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OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Less than an hour after polls closed across the state, the Associated Press had already declared the winners of a highly sought after United States Senate seat.

Less than 30 minutes after polls closed across the state, the Associated Press had already declared incumbent Sen. Jim Inhofe the winner of the Republican primary race.

Jim Inhofe

With only the absentee mail in votes and early voting, Inhofe already had more than 33,700 votes, which was nearly six times as many votes as the second closest candidate, J.J. Stitt.

As the evening progressed, Inhofe’s lead only grew.

He finished the night with more than 270,000 votes, or 73%. His next closest competitor, J.J. Stitt, finished with around 57,000 votes.

Sen. Inhofe has been in the United States Senate since 1994. He serves as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He says he is committed to rebuilding the American military to address growing threats from our enemies. Inhofe says he believes that the country should build a wall at the southern border to stop illegal immigration from Mexico and he introduced the Asylum Abuse Reduction Act, which requires migrants to declare asylum at embassies in Mexico or Canada before they can enter the United States. Inhofe says he believes many areas like healthcare and education are better left to the state level rather than legislating it from a federal level.

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Just minutes later, the Associated Press declared Abby Broyles the winner of the Democratic race for the U.S. Senate seat.

Abby Broyles

Broyles finished the night strong, earning more than 162,000 votes, or 60%. Her next closest competitor, Elysabeth Britt, finished with around 45,000 votes.

Broyles was born and raised in Bethany, Oklahoma before she decided to attend college out-of-state. After graduating college, Broyles became a journalist and returned to Oklahoma to focus on investigative reports into politicians and the justice system. She soon decided to put herself through law school while also reporting at KFOR. In her bid for a U.S. Senate seat, Broyles says she wants to work to help close the gender pay gap, create affordable healthcare for Oklahomans with pre-existing conditions, fully fund our military bases, and update federal laws in terms of medical marijuana.