Gary Batton was appointed the tribe's 47th chief following the retirement of Gregory E. Other council seats within the tribe's 12-person council that are up for election this year are Districts 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 along with chief. The Choctaw Nation Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the election board's decision. The petition filed by Meashintubby argued the proper procedure to determine a winner of an election is through a runoff between the two remaining candidates. Meashintubby challenged the Choctaw Nation Election Board's decision to declare Karr the winner. Meashintubby ran against Karr and Pate and finished third in the 2019 election.
Karr was declared the winner of the election after Pate dropped out of the election prior to a runoff election.
Karr was first elected to serve the district in 2019 after defeating longtime councilman Bob Pate.
