The District
Oklahoma's Second Congressional District

Nestled in the Ozarks' foothills, Oklahoma's second congressional district comprises 18 counties in the northeast corner of the state, excluding Tulsa County. The second district extends northeast, and then west of Tulsa, including the cities of Muskogee, Claremore, and Sapulpa. Wagoner and Rogers counties are among Oklahoma's fastest growing, as Tulsa continues to grow and people move out to the suburbs.

Oklahoma's Northeast corner, nicknamed "green country" after its forests, has a poor, rural voter base and trends democratic. According to the Oklahoma Election Board, Democratic voter registration in January outdid Republican by almost an 8-to-3 margin. Despite this, Republicans have won the congressional seat, due to the high concentration of Christian Coalition, Baptist and Pentecostal voters.

While agriculture is the district's major breadwinner, others include small manufacturing, paper production, and healthcare. The area also enjoys a fair amount of tourism, due to a number of lakes in the region.

Oklahoma's second district is older, whiter, and less educated than most of the country. With a population of 524,389, just over sixty percent of the second district is rural, and 77 percent is white. The district includes Osage County, which is a Native American reservation and the location of a resurrected tallgrass prairie. The Native American population is greater in Oklahoma than in any other state, at nearly 30 percent, and although in the second district it is lower than the state average, is still significant at 17 percent. Five percent of the district's population is black, less than one percent is Asian, one percent is Hispanic, and less than one percent is of another origin.

Fifteen percent of the population is 65 or older, putting the district in the top third nationwide. Only twelve percent of the district's population is college educated, placing the second district at the bottom of Oklahoman rankings and in the bottom third nationally. An average household income is $20, 633 places the district fifth out of Oklahoma's six, and in the bottom third nationwide. Figures are from the 1990 national census, the latest available.