The top vote-getter in the Republican primary to be Oklahoma’s top insurance regulator is a strident industry critic who is backed by lawyers and vows to battle “Big Insurance” as state residents pay some of the highest property premiums in the country.
Bob Sullivan, an independent insurance agent, won 37 percent of votes cast in Tuesday’s primary. He has assailed “career politicians and weak regulators” in campaign material, saying they “have let Big Insurance run wild, padding profits while Oklahomans get punished.”
Because no candidate won a majority, Sullivan will face a run-off in August against a former Oklahoma state legislator who finished second in the Republican primary and says property insurance “is a good industry.” The run-off winner will face Democrat Craig MacIntyre, an insurance consultant, in November in the heavily Republican state.
Oklahoma home-insurance rates have skyrocketed in recent years, partly due to an increase in severe hailstorms and windstorms and rising wildfire risk. The state’s $5,736 average premium is second-highest in the U.S., according to data provider Insurify.
