— Incumbent Stephen Wright and challenger Ronnie Pevehouse will face each other in a runoff for Muskogee County Commissioner, District 2 in August.

Wright received 977 votes, or 40.52 percent of the vote, and Pevehouse received 578 votes, or 23.97 percent, according to the  Muskogee County Election Board’s unofficial results.

Mark Breedlove took 400 votes or 16.59 percent, and Roscoe Duke took 456 votes or 18.91 percent.

With no Republicans in the race, the Aug. 28 runoff will decide the winner.

Wright, who won against Pevehouse in the 2008 election, said he was hoping for at least 10 more percent of the vote Tuesday night, but he is looking forward to the runoff.

“We’ll just have to work two more months and see how we fare,” Wright said. “I appreciate everybody that voted, and I appreciate the other candidate.”

Pevehouse, who served as District 2 County Commissioner from 2004 to 2008, said he felt good about making the runoff election.

“We’ll just work harder in our weaker areas and see if we can overcome these numbers from the primary, but I feel good about it,” Pevehouse said. “And we hope for a larger voter turnout. The only thing on the runoff ballot will be the county commissioner’s race.”

Pevehouse is a lifelong rancher from Webbers Falls. His main concerns include safety of children, emergency vehicles and county residents traveling county roads and good management of the county budget, he said.

“Working with your county budget is not a luxury, it is a necessity, if you’re going to provide the services the taxpayers deserve,” Pevehouse said in a Phoenix story last week.

Wright said before the election that he wants to continue keeping a balanced budget and working on bridges and roads throughout the district.

Wright said the budget was balanced “to the penny” throughout his term as the commissioner for District 2.

Additionally, the district saw six new bridges built, and more than five miles of McClain Road and all of Coffey Road were overlaid.

In the future, Wright said he would like to overlay as many roads as possible, and there are plans to build more bridges.

Reach Wendy Burton at (918) 684-2926 or wburton@muskogeephoenix.com.

Unofficial primary election results



County Commissioner District 2 — Stephen Wright, 977, 40.52 percent; Ronnie Pevehouse, 578, 23.97 percent; Roscoe A. Duke, 456, 18.91 percent; Mark Breedlove, 400, 16.59 percent.