Jeff Cloud Drops House Bid
Sources confirm Republican Jeff Cloud has dropped his bid to become the next Congressman from Oklahoma District 5. The reasons are not yet clear, but an announcement is expected soon. Fundraising may have been an issue. Cloud’s most recent ethics report showed a respectable cash intake, but he was still well behind Kevin Calvey and Mike Thompson. With Cloud’s departure, Thompson, Calvey, Johnny Roy, Rick Flanigan* and James Lankford are the only candidates in the Republican primary. As of yet, no Democrats have entered the race.
Update 11:14 pm: Jeff Cloud has confirmed his exit from the race with a press release on his website. Cloud cites a health condition and an impending surgery as the reason for his exit. We wish Commissioner Cloud a speedy recovery.
*We apologize to Mr. Rick Flanigan, who we accidentally left off the list of candidates vying for the GOP nomination. We were under the mistaken impression that Mr. Flanigan had dropped out. He has not.
I’ve heard this, too. Cloud’s fundraising is way behind what it needed to be for him to be considered competitive. It’s a hard fundraising environment and his supporters are fatigued — didn’t they just get done reelecting him? Cloud has great potential for higher state offices in the future, but Congress just isn’t in the cards right now.
I realize that no one is taking me serious in this race but I would remind you that I am still and will continue to be in this race.
Mr. Flanigan, the post has been corrected. We apologize for the error, which was not made because we don’t take you seriously, but because we were under the false impression you had left the race.