Longtime Baptist pastor Wade Burleson challenges Oklahoma Rep. Frank Lucas for House seat

Wade Burleson, a longtime pastor and former head of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, said Tuesday he is challenging Rep. Frank Lucas for his congressional seat and that the race would be won “at the grassroots level.”

Burleson, 60, who recently retired after 30 years at Emmanuel Enid, is the second Republican to announce a primary challenge to Lucas, the longest-serving House member in Oklahoma’s congressional delegation.

Oklahoma State Rep. Sean Roberts, of Hominy, announced last month that he would run for the 3rd Congressional District seat.

The candidate filing period is set for April 13-15. The primaries will be held June 28 and run-offs are scheduled for Aug. 23.

In an interview Tuesday, Burleson said, “I like Frank. He’s a good man. But after 28 years, you’re too tied to lobbyists, you’re too addicted to being in Washington. There’s too much money, too much power, and it’s time for a change.”

Burleson, who has been an outspoken opponent of vaccine and mask mandates during the pandemic, said one factor in his decision to run was Lucas’ vote in November for a House bill aimed at improving databases related to vaccinations.

The bill, which says immunization information systems allow health care providers to view “a consolidated immunization history of a patient to determine appropriate vaccinations,” is intrusive and paves the way for government tracking of Americans, Burleson said.

And, Burleson said, it was hypocritical for Lucas to applaud the U.S. Supreme Court for striking down the vaccine mandate for private employers after voting for the bill.

A campaign spokesman for Lucas declined to comment on Tuesday.

Lucas, 62, a rancher from Roger Mills County, has been in the House since 1994. He is the former chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and now is the top Republican on the Science, Space and Technology Committee. Lucas has garnered 70% of the vote or more in every election since 2008 and has not had a serious challenge since 2000.

Lucas reported this week that he raised $135,093 in the last three months of 2021 and had $315,567 in his campaign account on Dec. 31.

Burleson and Roberts will not have to report contributions and expenditures until mid-April.

"This race will not be won with money," Burleson said Tuesday. "It will be won at the grass roots level."

The 3rd District includes much of western Oklahoma and runs from the Panhandle down to the southwest corner of the state and takes in Stillwater and part of Canadian County.

Last year, the Republican-led Legislature made the 5th Congressional District safer for Republicans by taking Logan and Lincoln counties and part of Canadian County out of the 3rd District and putting them in the 5th.

The 3rd District now runs into Oklahoma County and will include parts of northwest and south Oklahoma City near downtown, along with the Plaza District, the state Fairgrounds, Oklahoma City Community College and Will Rogers World Airport.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Baptist leader Frank Lucas challenges Frank Lucas