Fed up with politics? Not the two dozen Oklahomans who might be future legislative leaders

Wondering who the future leaders of the Oklahoma Legislature might be? Some are very likely among the group of 24 new members seated in the House and Senate chambers this year.

House Speaker Charles McCall complimented the small group recently and noted that these rookies ― 17 men and seven women — had become all the more important because legislative term limits force the retirement of senior leaders after 12 years. New members will soon be seen in those leadership positions.

“I’m very impressed with our newly elected class,” McCall said, referring to the 16 members of the House and eight members of the Senate who took their seats in the Statehouse for the first time.

"It is encouraging to me — as a legislator entering his final term — to know that the House, and our state, will be in good hands for years to come," McCall said.

Rep. Cyndi Munson, now the House Democratic leader, agreed with McCall that new members would likely be called on soon to move up. She took her seat in the Legislature in 2016 and moved into a leadership position the following year.

All eight of the newly elected senators are Republican, as are 10 of the 16 new House members. Most of the new faces are white. The exceptions are Rep. Amanda Swope, 34, D-Tulsa, a citizen of the Muscogee Nation, and Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, D-Oklahoma City, whose parents moved to the United States from Mexico.

Alonso-Sandoval is also the youngest in the group at 23. The oldest, at 72, is Sen. Jack Stewart, R-Yukon, the former Canadian County commissioner.

Munson noted that an often combative political environment at both the national and state level made attracting new candidates more difficult. "We're often asking people to step away from both their professional and personal lives." And in Oklahoma, where the Legislature is so heavily Republican, she said potential Democratic candidates sometimes wondered "if they can really make a difference."

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So, with books written about “Why Americans Hate Politics” and polls showing many citizens burned out and avoiding political discussions even with friends, why did these two dozen decide to enter the fray?

Here’s what four of them had to say:

Arturo Alonso-Sandoval

“I had been thinking about how to get involved,” said Alonzo, until recently a mechanical engineering student at the University of Oklahoma. “I had been thinking about giving back to my community through engineering.”

But after talking to friends and family and people in his neighborhood, Alonzo said he was hearing that people were looking for “someone that wasn’t your typical political candidate.”

“I grew up on the south side of Oklahoma City,” Alonzo said. “About 70% of my district is of Hispanic origin. There are a lot of small businesses in my community … restaurants, small stores, car dealerships, tire shops. I remember having a lot of conversations with people in the language they speak best, and I think a lot of people in my community were encouraged that someone was running who could access both Spanish and English.”

Alonzo, 23, said he also was encouraged by the example of Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, who also was elected right out of college two years ago at 23. He said both of them believe Republicans and Democrats can work together.

“We’re Oklahomans before we’re Republicans or Democrats,” he said.

One of his key goals, Alonzo said, is to remain accessible to the people in his district, holding public meetings to let them know what is happening in the Legislature and getting them engaged in making suggestions for laws that would help their businesses succeed and make things better in their day-to-day lives.

For example, he said, Oklahoma law currently allows early in-person voting from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. during weekdays, but 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. Matching the Saturday hours with weekday hours, he said, would greatly improve access to the polls in his community, where voter turnout is low.

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Amanda Swope

“I’m surprised it took as long as it did,” said Swope about her decision to run for office. Swope’s mother, Connie Dodson, was a Tulsa city councilor, and politics was often discussed at the dinner table.

After college at Northeastern State University, where she studied psychology, Swope found her interest in politics strengthening. After receiving a master’s degree in public administration from OU, she started volunteering in Democratic campaigns for both state and federal offices, including her mother’s two unsuccessful campaigns for the Legislature. With both Osage and Muscogee ancestry, Swope went to work for the Muscogee Nation as a self-governance analyst negotiating federal compacts and identifying areas of sovereignty expansion. Later she became director of the tribe’s juvenile justice program. In 2018, Swope joined former Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s campaign for governor in which he was defeated by now Gov. Kevin Stitt. She was named head of the Tulsa County Democratic party the following year, stepping down to run for office.

Swope, 37, said she found campaigning very different from her organizing work. She was surprised at the degree of apathy she encountered as she went door to door and concluded that many believe “a lot of legislative work isn’t helping Oklahomans.” She said she also realized she might encounter situations in the Legislature when her own personal views would differ from many of those of her constituents, something she said her mother also encountered.

Swope’s narrow district sweeps north to south through both wealthy and middle-class neighborhoods in Tulsa. She said it includes no public schools, but that residents include many strong advocates of public school education. “They’re definitely not enthusiastic about school vouchers at this point,” she said.

Even though the early days of the session already have included signs of growing conflict over issues like school vouchers, teachers’ pay increases, and classroom curriculum restrictions, Swope said she is still confident she and her colleagues will be able to collaborate. Voters, she believes, expect more than argument from the Legislature.

John Kane

“I realized good things could happen at the state Capitol,” said Kane, a 62-year-old rancher from Bartlesville. “When you’re back at home, working with the cattle, keeping your head down, you tend to think that they (legislators) are just down there mickey-mousing around.” But serving briefly on the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Commission “exposed me to some things I hadn’t seen before, and I realized there were good things that could be accomplished.”

Kane’s district in northeastern Oklahoma is close to the tallgrass prairie, once home to millions of buffalo, and also the birthplace of one of the state’s largest oil companies — Phillips Petroleum. It has been heavily conservative for decades, even back when the state was solidly Democratic.

“I must have knocked on 4,000 doors during my campaign,” Kane said. He only had to win the primary, defeating incumbent Rep. Wendy Stearman, because no Democrats entered the race.

"Improving education was the main thing on the minds of many,” he said. “I was knocking mainly on Republican doors, but even the more liberal folks I talked to felt changes need to be made — just different changes.”

Kane said he had no preconceived ideas about how to make education better for the young people of the state.  “I’m here to talk to people and I’m here to learn.” Will a voucher program help? Will increasing teachers’ pay? Better assessment of teacher performance? “It all comes down to what’s better for the students. What helps them learn and be prepared for the future,” he said.

“I’ve been encouraged by the conversations I’ve been having,” Kane said. “I believe we can disagree on policy matters and still be friends. We can still work together and accomplish the things we all agree need to be done.”

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John George

“For the last 10 years, I was president of the Fraternal Order of Police,” said George, 54, a former homicide detective with the Oklahoma City police force. “That got me involved in politics, on the side of advocating for the officers.” When redistricting in 2021 created a new district on Oklahoma City’s east side with no incumbent, George said he decided, “Yeah, let’s go for it.”

George said the district is mostly rural, “but that’s rapidly changing.” The suburbs of Edmond on the north, Norman on the south and Oklahoma City on the east are expanding. “That will make it exciting,” he said.

Knocking on doors to campaign came easily, George said, because of his experience as a detective. “What I heard is that people wanted a break from inflation. They were very interested in tax cuts, especially the grocery tax.”

“What I heard from a lot of people is that they were tired of all the politicians fighting and nothing getting done,” he said. “It was more about Washington than the state, but they were tired of both sides not getting together.”

George said he intended to focus mostly on law enforcement issues as he gets his feet on the ground and learns the legislative process. “I’m familiar with that, and I think I can do some good, but I want to be learning how things work so that my priorities can be what’s best for my district.”

Crime associated with the state’s medical marijuana law was on the minds of many in his district, George said. "You know, Oklahoma leads the nation now in black market marijuana … People want the foreign elements out. They want things fixed and tightened up.”

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma term limits mean faster leadership roles for some newcomers