Travis Wins House District 35 Seat With 64% of Vote

Sixth-generation farmer Dillon Travis won the House District 35 special election Tuesday, defeating educator Luke Kruse by 28 percentage points to claim the seat left vacant after Rep. Ty Burns's resignation.

Travis, a Maramec Republican and owner of Southern Plains Ag Co., captured 2,907 votes to Kruse's 1,624 votes, winning 64.16 percent in the race to represent portions of Pawnee, Noble, Payne, Osage and Creek counties. All 26 precincts in the district completely reported results.

Travis swept all five counties in the district for the third consecutive election, having previously carried each county in the December Republican primary and January runoff. He won 21 of 26 precincts, with Kruse claiming five precincts in Noble and Payne counties.

The 28-point victory margin exceeded the district's typical Republican advantage of 17 percentage points, though Travis's performance fell short of his 56-point runoff victory over former Pawnee County Sheriff Mike Waters in January.

Kruse, a Morrison educator and Northern Oklahoma College faculty member who ran as the Democratic nominee, performed best in Noble County with 42.53 percent of the vote but still lost the county 635-470. His strongest precinct was 520305 in Morrison, his hometown, where he captured 57.4 percent with 220 votes to Travis's 163 votes.

The closest precinct in the race was 520105 in the Red Rock community, where Kruse edged Travis by a single vote, 14-13. Travis's largest margin came in Creek County's 190311 precinct in Drumright, where he won 225-72, capturing 75.8 percent of the vote. In Travis's home precinct of 590104, which includes Maramec, he won 200-81, taking 71.2 percent.

Turnout surged in the general election compared to the Republican runoff five weeks earlier. The 4,531 voters who cast ballots Tuesday represented a 133.7 percent increase over the 1,938 voters who participated in the Jan. 13 runoff between Travis and Waters.

Travis emphasized education reform, agricultural protection including opposition to foreign ownership of Oklahoma farmland, rural infrastructure investment and support for natural gas development over renewable energy subsidies throughout his campaign. He previously served on the American Farm Bureau's policy board and county level National Resources Conservation Service committee.

Kruse centered his campaign on public education funding, support for foster families and rural infrastructure investment. The 19-year educator has taught history, government and math at Morrison Public Schools while also serving as head boys basketball coach and assistant football coach. He currently teaches at Northern Oklahoma College.

Travis's $28,500 late surge from GOP sources shows institutional confidence

Travis significantly outspent and outraised Kruse in the race, drawing substantial support from Republican legislators and political action committees in the campaign's final days, according to reports filed with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission.

Travis raised $84,400 in total campaign resources, including $70,500 in cash contributions and $13,900 in self-funded loans. He spent $40,561.29 through Jan. 26 and likely incurred additional expenses in the final two weeks before Election Day.

In the critical final 10 days of the campaign, Travis received $28,500 from seven Republican state representative candidates and two GOP political action committees. The largest contributions came from the Republican State House Committee ($5,000) and Working for Oklahoma's Legislative Future ($5,000), along with $18,500 from fellow Republican House candidates including Kyle Hilbert, Mark Lawson, Mike Osburn, Scott Fetgatter, Carl Newton, Trey Caldwell and Robert Manger.

Kruse raised $30,266.42 in total resources, including $28,919.73 in cash contributions and $1,346.69 in in-kind contributions for campaign materials. He spent $14,189.49 through Jan. 26.

In the campaign's final week, Kruse received $6,500, including $1,500 from the Oklahoma House Democratic Campaign Committee and $5,000 from individual donors Mark Whitmire and Ann Boulton.

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Travis raised 2.8 times more total resources than Kruse over the course of the campaign. In the final push after Jan. 26, Travis out-raised Kruse by more than four to one.

The special election was called to fill the seat left vacant after Burns resigned in August 2025, two days after pleading guilty to misdemeanor domestic abuse and assault charges. Travis will serve the remainder of the unexpired term, which runs through November 2026.

The House District 35 seat will be on the ballot again in November for a full two-year term beginning in 2027.

The district covers portions of five counties in north-central Oklahoma, including all of Pawnee County and parts of Noble, Payne, Osage and Creek counties. Travis becomes the first new representative for the district since Burns was first elected in 2020.

Travis will be sworn in during the next legislative session and will join the Republican supermajority in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, where Republicans hold 81 of 101 seats.

County-by-County Results

Creek County: Travis 450 (74.26%), Kruse 156 (25.74%)
Noble County: Travis 635 (57.47%), Kruse 470 (42.53%)
Osage County: Travis 258 (63.24%), Kruse 150 (36.76%)
Pawnee County: Travis 1,305 (67.58%), Kruse 626 (32.42%)
Payne County: Travis 259 (53.85%), Kruse 222 (46.15%)

Editor's Note: Election results are unofficial as reported by the Oklahoma State Election Board as of February 10, 2026, at 8:27 p.m. CT.