Wallace Collins, D-Norman, and fellow Norman Democrats gathered at Step-Brothers restaurant on Webster Street to watch the results of the election. For those in attendance though, the night didn’t go as planned for either Wallace or the other candidates they were rooting for. Aaron Stiles, R-Norman, defeated Collins with 52.02 percent of the district’s vote, a difference of almost 500 votes.

“Obviously I’m disappointed,” Collins said. “In my opinion, the Republicans were successful. They managed to link all the national issues of Washington D.C. Which is certainly not the case, but that’s how it turned out. It’s a sad night for Democrats.”

Collins said Stiles’ success can be attributed to a campaign that was 80 percent negative and funded by outside money, which he says came from the Koch brothers out of Wichita, Kan. Collins said he has no idea why the Koch brothers would take an interest in his district, but says they’ve been funding a large number of Tea Party candidates across the region.

“We just did the same thing we’ve always done, walking door to door talking to people. Maybe we should’ve been more negative, I don’t know,” Collins said.

The night started off in good spirits with many in attendance confident in the imminent victory of the incumbent Collins.

“Mr. Collins is a true-blue American,” Cleveland Democratic Party Chair Suzette McDowell said. “He works so hard for people. He has more integrity than Stiles, and he has actual identification with folks, not just with the people who have the big bucks.”

But as the night went on and it became apparent that a victory wasn’t secured, the mood started to sour. As the results started to roll in the crowd started to get upset, yelling things like “it’s all racist” and “Oklahoma is screwed.”

Collins was clearly disheartened as he got up in front of the crowd to introduce his five sons and other family members. At that point the absentee votes had yet to be counted, and while they did serve to lessen the gap in Stiles lead, it was to no avail.

The crowd slowly filtered out with heads being shaken and gloomy forecasts about the future of the state given.

“The main thing with this was that we were trying to swim against the tide here. This district has always been tough. We won by 900 votes in 2008, but the tide has turned now. The Republicans didn’t turn out very much, but the Democrats turned out even less,” oldest son of Wallace Collins, Eddy Collins, said.

Collins currently serves as the Assistant Democratic Floor Leader and sits on the Human Services, General Government and Public Safety committees.

Collins had previously served in the legislature from 1996-2000, before being defeated by Thad Balkman, R-Norman. It was in 2006 that Collins won back his seat in the House back from Balkman. Collins’ term limit is set to expire in 2014.

Collins has been a longtime Norman resident, graduating from Norman High in 1959. Collins and his wife have six sons and five grandchildren.

He has worked in the automotive industry for most of his life and for more than four decades has been a member of the machinist union. Collins is a strong proponent for the labor cause.

Collins also serves to represent those suffering from mental illness or such issues, and said he believes they should receive adequate medical funding at least equal to that of the physically ill. For his advocacy of this cause, the National Association for the Mentally Ill named Collins as an “Outstanding Legislator.”