Oklahoma GOP candidates for Jim Inhofe seat face questions on issues, controversies

Four Republicans running to succeed U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe agreed Thursday on gun rights and abortion and dismissed congressional hearings about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol as a distraction, but showed some differences on the McGirt decision and Ukraine in a televised debate less than three weeks before the primary.

Candidates T.W. Shannon, Scott Pruitt, state Sen. Nathan Dahm and Luke Holland also endorsed term limits and criticized congressional earmarks, while blaming rampant inflation on the Biden administration and government spending.

The four candidates on the News 9/News on 6 debate also faced questions specific to their records, with Dahm defending a crude reference he once made about Vice President Kamala Harris and Pruitt denying allegations in an official report that he once directed a security aide to drive against traffic to pick up his dry-cleaning while he was head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The CBS affiliates in Oklahoma City and Tulsa invited five of the 13 Republicans running in the special election to succeed Inhofe. U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, 44, of Westville, backed out of the debate on Thursday morning, citing the need to stay in Washington to vote on a gun-related bill. Mullin was offered a satellite feed to participate but declined, according to debate moderators.

GOP primary for special election to succeed US Sen. Jim Inhofe is June 28

Inhofe, 87, who has served in the Senate since late 1994, announced in February that he would resign when the current Congress ends in January, leaving four years on the term he won in 2020.

Gov. Kevin Stitt set a special Senate election to coincide with the elections scheduled for this year. The primary is June 28. If none of the candidates receives more than 50% of the vote, a runoff between the top two will be held on Aug. 23. The winner will face former U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn, an Oklahoma City Democrat; independent Ray Woods; and Libertarian Robert Murphy.

The debate was held at the same time that a U.S. House committee hearing was aired nationally that emphasized former President Donald Trump’s role in the mob attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The four GOP Senate candidates, who are all loyal Trump supporters, said they would not watch the public hearings, set to continue on Monday.

“The Jan. 6 hearings are a sham and I will not be watching,” said Shannon, 44, an Oklahoma City banker and former speaker of the Oklahoma House.

“The real issue is the Jan. 6 panels are an attempt to keep President Trump from becoming the president (again) — the 47th president of the United States.”

The candidates echoed Republican talking points about high gasoline prices, citing Biden policies as the sole reason, despite factors such as the reduction in U.S. refining capacity, the increased demand worldwide after the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the reluctance among some companies to increase production.

“Joe Biden the candidate promised a war on fossil fuels and Joe Biden the president has carried it out,” Pruitt said.

With a renewed focus in Washington on gun restrictions in the wake of mass shootings that have killed dozens in recent weeks, the four expressed strong opposition to any legislation they said would infringe on the Second Amendment.

“We need to make sure that we’re dealing with the evil in society and not taking over the gun rights of Americans who are law abiding,” said Pruitt, 54, of Tulsa.

Dahm, who wrote legislation allowing Oklahomans 21 and older to carry concealed weapons without a permit, said he also “created and passed the nation’s first-ever anti-red flag act to stop the gun grabbers in Washington, D.C., from coming after our firearms in the state of Oklahoma.”

Shannon said, “Now is not the time for Republicans or anybody else to bend one inch on our Second Amendment rights because the truth is the real goal is to disarm Americans.”

And though the state of Texas and the U.S. Justice Department are examining why law enforcement took no action while a shooter killed 21 people in a Uvalde, Texas, school last month, some of the candidates suggested more police at schools was the answer.

“We do need to look at hardening our schools and we need to look at providing armed police officers to protect our kids as they go to school,” said Holland, 35, of Tulsa.

US Senate candidates split on McGirt and Ukraine

One split among the candidates came on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 2020 in McGirt v. Oklahoma, which has led to the affirmation of six tribal reservations in Oklahoma and reshaped criminal jurisdiction in the eastern half of the state.

Shannon, a member of the Chickasaw Nation, and Holland expressed optimism that the state, tribes and federal government would be able to reach agreements on jurisdiction once the courts have resolved some pending questions.

“Oklahoma has been a model of how states and tribes can work together, and this is another opportunity for us to do that,” Shannon said.

“But the last thing that I believe we need is for (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer to decide what’s best for Oklahoma. Any decision about Oklahoma should be an Oklahoma first decision.”

Pruitt and Dahm disagreed, saying federal legislation was necessary.

“Congress and the U.S. Senate need to show the lead to address this,” Pruitt said, arguing that the decision implicated civil matters, including taxation and regulation.

“Congress has every right, every authority to disestablish reservations in the state of Oklahoma and restore the sovereign boundaries in the state of Oklahoma.”

On Ukraine, Shannon, Pruitt and Dahm said they would have opposed the $42 billion in humanitarian and military assistance approved by Congress last month, while Holland said he would have supported. Most of Oklahoma's congressional delegation voted for the aid; Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Tulsa, was the only vote against among Oklahomans.

Holland said, "The worst thing that could happen to the United States right now is for Russia to steamroll through Ukraine and then begin invading either Poland or Romania, which are NATO allies … Instead of allowing that to happen, it’s absolutely appropriate for the United States to provide Ukraine with weapons so that they can fight against Russia and Putin’s invasion."

Shannon said it was "absolutely a mistake to spend 40 billion of American taxpayer dollars and send to Ukraine to secure the Ukrainian border and to arm Ukrainian citizens while our border remains open and while the Democrats and some Republicans in Congress are calling to disarm Americans."

Nathan Dahm, Luke Holland weigh in on abortion

On abortion, Dahm credited his legislation for effectively shutting down most abortions in the state. He and the other three candidates said they opposed abortion but would make exceptions for life of the mother.

“In one of my bills, yes, I did have an exception for life of the mother because I believe that is protecting life,” Dahm, 39, of Broken Arrow, said. “In the other bill, there was an exception for rape and incest if that was reported to law enforcement, because that was civil penalties and we did not want to allow the rapist to actually enforce any civil penalties” against people who may have helped a woman receive an abortion.

Holland said, “The Lord knits us together in our mother’s womb, And as your next United States senator, I will absolutely fight for federal protections to ensure that abortion can’t happen anywhere in this country. It’s one of the most important issues that we face as a country.”

Oklahoma GOP candidates field personal questions

Holland, a longtime aide to Inhofe, touted Inhofe’s endorsement of him throughout the debate, but sidestepped a question about why the endorsement hadn’t appeared to help much. Holland has trailed Mullin, Shannon, Dahm and Pruitt in public polling. Those rivals have all held public office.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the work that I’ve been able to do with Jim Inhofe over the past few years, especially as his chief of staff and working with Donald Trump to accomplish more for the conservative agenda than anyone thought possible,” Holland said.

Dahm brushed off a question about the suggestive comment he made last year about Harris, telling a moderator that the vice president wasn’t a role model for his daughters. The comment was condemned by lawmakers in both parties, including Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City.

Pruitt, whose short tenure at the EPA led to numerous investigations about his spending, was asked about a report from the Office of the Special Counsel that Pruitt “endangered public safety by routinely directing his PSD (security detail) to use emergency lights and sirens and ‘excessive speed’ in non- emergency situations.”

The office said the EPA substantiated allegations that Pruitt directed an agent “to ‘recklessly’ use lights and sirens while driving against oncoming traffic so that Mr. Pruitt could pick up his dry cleaning when he was already 35 minutes late to an EPA meeting.”

Pruitt denied the report on Thursday, telling moderators, “Those things did not occur.” Pruitt suggested controversy about his tenure was the fault of the media, but the report cited by the moderators was substantiated by offices within the EPA.

Shannon was asked about signing on to a friend-of-the-court brief in the McGirt case that was filed on the McGirt side of the case.

“I supported a brief that was in support of tribal relationships and state sovereignty working together to solve problems for Oklahoma,” Shannon said.

Shannon said the decision led McGirt, who was convicted in state court of sexually abusing and raping a 4-year-old, to get harsher sentences after his state sentence was overturned and he was retried and convicted in federal court.

McGirt received three life sentences from a federal judge last year. He had been serving two 500-year sentences and a life sentence in state prison.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma GOP Senate candidates questioned on issues, controversies