In Oklahoma County DA election, first-timer seeks upset over veteran of 11 political races

Kevin Calvey has heard it before.

The longtime knock on the Republican is that he is a career politician. Now in his 11th political race, this time for Oklahoma County district attorney, he is trying to turn that into a positive.

He is telling voters that a DA in an urban county is mostly an administrator and must be able to work with legislators to get sufficient financing and get the laws changed to better protect public safety.

"Like it or not, our Legislature is overwhelmingly Republican," the former state representative said at the only DA debate last month. "As a Republican who knows most of those legislators, I know how to talk to them."

He said his opponent, Vicki Behenna, has no idea what to do at the state Capitol. "As a Democrat, she won't get to first base out there."

Behenna has heard it over and over throughout the campaign.

The knock on her is that as a Democrat she will be soft on crime. In one mailer, Calvey claims she "would rather put police in cuffs than criminals."

In a new TV ad, a Virginia-based PAC, the Protecting Americans Project Action Fund, warns that crime is skyrocketing, businesses are threatened and "our families are paying the price."

Calvey vs. Behenna:Five takeaways from debate between Oklahoma County DA candidates

At times, Behenna has deflected the criticism, saying the DA office is not really political. "It's an experience office. It's a judgment office. It's a justice office," she said when she announced her candidacy in March.

The former federal prosecutor also has taken the criticism head on. "It's a nice label he can place on me," she said of Calvey at the debate. "Right? That's what's it about. He can't attack my experience, so he's got to try to place a label on me."

Calvey or Behenna will be Oklahoma County's first new DA in 16 years

The general election Tuesday will give Oklahoma County and its 800,000 residents a new DA for the first time in 16 years. The race for one of the most influential elected positions in the state has had some fireworks but been mostly low key, particularly in comparison to the GOP primary.

Calvey, 56, of Oklahoma City, has been running longer, has greater name recognition and has spent twice as much. He spent more than $1 million through Oct. 24, his campaign reports show. Behenna, 63, of Edmond, spent almost $400,000.

Despite that, the race may have tightened up. Calvey said in a new mailer that he is leading in the polls, but sources have told The Oklahoman that Behenna is ahead. Each has called the other unfit to serve.

At play in the race is that Democrats have had success in Oklahoma County even though more voters are Republican.

David Prater, the outgoing DA, won as a Democrat over an incumbent Republican in 2006. More recently, Democrat Drew Edmondson got 54% of the Oklahoma County vote in the 2018 gubernatorial race. In the 2020 presidential race, Donald Trump finished only one percentage point above Joe Biden in the county.

Democrat Joy Hofmeister is expected to win in Oklahoma County in this year's gubernatorial race, which would help Behenna.

Calvey became an attorney in Oklahoma in 1994 after graduating from Georgetown University's law school. He first ran for office in 1996 when he lived in Del City.

He lost that bid to represent District 94 in the state House of Representatives but won the seat two years later, by 14 votes. "I put it in God's hands," he said at the time. He was reelected in 2000, 2002 and 2004.

He ran for Congress in 2006 and again in 2010, losing both times. He was elected to the state House again in 2014, this time representing District 82. He was reelected in 2016.

He became an Oklahoma County commissioner after winning the District 3 race in 2018. He could have sought reelection but ran for DA instead.

His time in the House has been the focus of new attack ads that call him "too much of a firebrand to be DA." OK Progress LLC on Monday reported spending $255,000 so far on a TV commercial and another $37,239 on mailers.

The TV spot includes a clip of Calvey's controversial remarks on the House floor in 2015. Upset with Oklahoma Supreme Court rulings against anti-abortion laws, Calvey said, "If I were not a Christian and didn't have a prohibition against suicide, I'd walk across the street, douse myself in gasoline and set myself on fire!"

Some former colleagues remember him as temperamental at the Capitol. Others say he is just passionate.

Former House Speaker Kris Steele described Calvey as divisive.

"Kevin can be very quick-tempered," said Steele, a Republican. "He has some extreme ideas. He can be very obstinate."

He recalled a time that Calvey lobbied him about an abortion issue after Calvey left the House the first time. He said he didn't agree on the issue and "it felt like it became personal ... and unprofessional."

Former House Minority Leader Scott Inman said Calvey had a flair for angry outbursts.

"There were many a time in which one might think cooler heads would prevail. And, in those times, more likely than not, Kevin was not one of those cooler heads," said Inman, a Democrat.

Another former House speaker, Lance Cargill, though, called Calvey super intelligent, always prepared and always helpful.

"Obviously, he can get very passionate about issues," said Cargill, a Republican. "If you want somebody who's just going to take up space, go along to get along, that sort of thing, I don't think Kevin is your guy. And sometimes people perceive that as being, 'Oh, he's a hothead,' ... but I think it's more just passion to try to make change and work for the people that he's trying to help."

Vicki Behenna became known for defending her soldier son, prosecuting OKC bomber Timothy McVeigh

Behenna became an attorney in Oklahoma in 1984 after graduating from Oklahoma City University's law school.

She became known across the country for championing the cause of her son, a former first lieutenant in the U.S. Army who was convicted in 2009 of unpremeditated murder in a combat zone for the fatal shooting of an Iraqi prisoner.

Trump pardoned Michael Behenna in 2019, citing concerns about how the trial court handled his self-defense claim.

In Oklahoma, she also is known for being one of the prosecutors at Timothy McVeigh's 1997 federal trial in Denver. The Oklahoma City bomber was convicted at the trial and executed for his crimes in 2001. McVeigh's lead trial attorney, Stephen Jones, a Republican, is one of her campaign contributors.

Behenna was one of two Oklahomans on the seven-member prosecution team and spent a year in Denver, away from her family, to first prepare and then put on evidence at trial.

"Why did I do this?" she said to fellow attorneys at a recent candidate forum. "I didn't do it for recognition. I didn't do it so I could run for political office. I did it because I made that commitment to the survivors and the family members that something like that was never going to happen in our city again."

In all, she was an assistant U.S. attorney in Oklahoma City for more than 25 years and also handled public corruption cases. She has been a defense attorney for the last nine years.

In 2015, she became executive director of the Oklahoma Innocence Project, which she describes as an organization dedicated to identifying and remedying cases of wrongful convictions. She stepped down after getting in the DA race.

"I have moved through the criminal legal system not to pad my resume for political gain but because my heart moved me to these new challenges to try to make things better," she said at the debate.

Critics say her son's case changed her too much, making her prone to see prosecutorial misconduct or judicial overreach in cases where there is none.

She regularly points out to voters that she has been a prosecutor, a defense attorney, the mother of an incarcerated person and the wife of a crime victim. Her husband was shot in 1987 during a car chase while an agent at the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

"I have a unique perspective on the criminal justice system in that I've seen it from all sides," she told The Oklahoman.

Calvey's prosecution experience came when he was a captain in the U.S. Army.

He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service there from Jan. 28, 2007, to Jan. 27, 2008. A narrative accompanying the award said he prosecuted terrorists and obtained "numerous death penalty convictions." His campaign said he is restricted from discussing details about the convictions in part because the information is classified.

However, one individual named in the narrative and identified as a "propaganda operative" was released in 2008 after the military said he was no longer a security threat. The individual was a photographer with The Associated Press, which investigated and reported finding no evidence of any illegal activity on his part.

In her closing remarks at the debate, Behenna called her opponent just a rookie at prosecuting, "if I take him at his word that he tried all of these cases while he was in the military for one year."

In response, Calvey said, "I did prosecute terrorists for the Army in a combat zone. And I'm sorry that she disparages the experience of veterans in saying I don't have experience doing prosecutions." At a news conference last week, military veterans in the state Legislature also spoke out about the remarks.

"Don't attack veterans in political campaigns for political advancement," said state Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee. "It will not work well for you. ... It's reckless, it's irresponsible and it really shouldn't happen."

Calvey said last month he will personally prosecute high-profile cases but insisted his time will be better spent leading and managing the DA office. He added he is the only candidate qualified to do that.

One supporter, fellow Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan, points out that a DA also advises county officials on civil issues. "He's been intimately involved in those issues that we have to face," Maughan said.

Former District Attorney Wes Lane, who took over the job in mid-2001 and held it until after losing election in 2006, said the position does have administrative responsibilities.

"Different personalities lend themselves to different roles they are willing to step into and feel comfortable with," said Lane, a Republican. "I found myself getting pulled away on administrative issues. I regret not being in the courtroom actually more."

Prater has been the lead prosecutor in at least a dozen jury trials as DA.

He also has personally handled more than 200 other cases including ones resolved by guilty pleas. Also as DA, he reviews every shooting involving the police, often clearing officers but at times charging them.

Prater has not endorsed either candidate.

Staff writers Carmen Forman, Chris Casteel and Nuria Martinez-Keel contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: First-timer seeks upset over well-funded political veteran in DA race