Car Crash Kills House Candidate

An 81-year-old Democrat in the race for a US House seat in eastern Oklahoma has died from injuries he sustained in a car accident, police say. Earl Emmitt Everett, a retired schoolteacher and Korean War veteran, died at a Tulsa hospital yesterday. He had been in a two-car accident Friday afternoon in Fort Gibson. Everett was a decided underdog in his race against first-term Republican US Rep. Markwayne Mullin for the 2nd District seat that stretches across 26 eastern Oklahoma counties.

Everett was attempting to cross Highway 62 when he was hit broadside by a westbound vehicle, police say. He was taken by helicopter to a hospital. "We honor the memory of Mr. Everett, a Korean War veteran, and his desire to represent the people of eastern Oklahoma," the chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party said in a statement. "Anyone that is willing to put their name on a ballot in order to be voted on by their peers as a public servant deserves our admiration and respect." (More Election 2014 stories.)