4-04-2023 9:49pm

Eudey unseated, 2 others re-elected in Broken Arrow City Council race

John Dobberstein Editor

By John Dobberstein, Editor

Political newcomer Joe Franco convincingly unseated longtime Broken Arrow City Council member Scott Eudey Tuesday, but two other council members held off challengers to win re-election.

Franco, a 28-year U.S. Air Force combat veteran and software development project manager, defeated Eudey, a Broken Arrow attorney, for the Ward 4 seat with 55% of the vote, compared to Eudey’s 45%.

First elected to the City Council in 2015, Eudey served as vice mayor from 2017 to 2021.

In what would be his last City Council meeting Tuesday night, Eudey said he would accept the outcome of the election whether he won or lost – and if he lost, he’d continue to serve Broken Arrow.

In Ward 3, Christi Gillespie handily defeated Mike Lester for the second election in a row, with 63% of the votes compared to 37% for Lester – an even larger margin of victory than in 2019.

Gillespie had the support of numerous endorsements, including the influential Broken Arrow Firefighters Assn. Local #2551 (BAFA), U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, Tulsa County GOP Chair Ronda Vuillemont-Smith and various Oklahoma Senators and Representatives.

Also re-elected Tuesday in the At-Large race was Johnnie Parks, who even with three challengers still garnered 45% of the vote, compared to William Vaughn (36%), George Ghesquire (13%) and Sonja Potter (6%). Vaughn – as well as Franco -- was also backed by BAFA, but that was not enough to push Vaughn to victory.

Parks, who ran with no announced endorsements, continues as the longest-serving current member of the City Council. He was the Ward 1 councilor from 1979-1994 and was elected again as an at-large member in 2011. Parks was reelected in 2015 and 2019.