2008United States presidential election in Oklahoma

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Nominee John McCain Barack Obama Party Republican Democratic Home state Arizona Illinois Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden Electoral vote 7 0 Popular vote 960,165 502,496 Percentage 65.65% 34.35%

County results Congressional district results Precinct results McCain   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Obama   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Tie/No votes   Tie   No votes

President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

The2008 United States presidential election in Oklahoma took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.

Oklahoma was won by Republican nomineeJohn McCain with a 31.3% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a safered state. A stronglyconservative state located in theBible Belt whereevangelical Christianity plays a large role, Oklahoma has trended heavily Republican in recent years. Having voted for the Republican presidential nominee in every election since1968, Oklahoma once again showcased its status as a Republican stronghold in 2008 with RepublicanJohn McCain capturing 65.65% of the vote.^[1] It was also the only state where McCain won every county and was even one of the 5 states along with Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, and West Virginia in which McCain outperformed Bush's margin of victory from 4 years earlier, albeit slightly.

This was also only the second election since its statehood in which Oklahoma supported a different candidate thanVirginia, with1920 being the first. However, this has happened in all elections since, as Oklahoma has voted consistently Republican while Virginia has voted consistently Democratic.This was one of 5 states where McCain won over 60% of the vote, the others being Alabama, Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho.

• 2008 Oklahoma Republican presidential primary
• 2008 Oklahoma Democratic presidential primary

There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

McCain won every single pre-election poll, and each with a double-digit margin of victory. The final 3 polls averaged McCain leading 62% to 34%.^[15]

John McCain raised a total of $2,050,335 in the state. Barack Obama raised $1,711,069.^[16]

Obama spent $613,515. McCain and his interest groups spent just $6,565.^[17] Neither campaign visited the state.^[18]

Oklahoma gave John McCain his strongest showing in Election 2008 with a rounded percentage of 66% (65.65%) going to him.^[19] Oklahoma was also the only state in the country where every single county voted for McCain. Although the results were similar to2004 in whichGeorge W. Bush swept every county in the state with 65.57% of the vote, McCain's margin of victory was slightly better - 0.08% more - in 2008.^[20] Oklahoma was one of five states where McCain outperformedGeorge W. Bush, the other four beingArkansas,Louisiana,Tennessee, andWest Virginia.

Oklahoma, despite the large concentration ofNative Americans in the state, remains one of the most reliably Republican states in the country. Although Democrats still had a majority of registered voters (as well as the governorship) at the time, the state's Democrats are very conservative by national standards. Oklahoma is part of theBible Belt, and voters in the state have a strong penchant for being values voters; that is, they are strongly and deeply conservative on social issues such asabortion andgay rights. McCain's selection of the socially conservativeGovernorSarah Palin ofAlaska proved to be an excellent fit for Oklahoma. Obama was at a disadvantage beforehand in Oklahoma during the primary season when voters in Oklahoma backedHillary Rodham Clinton with 54.76% of the vote compared to Obama's 31.19% and a significant amount (10.24%) going toJohn Edwards. Clinton won every county in the Oklahoma Democratic Primary except forOklahoma County, home ofOklahoma City which Obama just narrowly carried. Most of Oklahoma's Democratic establishment were early endorsers of Hillary Clinton as well. Another setback for Obama was thatU.S. RepresentativeDan Boren, the only Democrat from Oklahoma's five-member delegation in theU.S. House of Representatives, refused to endorse Obama.

Another key to McCain's victory was the highly populated counties ofTulsa County, which he won with over 62%, and Oklahoma County, which he won with over 58%. He also dominated the heavily RepublicanOklahoma Panhandle by an almost four-to-one margin. Despite the Republican landslide, Obama did improve uponJohn Kerry's performance in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. However, this was more than canceled out by his extremely weak showing in Southeast Oklahoma, historically the most Democratic region in the state. This socially conservative but fiscally liberal area, known as "Little Dixie," still votes Democratic at the local level and state levels. It also warmly supportedBill Clinton of neighboringArkansas in1992 and1996; Clinton's populism struck a chord among the region's voters. Democratic nominees fromJohn Kerry on, on the other hand, have proven spectacularly bad fits for the region and the state as a whole. Obama lost many counties in Southeast Oklahoma by more than two-to-one margins.

Also, Oklahoma was the only state in the country that didn't have a third-party candidate on the ballot, mostly because the state has the toughest ballot access laws in the country. Obama became the first Democrat to win without winning a single county in Oklahoma.

During the same election, incumbent RepublicanU.S. SenatorJames Inhofe was solidly reelected over DemocraticState SenatorAndrew Rice. Inhofe received 56.68% while Rice took in 39.18% andIndependent Stephen P. Wallace received the remaining 4.14%. At the state level, Republicans made gains in theOklahoma Legislature, picking up four seats in theOklahoma House of Representatives and two seats in theOklahoma Senate which gave the GOP control of the state legislature for the first time since statehood.

McCain carried all five congressional districts in Oklahoma, including one held by a Democrat.

Technically the voters of Oklahoma cast their ballots for electors: representatives to theElectoral College. Oklahoma is allocated 7 electors because it has 5congressional districts and 2senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 7 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 7 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them.^[21] An elector who votes for someone other than their candidate is known as afaithless elector.

The electors of each state and theDistrict of Columbia met on December 15, 2008, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 7 were pledged toJohn McCain andSarah Palin:^[22]

1. Virginia Chrisco
2. Gail Stice
3. Pete Katzdorn
4. Robert Cleveland
5. Mary Phyllis Gorman
6. Bunny Chambers
7. Diane Murphy Gunther

The slate for the Democrats, which was not elected, consisted of Sally Freeman Frasier, Gene A. Wallace, Anita R. Norman, Tim Mauldin, Robert Lemon,David Walters, Walter W. Jenny Jr.^[23]

• United States presidential elections in Oklahoma
• Presidency of Barack Obama

• 2008 United States presidential election by state
• 2008 Oklahoma elections
• United States presidential elections in Oklahoma

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