Kelli Krebs in the general election for Oklahoma House of Representatives District 75 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | T. Marti (R) | 53.4 | 5,627 | |
| Karen Gaddis (D) | 42.9 | 4,516 | |
| Kelli Krebs (L) | 3.7 | 395 | ||
| Total votes: 10,538 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Oklahoma House of Representatives District 75
Incumbent Karen Gaddis defeated Seneca Collins in the Democratic primary for Oklahoma House of Representatives District 75 on June 26, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Karen Gaddis | 77.9 | 2,191 |
| Seneca Collins | 22.1 | 620 | ||
| Total votes: 2,811 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Oklahoma House of Representatives District 75
T. Marti advanced from the Republican primary for Oklahoma House of Representatives District 75 on June 26, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | T. Marti | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2017
A special election for the position of Oklahoma House of Representatives District 75 was held on July 11, 2017. A primary election took place on May 9, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was April 14, 2017.[2]
The seat was vacant following Dan Kirby's (R) resignation. Kirby resigned on February 4, 2017, after facing expulsion from the state House due to accusations of inappropriate conduct with legislative assistants. His resignation was effective on March 1, 2017.[3]
Karen Gaddis defeated Jamie Smith in the Democratic primary. Tressa Nunley defeated Skip Steele, Nik Berg, and AJ Oatsvall in the Republican primary. Gaddis defeated Nunley in the July 11 general election, flipping the seat from Republican control to Democratic control. Gaddis earned 52.3 percent of the vote.[4]
| Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 75, Special Election, 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Karen Gaddis |
52.3% | 1,073 | |
| Republican | Tressa Nunley | 47.7% | 977 | |
| Total Votes | 2,050 | |||
| Source: Oklahoma State Election Board | ||||
2016
Elections for the Oklahoma House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 28, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was April 15, 2016.
Incumbent Dan Kirby defeated Karen Gaddis in the Oklahoma House of Representatives District 75 general election.[5]
| Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 75 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Dan Kirby Incumbent |
59.56% | 7,626 | |
| Democratic | Karen Gaddis | 40.44% | 5,178 | |
| Total Votes | 12,804 | |||
| Source: Oklahoma State Election Board | ||||
Karen Gaddis defeated Matt Matheson and Charlotte Painter Bell in the Oklahoma House of Representatives District 75 Democratic primary.[6][7]
| Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 75 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Karen Gaddis |
64.59% | 684 | |
| Democratic | Matt Matheson | 20.68% | 219 | |
| Democratic | Charlotte Painter Bell | 14.73% | 156 | |
| Total Votes | 1,059 | |||
Incumbent Dan Kirby ran unopposed in the Oklahoma House of Representatives District 75 Republican primary.[6][7]
| Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 75 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | Dan Kirby Incumbent (unopposed) | |
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Karen Gaddis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gaddis' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- I am the agent of change. For over 60 years, District 25 has been represented in the Oklahoma Senate by Republicans. Where has that gotten us? We are at the bottom of the rankings in education, incarceration, poverty, child hunger, women's issues, and healthcare - both physical and mental. As a Democrat, I will change the decades-long votes on all these important issues for Oklahoma citizens.
- As a retired educator having spent 40 years in public education, I will return public dollars to public schools. The State of Oklahoma is constitutionally required to provide a public education to all students. I support parental choice, but if parents choose private or other non-public schools, it is not the state's responsibility to provide financial resources. Teachers' salaries need to be commensurate to their college-educated, professional level and teaching para-professionals need a living wage. Class sizes need to be reduced (All studies of class size related to education attained have determined that more learning occurs in smaller classes.). Teachers are not "indoctrinators" and teacher unions are not 'terrorists"!
- I am the common sense candidate. Separation of church and state was provided by our national forefathers in order to avoid the animosity it engendered in their forefathers in Europe. Public money should go to public schools. Nobody wants to take your guns away. We just want common sense gun laws, like we have for drivers' licenses (age restrictions, insurance, and training - with bigger guns, like bigger vehicles, requiring more training). ALL adults should be able to make their own medical decisions and parents should be able to make medical decisions regarding their own children. ALL personal life decisions made by adults regarding religion, sex, lifestyle, whatever are personal and should be accepted as such.
EVERYONE should pay the same percentage of taxes on their gross wages.
Shelter is a human right. Homelessness is a temporary condition. Remedy the temporary part and you remedy the problem.
A living wage is a human right.
Keeping people poor, hungry, uneducated, and/or unsheltered does nothing to advance society.
She was truthful.
Opportunities to escape poverty, hunger and homelessness, and healthcare-both physical and mental
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Oklahoma scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2018
In 2018, the 56th Oklahoma State Legislature, second session, was in session from February 5 through May 3.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on business issues.
- Legislators were scored based on their votes on bills supported or opposed by the organization.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to children's interests.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the 56th Oklahoma State Legislature, first session, was in session from February 6 through May 26. The legislature began a special session on September 25. The session ended on November 17. The legislature began another special session on December 18, which adjourned on December 22.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 14, 2024
- ↑ Oklahoma State Election Board, "State House of Representatives District 75 Special Election," accessed February 27, 2017
- ↑ NewsOK, "Facing possible expulsion or loss of legislative clout, Rep. Dan Kirby resigns," February 4, 2017
- ↑ Oklahoma State Election Board, "OFFICIAL RESULTS," August 3, 2017
- ↑ Oklahoma State Election Board, "Federal, State, Legislative and Judicial Races General Election — November 8, 2016," accessed November 28, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Oklahoma State Election Board, "2016 Candidate List Book (Official List of Candidates)," accessed April 18, 2016
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Oklahoma State Election Board, "Official Results - Primary Election," accessed August 2, 2016
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Dan Kirby (R) |
Oklahoma House of Representatives District 75 2017-2018 |
Succeeded by T. Marti (R) |
