Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district is one of five United States congressional districts in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

and covers approximately one-fourth of the state in the east. The district borders

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, and

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and includes (in whole or in part) a total of 24 counties.Oklahoma's 2nd District
(accessed May 24, 2010). With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of R+28, it is the most Republican district in Oklahoma, a state with an all-Republican congressional delegation. Historically, the district has supported conservative Democrats, and was reckoned as a classic Yellow dog Democrat district. However, the growing Republican trend in the state has overtaken the district since the start of the 21st century. In the last two elections, the Republican presidential candidate has carried it by the largest margin in the state. Urban voters comprise a third of the district. The district is represented by Republican Josh Brecheen, becoming only the third Republican to hold the seat since 1923. Brecheen was first elected in 2022, following the retirement of five-term Republican incumbent Markwayne Mullin, who was elected to the United States Senate.

Geography

The district borders

to the north,

and

to the east, and Texas (along the Red River) to the south. It covers all or part of 26 counties. It includes the remainder of Rogers County (including the county seat of Claremore) that is not included in the 1st district, and then, also, all of the following counties: Adair, Nowata, Craig,

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Mayes Mayes is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adrian Mayes (born 1980), American football player * Alan Mayes (born 1953), English footballer * Bernard Mayes (1929–2014), British-American lecturer and author * Clifford Mayes (bor ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

, Okmulgee, Muskogee,

Sequoyah Sequoyah ( ; , , or , , ; 1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native American polymath and Constructed script, neographer of the Cherokee Nation. In 1821, Sequoyah completed his Cherokee syllabary, enabl ...

, Okfuskee, McIntosh,

Haskell Haskell () is a general-purpose, statically typed, purely functional programming language with type inference and lazy evaluation. Designed for teaching, research, and industrial applications, Haskell pioneered several programming language ...

, LeFlore, Hughes, Pittsburg, Latimer,

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

, Atoka, Pushmataha, McCurtain,

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

, Bryan, Marshall and Johnston. Some of the principal cities in the district include Miami, Claremore, Muskogee, Tahlequah, Okmulgee, McAlester, and Durant. The northern half of the district includes most of the area of Oklahoma referred to as

Green Country Green Country, sometimes referred to as Northeast Oklahoma, is the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Oklahoma, which lies west of the northern half of Arkansas, the southwestern corner the way of Missouri, and south of Kansas. Alternate ...

, while the southern half of the district includes a part of Oklahoma often referred to as Little Dixie. It contains the majority of lands in the Choctaw Nation and the

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( or ) is the largest of three list of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Old Cheroke ...

, as well as smaller parts of the Creek and

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

nations.

History

In the 20th century, the district heavily favored conservative Democratic candidates, being represented in the House only by Democrats from 1923 to 1994. The district's Democratic leanings stem partly from historic migration patterns into the state– the Little Dixie region of the district imported the people and culture of southern states such as

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

after

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

.Gaddie, Ronald Keith,
Democratic Party

''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''
(accessed May 24, 2010). Voter registration in Little Dixie ran as high as 90 percent Democratic in the past. Additionally, Native Americans in the region tend to vote for Democratic candidates and they have helped Democratic candidates win statewide elections. The district first shifted Republican in electing Tom Coburn in 1994, who vacated the seat due to a self-imposed term limit pledge (he was elected to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

4 years later). It was held by conservative Democrats Brad Carson and Dan Boren from 2001 to 2012. Since the 2012 election, the 2nd district has been safely Republican at all levels including the House: it was represented by Markwayne Mullin from 2013. Mullin assumed office as a U.S. Senator in 2023, and was succeeded as the Representative from the 2nd district by fellow Republican Josh Brecheen. Presidentially, this was the best-performing district for Democrats in the 20th century;

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

was the last Democratic presidential candidate to win the district, easily carrying it in 1992 and 1996. Since then it has been safely Republican:

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

received 59 percent of the vote in this district in 2004,

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

received 66 percent of the vote in this district in 2008, and in 2020, Donald Trump won one of the highest percentages for a Republican presidential candidate, winning 76% of the vote to only 22% for the Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Muskogee has produced six representatives, more than any other city in the district. Tahlequah has produced three representatives, the second most of any city in the district. According to the 2000 U.S. census, the district is 35.51 percent urban, 23.95 percent non-white, and has a population that is 2.40 percent Latino and 1.36 percent foreign-born., (accessed May 11, 2010). The district has a higher percentage of Native Americans than any other congressional district in Oklahoma. Its representative, Josh Brecheen, is one of four Native Americans currently serving in Congress.

Recent election results from statewide races

Composition

For the 118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the 2020 census), the district contains all or portions of the following counties and communities:https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/cong_dist/cd118/cd_based/ST40/CD118_OK02.pdf
/ref> Adair County (30) : All 15 communities Atoka County (6) : All 6 communities Bryan County (19) : All 19 communities Cherokee County (33) : All 33 communities Choctaw County (7) : All 7 communities Coal County (7) : All 7 communities Craig County (6) : All 6 communities Delaware County (32) : All 32 communities Haskell County (9) : All 9 communities Hughes County (12) : All 12 communities Johnston County (14) : All 14 communities Latimer County (5) : All 5 communities LeFlore County (20) : All 20 communities McCurtain County (11) : All 11 communities McIntosh County (10) : All 10 communities Marshall County (8) : All 8 communities Mayes County (29) : All 29 communities Muskogee County (20) : All 20 communities Nowata County (6) : All 6 communities Okfuskee County (9) : All 9 communities Ottawa County (10) : All 10 communities Pittsburg County (23) : All 23 communities Pushmataha County (8) : All 8 communities Rogers County (16) : Bushyhead, Chelsea, Claremore, Collinsville, Fair Oaks (part; also 2nd; shared with Wagoner County), Foyil, Gregory, Inola,

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

Limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

(part; also 1st), Oologah, Talala, Tiawah,

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

(part; also 1st and 3rd; shared with Osage,

, and Wagoner counties), Valley Park,

Verdigris Verdigris () is a common name for any of a variety of somewhat toxic copper salt (chemistry), salts of acetic acid, which range in colour from green to a blue-green, bluish-green depending on their chemical composition.H. Kühn, Verdigris and Cop ...

Sequoyah County (33) : All 33 communities Wagoner County (7) : Mallard Bay, Okay, Rocky Point, Taylor Ferry, Toppers, Wagoner, Whitehorn Cove Washington County (6) : All 6 communities

Recent election results

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

2024

List of members representing the district

Historical district boundaries

References

* *
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District 02 1907 establishments in Oklahoma