5 Oklahoma congressmen got $345k-plus from interest groups

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma's five U.S. House members received more than $345,000 from interest groups in the three weeks leading up to the June 28 primaries.

The Oklahoman newspaper reports that the congressmen spent nearly $900,000 combined in the last three weeks of June. Defense contractors and energy companies were some of the groups that contributed to the campaigns.

All of the congressmen easily won their primaries.

Federal Election Commission reports show that U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin took $137,000 from political action committees in that period.

U.S. Reps. Frank Lucas and Tom Cole collected less money than Mullin, but donations from their PACs topped 80 percent of their total receipts.

Only U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine had a financially competitive GOP challenger in Tulsa oilman Tom Atkinson.