Frank Lucas (Oklahoma politician)


Frank Dean Lucas is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for, since 2003, having previously represented the 6th district, from 1994 to 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party and serves as the ranking minority member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. His district, numbered as the 6th district from 1994 to 2003, is the largest congressional district in the state and one of the largest in the nation that does not cover an entire state. It covers 34,088.49 square miles and stretches from the Panhandle to the fringes of the Tulsa suburbs, covering almost half of the state's land mass.

United States House of Representatives

Committee assignments

On April 7, 2014, Lucas introduced the Customer Protection and End User Relief Act into the House. The bill would reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission through 2018 and amend some provisions of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Political campaigns

Oklahoma House of Representatives

He first ran for the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1984 as a Republican against the incumbent Democrat, narrowly losing. A second attempt in 1986 also fell short, but he won in 1988. He lost in 1990 after the legislature made his district somewhat friendlier to Democrats. However, he returned in 1992.

U. S. House of Representatives

In 1994, 6th district Congressman Glenn English stepped down to become a lobbyist for rural electric cooperatives. Lucas won the Republican nomination for the special election on May 10. He faced Dan Webber, press secretary to U.S. Senator David L. Boren. The 6th was already by far the largest in the state, stretching from the Panhandle to the town of Spencer, in the far northeastern Oklahoma City metropolitan area. However, the state legislature had redrawn it so that it included many poor Oklahoma City neighborhoods that had never voted Republican. Lucas scored a major upset; he won by eight percentage points, carrying 18 of the district's 24 counties. His victory has been seen by some pundits as an early sign of the wave six months later that saw the Republicans take control of the House for the first time in 40 years. Lucas himself won a full term in that wave with 70 percent of the vote. He has been re-elected seven times, never dropping below 59 percent of the vote, and even ran unopposed in 2002 and 2004.
Lucas' district was renumbered as the 3rd after Oklahoma lost a district in the 2000 Census. His already vast district was made even larger. He lost most of his share of Oklahoma City, which was home to 60 percent of the district's population. He once represented much of the downtown area, including the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. He still represents that portion of the city located in Canadian County. To make up for this large population loss, the 3rd was pushed further to the east, picking up several of Tulsa's western suburbs and some rural areas. As a result, his district now includes 48.5 percent of the state's landmass, and is nearly as large as the state's other four districts combined.

2014 Republican primary

In the 2014 Republican primary, Lucas won 83% of the vote. 12% went to Robert Hubbard; and 5% went to Timothy Ray Murray.

Electoral history

English resigned mid-term, and Lucas won the special election to succeed him against Democratic opponent Dan Webber.
YearDemocraticVotesPctRepublicanVotesPct3rd PartyPartyVotesPct
2002'148,20676%Robert T. MurphyIndependent47,88424%
2004'Frank D. Lucas215,51082%Gregory M. WilsonIndependent46,62118%
2006Sue Barton61,74933%Frank D. Lucas128,04267%
2008Frankie Robbins62,29724%Frank D. Lucas184,30670%Forrest MichaelIndependent17,7567%
2010Frankie Robbins45,68422%Frank D. Lucas161,91578%

Personal life

Lucas is a fifth-generation Oklahoman; his family has farmed in western Oklahoma for over 100 years. He lives in Cheyenne with his wife, Lynda. They have three children and three grandchildren.