Video: Tulsa Mayoral Candidates Karen Keith, Monroe Nichols advance to November runoff election

it is election night across Green Country and it has been a close and wild one with Tulsa's mayoral and city council races on the ballot thanks so much for counting on FOX23 News at 10 I'm Sarah wayy and I'm Nathan Thompson we're also keeping an eye on several runoffs for the State House and Senate let's get right over to the Fox 23 election center where Shay Rosy has the latest on the race for Tulsa mayor and wow is all I can say oh my goodness we knew it was going to be close but we were like wow this is so so close all right the results for Tulsa are so tight this will lead to a runoff so let's take a look at the numbers you can see the top three candidates have just more than 30% of the vote each now Monroe Nicholls got the most votes but Karen Keith is less than 300 votes behind him and look at the number for Brent Van Norman less than 500 votes behind Karen Keith so Nichols and Keith will have a runoff in November Van Norman can ask for a recount so we'll be watching for that now rounding out the race for mayor John jolly Caleb hooer and Paul Tay you see there and our live you decide coverage continues this hour now with Fox 23 reporters at watch parties for the top three candidates we start with Fox 23's Morgan Martin who's in the Greenwood District where she talked to Monroe Nichols Shay I'll tell you you could feel the excitement when it was announced that this would be headed to a runoff and when Nichols told the crowd he arrived he said he was ready to get to work if that was going to be the case and that November's all about making history and he's ready to do just that in his speech he thanked everyone who has supported him along the way and believed in what his campaign could do which means we got a long road ahead and so and so we we always knew it may be a long road ahead because never forget not only do we have the best campaign not only do I believe that I'm the best candidate um but we but we collectively are trying to do something that has never been done before and sometimes history takes a little bit more time to make now you could hear some of those cheers there in the background but he did note that he's ready to make this a reality between now and November and put in the work to make it happen live in Greenwood covering news that matters Morgan Martin FOX23 News now we go to Fox 23's Devon lion Who's Live at the stokeley Event Center at Karen Keith's watch party that's right and as you guys said earlier looks like we will indeed have a runoff between Karen Keith and Monroe Nichols now behind me over at the stokeley of in Center the room is really cleared out now as those final results came in now just a few people hanging out to talk with Karen Keith or take one last picture before the night ends now we heard lots of cheers and shouts from those here supporting Karen Keith for when her votes caught back up to within 200 of Monroe Nichols hearing from several of her family and supporters a runoff was not the ideal outcome but they're excited for the road ahead several of them wearing green in her support tonight but as those final results came in I spoke with Keith and she told me she's ready for that runoff in November a runoff is entirely possible and we're ready to keep on rolling down the road so we're we're ready for whatever it takes Now Keith did address all of her supporters shortly after we got those results tonight and she was thanking all of her supporters for being there for her throughout this whole campaigning process but that the fight is not done so it also ended with a note of encouragement that they're going to keep pressing on to that Finish Line when voters will once again hit the polls in November live in east Tulsa covering news of matters Deon lion FOX23 News now coming in a close third tonight is Brent Van Norman Fox 23's Paris rain was at his watch party earlier tonight and joins us live in downtown Tulsa yeah I just left the Brent Van Norman watch party the room was full of people who were anxious waiting for those results to come in and the 90 days have been long for Brent Van Norman and his campaign team Van Norman entered the race later than the other candidates some of whom announced their candidacy more than a year ago Ben Norman has only been in the race for about 90 days Ben Norman has mentioned during Fox 23 interviews that a few of his top issues he will be focused on if elected are making Tulsa more business oriented homelessness and making Tulsa a safer place for community and officers I asked him what's his message for those who voted for him or that he talked to just before the polls close this evening oh I really want to say thank you for believing in me uh thank you for looking and saying I think youve you can lead the city in a positive direction putting your trust behind it's been really kind of overwhelming that uh people have been texting me all day uh iming me all day and just saying hey we've spread the word we've texted our whole contact list we've encouraged people that weren't going to vote to vote and so uh it's been very uh you know it's humbling for people to do that and very much appreciated and I want to just thank people for their belief it was a very close race tonight with' been noring in a very close third and we'll wait to see once the results are certified and officially in but at this point it looks like he will not be advancing to the November runoffs live in TSA covering news that matters I'm Paris rain Fox23 News right so once again the top two candidates in the Mayoral race will advance to a runoff as we've been talking about those candidates will be County Commissioner Karen Keith and state representative Monroe Nichols that election is November 5th which is also the same day as a presidential election Sarah Nathan back to you