Oklahomans Elect 3 Lawmakers Under 25-Years-Old

Rusty Surette, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Three of Oklahoma's newest lawmakers are under the age of 25. Voters elected two Republicans, both 21 years old, and one Democrat, who's 24 years old, to the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

Republican Josh Cockroft, 21, was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives this year. The district he will serve is McLoud's District 27.

Cockroft has served with the Young Republicans and worked with high school students throughout Oklahoma and the United States as a member of TeenPact Leadership Schools.

The other young conservative is Elise Hall who will represent District 100.

Hall is the Director of Marketing and Advertising at Western Lawns, a local landscape management company. At age 21, she is currently the youngest member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, but only by a few months.

Hall said being a young female was a challenge in her campaign.

"I think people don't look at a 21-year old and say 'She can do something.' They say 'She's too young and she's inexperienced,'" Hall said.

Hall said going door to door and meeting with voters was her way of changing attitudes of skeptics. Emily Virgin, 24, took the same approach in her campaign.

"I think those hesitations about my age, and I hope they didn't hesitate about my gender, but I did find some of that still present. But all of those I think wore away when they saw I had a good handle on the issues and knew the problems that are facing our state," said Virgin.

Virgin, a Democrat, took 65 percent of the vote in the race for Norman's House District 44.

Virgin is a law student at the University of Oklahoma and a graduate Magna Cum Laude from OU with a degree in political science and a minor in criminology.