It's strange to think how rapidly the number of Americans who remember the Bicentennial celebrations is diminishing. Today my wife and I and our daughter went to see Young Washington, Angel Studios' cinematic account of George Washington's role in the French and Indian War. Afterwords we were talking to a woman in her 40s who loved the movie, but felt the there wasn't enough attention being paid to today's 250th anniversary. I was 12 in 1976, which was a great age for experiencing and remembering such a big celebration. Everything that year was about the Bicentennial: There were "Bicentennial Minutes" on TV -- little historical vignettes between shows. The official Bicentennial logo was everywhere. Quarters, half-dollars, and dollars featured special reverses. The Bennington flag, which featured the number 76 amidst the stars of the field, was everywhere. It seemed like a huge deal, and by contrast this year's efforts for the semi-quincentennial have seemed a bit underwhelming to me. 1976 was in the midst of a tough and divided period in American history. For the first time ever, the President of the United States had resigned after two years of scandal over a break-in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters and the subsequent coverups. American troops left Vietnam, and the North Vietnamese Communists overran South Vietnam, which the USA had been defending. President Ford's pardon of President Nixon, meant to bring healing, scandalized many Americans. The USA's support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War led to the Arab oil embargo and gasoline rationing. Inflation was out of control. American manufacturing faced challenges from Europe and Japan as they emerged from post-World War II reconstruction. Ford's campaign for a term in his own right drew a strong primary challenge from Ronald Reagan, and an obscure Southern governor pulled off an upset in the Iowa Caucuses that led to his nomination and election as President. Americans felt defeated and exhausted, a far cry from the prosperous and energetic post-war period just 20 years earlier. The world was in an uproar, too. As Americans prepared to celebrate the country's 200th birthday, Palestinian terrorists hijacked an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris and flew the jet to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. Non-Israelis were released, and the terrorists threatened to kill the Israeli hostages. A daring raid by Israeli commandos freed the hostages on the 4th of July. The big event for us in Tulsa was the American Freedom Train. For four days, March 15-18, 1976, a 10-car exhibit of American artifacts was parked on the Midland Valley Railroad tracks, east of Elgin between 4th and 7th Street. (The tracks and the viaduct that carried them over 6th Street are long gone.) The 26-car train, pulled by steam locomotives, traveled to all 48 contiguous states, making 140 stops over an 21-month period. You traveled by moving walkway past artifacts from the 200-year sweep of American history: From George Washington's copy of the Constitution with his handwritten notes, to the Louisiana Purchase, to Lincoln's stovepipe hat, to a Lunar Rover and a rock brought back from the Moon on Apollo 16. Carson Attractions handled the tickets ($2 adults, $1 senior citizens and children 12 and under), and Bill White Chevrolet provided a big shelter on their car lot for people to wait in line. The ticket states that the train was at the old Midland Valley Station, but I don't recall noticing the station. I remember boarding the train on the west side of the tracks; the station was on the east side. An interview during that Tulsa visit with the man heading the Freedom Train effort (jump page) makes me feel a little better about this year's celebrations:

It was opening night of the American Freedom Train's four-day Tulsa visit and, judging from people's reactions, it will accomplish the goal its president described: "Remember that if freedom is going to be kept alive, it's up to us to do it. "You as an individual should gain some greater insight into why our nation has become what it has," Petr L. Spurney, chief executive of the American Train Foundation, said of the 12-car exhibit.... Spurney was called in to save the foundation in July, having just rescued Spokane's Expo '74 from financial ruin. An expert in "extravaganzas," Spurney says America needed a giant exposition in 1976 "the nation as a whole could relate to." (A Philadelphia fair was scrapped after $10 million worth of planning.) THE FREEDOM TRAIN IS THE only Bicentennial project with enough nationwide scope to unify the people, but even it is locally oriented since it can only be in one place at one time. "I hope that when the Fourth of July message comes--the celebrations, parades country develops some national goals out of it," Spurney, 41, said. Global goals, too. For the nation's birthday, he reminded its citizens, is the birthday of democracy on earth. "The rest of the world is looking at the Bicentennial--and they don't know what's going on," said Spurney, concerned. He fears, too, that Americans don't know what's going on, either. "WHEN THE BICENTENNIAL IS all done, it's not going to go down in history as a great celebration," he predicted. "A lot of people on July 5 are going to wake up with a big, Bicentennial hangover and not feel like they have anything to remember.' He blamed it on lack of federal financial support. The Freedom Train hasn't a cent from Uncle Sam's, wallet--not even a $2 admission ticket, but Spurney knows why. "Our forefathers made a mistake. "They didn't realize the Bicentennial would be the same year as a presidential election." The Freedom Train, at least, may remind people to vote.

Here's a list from the beginning of 1976 of planned Tulsa observances: A parade down Riverside on the day itself, run by the American Legion, and a picnic on the grounds of Gilcrease Museum; Festival '76 downtown at the end of May; and KRMG's Great Raft Race on Labor Day. I had pleaded with my parents to take us to Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston during the Bicentennial year, but they couldn't make it happen. (We would see the first three cities the following summer.) Instead, later in July 1976, we spent a week in St. Louis, riding to the top of the Gateway Arch and touring the Old Cathedral, visiting the St. Louis Zoo and the Missouri Botanical Garden, seeing Grant's Farm and the Clydesdales, touring the Anheuser Busch Brewery (the only time I saw my folks ever take a sip of beer), and ending the week at the National Transportation Museum. We stayed in a tent at the KOA in Allenton, near Six Flags Over Mid-America, where we spent a day. Dad had to fix the tent zipper in a thunderstorm, and he had to dig a little trench around the entrance to keep the water out. We were in St. Louis when Viking 1 landed on Mars and began sending back pictures to Earth; I remember seeing one such photo on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I spent the Bicentennial Independence Day with my mom and dad and sister with the rest of the McGee clan at my Uncle Warren and Aunt Nettie's place. They lived in Coffeyville, but they had a trailer out on a piece of land near Grand Lake. I remember going past Buffalo Ranch in Afton to get there. We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and had homemade ice cream. We watched a fuzzy picture on a portable TV of the Bicentennial celebration in Philadelphia where President Gerald Ford spoke and rang the Liberty Bell. The only fireworks were the ones we set off. My wife lived near Washington, DC, in 1976. She and her family would go down to the National Mall to see the annual fireworks, Typically you could be almost anywhere near the Mall and see the fireworks because they were fired high into the sky, but she remembers that in '76, a French company provided a very elaborate display, but one that went off low to the ground near the White House, and thus invisible to much of the gathered crowds. Back in Tulsa on the 4th, the Tulsa Oilers split a double-header against the Oklahoma City '89ers at Oiler Park, wearing old-fashioned uniforms for the occasion, with fireworks after the second game. (That summer, several major league teams took to wearing old-fashioned pillbox-type ballcaps, most prominently the Pittsburgh Pirates, who kept them for the next decade.) The 1976 season was the final one for AAA baseball in Tulsa. A. Ray Smith moved the Oilers to New Orleans for the 1977 season. The 4th was a Sunday in 1976, and Tulsa's churches promoted special patriotic services: Boston Avenue Methodist held a 12-hour prayer vigil leading up to their Sunday morning early service. ("One Nation Under God: Renewing, Repenting, Remembering, Rejoicing, Recommitting.") At First Presbyterian, Dr. Wiseman was preaching a special Bicentennial sermon: "The Future We Make." The Chancel Choir would perform an anthem specially commissioned for the Bicentennial and would also sing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." First United Methodist Church titled its special event, "If My People," an allusion to 2 Chronicles 7:14; the extravaganza aired on KTUL channel 8. Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church, meeting in a storefront east of 21st and Sheridan, focused its ad on God's providence over the life of our nation and over each individual life:

IT'S NO ACCIDENT that July 4 is America's birthday. It's no accident that many who came to the new world were seeking religious freedom. Many of those who shaped our nation believed the teachings of God's Word, the Bible. These events, like all things, are under God's control. Where is our nation going today? What is guiding your own life? God's grace in Jesus Christ is the only hope for you and for our land. It's no accident that July 4 is Sunday this year. We invite you to worship with us, to give thanks for God's blessings, and to pray for the future.

GRACE ORTHODOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 6540 "K" East 21st Sunday School 9:45 a.m. Morning Worship 11:00 a.m. "Where Is America Going?" Evening Service 5:00 p.m. "40 and 200" Phone 743-0142

Exciting Eastwood Baptist Church earned its nickname with a special appearance by Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of Tony the Tiger and the man who sang "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," at a Bicentennial Concert that evening, followed by an ice cream social. College Hill Presbyterian celebrated with a colonial-style communion, featuring "fencing the table," "communion tokens," and communicants sitting around a table to receive the bread and wine. The pastor of Central Church of the Nazarene was not in a celebratory mood:

Noting the material abundance available in affluent America, Rev. Eugene Sanders, minister of Central Nazarene Church, told his congregation,"My Bible tells me all this will be 'burned up when our Lord returns.' "Recognizing the heresies, doctrinal errors, accepted perversions in the church, one must shudder! Clergy are abandoning in alarming numbers. Laity desertion is accelerating. Immorality scandals shock our decency. Betrayal of leaders hurts. Pornography and overt sexuality flourish. Crime is rapidly escalating. Our leaders, too often, disgustingly and shamefully will not take a stand but succumb (in a cowardly manner) to the sensuous appetites of the masses. "Honestly, I can see little to celebrate in the vital life style of a nation where thousands can run the beaches nude, 'living together' socially acceptable; a segment of the church world is pushing for homosexual ordination, there is denial of literal truth of the Bible, lectures presented as sermons, and judgment of a man (on the basis of) what he owns rather than what he is. "We need a revival of Christian ethics, worship and service before we can celebrate here."

I don't remember anything special happening at our church, but I suspect we sang the National Hymn, "God of Our Fathers." There were parades, picnics, and fireworks displays all over Green Country. River Parks held a four-day festival focused on the Pedestrian Bridge (now demolished), which was newly open to the public in 1976. Ponca City held a Grand Prix. Elvis Presley performed an afternoon concert at ORU's Mabee Center. Discoveryland Amphitheater out in west Tulsa County opened its doors for the first time with the premiere of "Dust on Her Petticoats," the story of Alice M. Robertson, the second woman to be elected to Congress (the first one from Oklahoma), who was swept in by the Warren G. Harding landslide in 1920 only to be defeated two years later. Meanwhile, down in Texas, Willie Nelson held a picnic, too, his fourth annual. (The fifth would be at the Tulsa Speedway in 1977.) Tomorrow, I'll share some reflections on America's 250th birthday and some other memories of Independence Days past.
- July 5, 2026 at 12:55AM
Bicentennial memories
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Inola and Oklahoma are blessed to have District 8 State Representative Tom Gann back for his sixth and final two-year term before term limits. Gann is one of the handful of legislators who refuses all gifts and meals from lobbyists and all contributions from PACs. As you'll see from the letter below, he's intelligent, well-spoken, thoughtful, and respectful, not a grandstander. All this explains why the House leadership has done its best to freeze him out, and the lobbyists really wanted him gone. Gann won the Republican primary over challenger Todd Rice by a 54% to 46% vote. No candidates filed as independents, Democrats, or Libertarians, so Gann has been re-elected. Gann raised $23,388.95 (nothing from PACs, all from individual contributors) and lent his campaign $5,000. His opponent, Todd Rice, raised $36,674.31 ($500 from United Community Banker PAC, $600 in-kind), and lent his campaign $3,500. But that's not the whole story. Gann was targeted by $20,000 from American Energy Action (which was involved in many races statewide); $2,912.10 from Oklahoma Conservative Coalition (based in Lawton and spending money with Managed Strategic Services, 529 Telephone Park, Lawton, OK, 73507, which happens to be the address of Hilliary Communications); and $146,500 from the Oklahoma State Medical Association (one eight State House races targeted with a buy, along with the Insurance Commissioner race, spent with Civil Poltix, 3000 W Memorial, Oklahoma City, OK, 73120). Gann has written a respectful open letter to President Donald Trump, expressing his concerns about the impact of the proposed aluminum smelter and related development on the character and environmental conditions of his rural, agricultural district and about the degree of foreign ownership in the facility.

President Donald J. Trump, I write to you as a strong supporter of your America First agenda and as a State Representative from Oklahoma who endorsed you in November 2023. I fully support your effort to strengthen America's national security, rebuild domestic manufacturing, and ensure that our military has reliable access to military-grade aluminum. That mission is vital. My concern is not with the goal, but with the chosen location and ownership structure of the proposed aluminum smelter in Inola, Oklahoma. Inola is a rural community built around farms, families, cattle operations, churches, schools, and a way of life that has existed for generations. The people here are not opposed to American industry or national strength. They are deeply concerned about being asked to absorb a massive industrial project that appears incompatible with their land, water, air, agriculture, and community character. The scale of this smelter would permanently alter the identity of the area and impose significant risks on local citizens whose homes, livelihoods, and rural way of life deserve careful protection. I am concerned that the full local impact of the proposed site may not yet be fully understood. I am also concerned by reports that the project could allow majority ownership by foreign interests tied to the United Arab Emirates. If the purpose is American national security, then control of such a strategic industry should remain firmly in American hands. We should not trade dependency on one foreign supply chain for dependence on another foreign-controlled entity operating on Oklahoma soil. Mr. President, I support your effort to restore American strength. But Inola is the wrong fit for this smelter. I respectfully ask that you pause this project for a thorough review of the site selection, ownership structure, and impact on local citizens, including whether a more appropriate location can serve the national security mission without placing an unfair burden on this rural community. America First must also mean Oklahoma families first. Tom Gann State Representative House District 8 Inola, Oklahoma

MORE: Here is the statement gubernatorial candidate Mike Mazzei issued regarding the smelter on June 8, 2026:
- June 21, 2026 at 12:37AM
Tom Gann to Trump: Consider impact of aluminum smelter on Inola
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Facebook reminded me that Porter Davis's birthday would have been this week. Porter was a long-time activist in the Oklahoma Republican Party. He was on the libertarian, Ron Paul, wing of the GOP, and in fact had been the chairman of the Oklahoma Libertarian Party in the 1970s, but he seemed to get along with everyone. He served one term from 1982-1984 representing House District 85 as a Republican when it was a predominantly Democrat district. Porter died in November 2023. Porter Davis's heart was with organizing the grassroots at the precinct level. He had a website called The Precinct Leader with his thoughts and counsel on local community organizing to effect change. The website is now offline. He had started to revive it in 2022 after a few years hiatus. In December 2015, Davis wrote about the recent special election in House District 85 which had followed the death of State Rep. David Dank. Chip Carter, backed by PAC money and establishment consultants, won the Republican primary with 37% against Ralph Crawford and two other candidates. There was no runoff in this special election. There were nasty dark-money attacks against Crawford. Cyndi Munson had been the Democrat nominee in 2014 and had lost to Dank 44% to 56%, but she beat Carter in the 2015 special by 54% to 46%. Davis ran the numbers and learned that the district still had a bare majority of registered Republican voters, and more Republicans than Democrats turned out to vote in the special general election, but more Republicans had turned out for the primary than voted in the general. At least 402 of the registered Republicans who turned out voted for Democrat Munson. How did she win? Davis blames GOP division:

Munson is apparently a personable, hard worker. She was able to concentrate her efforts on converting Republican and Independent votes, while doing the basics to secure her Democrat base. She received almost 44% of the vote just six months prior to filing. But that doesn't explain the crossover. In normal times, Carter should have been able to secure the Republican base and concentrate on winning over conservative Democrats and Independents, as all previous Republican candidates have done. But that didn't happen. Why? The truth is that the Republican crossover vote was less a vote FOR Munson and more a vote AGAINST Carter, and what he represented in the minds of the crossover voters. It was a vote against politics as usual by the Republicans..... What turned the tide against Carter was the negative campaigning in the last ten days before the primary. Post cards, flyers, robo-calls and whispers on the doorstep slandered Ralph Crawford and tried to portray him as an Obama-supporting, budget-busting union goon. This was a deliberate misrepresentation of who Ralph Crawford is. At least one negative postcard came from the Carter campaign, while several others came from dark money groups. Indications were that Carter was trailing Crawford before his campaign went to the gutter, creating fear and doubt in the minds of enough voters to get some Crawford voters to switch or stay home. We also heard reports of a whisper campaign slandering Crawford's wife, Laura, a two-time Teacher of the Year, in two different school districts. The slander was that she received that prestigious recognition because she was in the teachers' union. The truth is that she had never been a union member, contrary to most Oklahoma teachers. While "going negative" is politics as usual, in this case, hundreds of people who knew, trusted and voted for Ralph Crawford, took it personally and supported Munson as a protest vote. I've heard many stories of people who were so offended, they chased Carter off their door steps while he campaigned. Many even had Munson signs in their yards, replacing the Crawford signs that were there just weeks before. Munson took full advantage of Carter's negative campaigning. (Crawford did nothing to add fuel to the fire. He didn't have to.) My speculation is that protest votes were also fueled by a combination of disgust with politics as usual and disappointment with the GOP at both the state and local levels. At home, we have a GOP-dominated legislature whose results seem little different from the Democrats who controlled the state so long. Nationally, 62% of Republicans are upset with their own party, helping to account for the Trump phenomenon. Voting for a Democrat is a good way for a Republican to cast a protest vote. It is worth noting that the reason many qualified men and women choose NOT to run for public office is the treatment that Ralph and Laura Crawford got. Most people are reluctant to subject themselves to the rigors of campaigning, especially when they can expect members of their own party to tear them down rather than run on their own merits. As a result, people more inclined to be politicians rather than principled statesmen run and are elected. Special interests contribute tens of thousands of dollars and expect a return on their investment.

I think back to a bruising primary campaign for Lieutenant Governor in 2006. Incumbent Mary Fallin ran for the open 5th Congressional District seat vacated by Ernest Istook, who ran for Governor. House Speaker Todd Hiett (before he became a gropey Corporation Commissioner), State Senator Scott Pruitt (later Attorney General and EPA Administrator in Trump's first term), and State Senator Nancy Riley were the Republican primary candidates. Hiett and Pruitt attacked each other relentlessly in the runoff, which Hiett won narrowly by 2 percentage points. Hiett lost in November to House Minority Leader Jari Askins, who barely topped 50%. Independent E. Z. Million grabbed Republican voters who didn't like Hiett, receiving 2.4% of the vote. It was a terrible year for Oklahoma Republicans anyway -- Bob Anthony was the only Republican to win statewide that year -- but the bitterness of the Lieutenant Governor's primary led to the loss of a winnable seat, and a Democrat had the tie-breaking vote in a Senate tied 24-24. Porter Davis never wrote the promised follow-up on how the Oklahoma GOP could fix the problem. The current state party organization has alienated many conservative activists and donors, so I don't see the official OKGOP encouraging comity and caution in the runoff campaign or uniting the party when the runoff is over, not after state party leaders squandered their credibility and burned so many bridges backing a creep for Congress and backing a progressive RINO for Tulsa County DA against a conservative incumbent. Claiming to have "prophetic insights," they have proven themselves to be "blind guides who strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." 2026 does not look like a good year for Republicans nationally -- midterms of a president's second term never are good for the president's party, and there are extra special challenges this year with the Iran war and high energy prices damaging the Trump brand. Both candidates in the runoff for governor will have the resources and dark-money backing to go scorched earth on each other. Republicans on the losing side of the primary may be tempted to think it would be better to have a Democrat governor checked by a Republican legislative supermajority than to have the other Republican in the governor's mansion. Meanwhile, likeable, hardworking Cyndi Munson went on to win a full term in 2016 and every subsequent election for House 85. She just won the Democrat nomination for Governor with 75% of the vote. Munson received over 20,000 more votes (129,152) than any of the Republican candidates for governor. She can sit on the sidelines, raise money, and watch Mazzei and Drummond tear each other apart for the next two months. Over the weekend, I hope to write about the primary election results and their fallout. I was having too much fun Tuesday night to stop to write, and I've been playing catch-up with the rest of my life since then.
- June 19, 2026 at 01:31PM
Cyndi Munson's first win, 2015
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There's always more to say than time to write, so here are some final loosely organized notes and thoughts on the 2026 Oklahoma Republican primary. A politically involved friend texted to ask, "Have you ever in your time in Tulsa seen political campaigns so dark and nasty?" It's been a bad year, and a lot of factors are making it worse: All the statewide races are strongly contested, and all but one (State Treasurer) is an open seat. There's been a massive amount of dark-money spending. The closeness of the Governor's race and the 1st CD race means that a campaign will seize on anything that might add a few voters to the candidate's column or demoralize the other candidate's voters into staying home. Of course, there are so many things to vote on, that demoralization about one candidate wouldn't necessarily cause a voter to give up voting on anything.
- June 16, 2026 at 05:00AM
Primary 2026: Final thoughts
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Amy Dickens is a prosecutor now, working in the Crimes Against Children unit, but many years ago she was our kids' babysitter and part of our church family. Dickens received the Pillar of Hope award last fall from the Child Advocacy Network for her work prosecuting cases involving child abuse. She has some words about tomorrow's election for Tulsa County District Attorney that are worth your attention.

Tomorrow is the day to vote for Steve Kunzweiler to remain the Tulsa County DA. Colleen McCarty has lied about a lot of things during her campaign but one particular lie so offends me, both personally and professionally, that I feel I have to address it. Anyone who claims that our office does not prosecute cases involving sexual abuse of children under age 12 is LYING. I've spent seven years prosecuting those crimes. Someone who has never tried a single case may have the naive luxury of believing that, to quote her directly, "you would be hard pressed to find 12 people in Tulsa county who would NOT convict a child molester and sentence them to 25 years." If only that were true. The reality is this: IT IS HARD to secure convictions in those cases. It is hard to watch attorneys deliberately confuse small children, twist their words, make them cry, then tell a jury the reason they "can't keep their story straight" is that they are lying. It is hard to explain to a jury why so many times children don't disclose right away, or how frustratingly quickly DNA evidence disappears. It is hard to get jurors to understand that someone who abuses a child for a period of months deserves that 25 year minimum just as much as someone who abuses a child for a period of years. And it is hard to get jurors to tune out the little but loud "reform groups" who work tirelessly to shift society's focus to criminals who want to paint themselves as victims rather than keeping the focus on the actual victims - groups like those McCarty has spent her entire career working for, advocating for criminals. That doesn't mean we don't file those cases. We do. And we secure convictions in a lot of them because experienced prosecutors handle them. But anyone who thinks that prosecutors can just snap our fingers and get a jury to convict every single time because we say so is frighteningly naive. It simply does not work that way, which McCarty doesn't understand because she's never actually done this job. And claiming that we do not prosecute those cases because the 25 year minimum makes them too hard is an outright lie. When you're a prosecutor you don't get to lie. You don't get to spin, or twist people's words, or provide incomplete context, or actively work to deceive people to get them on your side. Every single thing Colleen McCarty is doing in her campaign is the very opposite of what it means to be a prosecutor. On June 16th vote Steve Kunzweiler for DA.

Well said, Amy. Steve Kunzweiler has put together and kept together a great team at the Tulsa County DA's office, despite budget restrictions and the heartbreak of working with victims. Amy is one of several ADAs that our family got to know before their time working at the DAs office, so we have a good sense of the kind of dedicated, hardworking, and intelligent attorneys that Kunzweiler has recruited and retained. None of the attorneys I know want to see Kunzweiler replaced. (Dickens mentioned separately that, although the legislature recently reduced the minimum sentence from 25 to 10 years, crimes that were committed prior to the change must still be tried under the previous sentencing minimums.) Here are a few of my thoughts as we reach the end of this campaign:
- June 15, 2026 at 01:29PM
Child abuse prosecutor backs Kunzweiler, chides McCarty for lies
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In previous entries, I explained why it was important not to have a Gentner Drummond vs. Charles McCall runoff for the Republican nomination for Governor. I explained why I don't see Jake Merrick as a viable alternative, and why I worry he may draw enough conservative votes from Mike Mazzei and Chip Keating to give Drummond/McCall the two slots in the August runoff. I've also expressed my extreme displeasure with Mazzei's explanation of his 2014 State Senate vote in favor of SB 906, which would have signed Oklahoma up to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, agreeing to give Oklahoma's seven electors not to the candidate that won Oklahoma but to the winner of the sum of popular votes from the 50 states and DC, numbers that are easily manipulated by states with, shall we say, very porous election integrity laws, such as California and Illinois. No, he didn't vote to abolish the electoral college, he just voted to repurpose it in a way that would have effectively disenfranchised Oklahomans and removed firewalls against voter fraud in presidential elections. So why Mike Mazzei over Chip Keating? 1. I like Mazzei's plan. He's going to eliminate Oklahoma's income tax and start the process of eliminating property taxes on homes of seniors and veterans. He's right in pointing out that foreign ownership of land is a constitutional issue in Oklahoma, but the prohibition has to be enforced. 2. Mazzei built his own business and his own fortune from a very small beginning in the 1990s by helping his clients build wealth. Keating's resume gives the impression that he worked real jobs for about 10 years, then has spent the last 16 years clipping coupons and sitting on boards because of his name. Two businesses listed in Keating's old University Health Authority and Trust board bio are Energy 11, LP and Energy Resources 12, LP. This article, by a securities law firm, suggests that these were not successful ventures, at least not at that point in time, although they appear to be ongoing. 3. Mazzei seems to be the best of the four front-runners on defending Oklahoma sovereignty. For comparison, here are the answers Mazzei and Keating gave during the Oklahoma Freedom Caucus debate back in March, which included McCall and Merrick -- Drummond was represented by an empty suit:
- June 14, 2026 at 11:20PM
Why Mazzei?
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Congressional candidate Jackson Lahmeyer canceled his sermon this morning at Sheridan.Church. Hours later, the London-based Daily Mail published an expose of Lahmeyer's flirtatious texts with a former Miss Oklahoma USA. Although the texts indicate no sexual involvement had yet occurred, the reaction from Lahmeyer's wife shows that she saw her husband moving toward the exits with Caitlin Simmons Key, a single mom who worked as a fundraiser for the campaign.

Jackson Lahmeyer, 34, the Tulsa megachurch pastor whom Donald Trump anointed a 'MAGA Warrior' last month, faces a torrent of his own text messages obtained by the Daily Mail ahead of Oklahoma's 1st District Republican primary on Tuesday. In them he professes his love for the former pageant queen, invites her to his hotel room, and recounts leaving Mar-a-Lago to visit a strip club at 1am after being offered cocaine, which he declined. Her reply now reads as prophecy: 'Jackson if u become congressman & if ever got caught u would be headlines.' Then, one word: 'Pastor.' Caitlin Simmons Key, a 40-year-old single mom who worked as a fundraiser for Lahmeyer's campaign, tells the Daily Mail they shared inappropriate texts before his wife learned of the relationship on the eve of Mother's Day. 'You are a home wrecking whore. Did you enjoy ruining our family?' Lahmeyer's wife Kendra wrote to Key on May 9: 'He has 5 kids.'... Key first met Lahmeyer in 2022, when he was a political newcomer mounting a long-shot Republican primary challenge to incumbent US Senator James Lankford. She was active on the Oklahoma conservative scene; he was the pastor who had refused to shut his church during Covid. She signed on to raise money for the campaign. Lahmeyer lost to Lankford in a landslide. But the two stayed in touch, and, Key said, grew closer as she went through a bruising divorce. She said he would call to check in. It became an intense friendship that went too far, she says. 'Eventually the conversations crossed the line of probably what most people would consider appropriate for a married man and a single woman,' she said. Through that period Lahmeyer's national profile climbed. He founded Pastors for Trump and was brought into the president's new White House Faith Office. Key worked as a media contact for Lahmeyer's organization. He was in Washington constantly, she says, and repeatedly encouraged her to join him: 'You gotta come to DC.' She declined every time.

Key posting about Trump's endorsement started the ball rolling toward exposure:

On May 6, the president endorsed Lahmeyer on Truth Social telling Oklahoma's 1st Congressional District: 'HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!' The next day, Key shared the endorsement on Facebook with a header vouching for the candidate: she wrote that she knew him well, knew his family, and was ready to 'get to DC.' It was that public revelation, she says, that undid them. The morning after the post, she got a call from campaign manager Killian. 'She's pissed,' Key said he told her, meaning Kendra Lahmeyer. 'She got into Jackson's messages.'

That led to Mrs. Lahmeyer "home wrecking whore" message quoted above. Later, Jackson Lahmeyer texted Key:

Kendra wanted to recover all of our messages. I deleted them. I told her I got way too close to you and became emotionally attached. She lost it on me. [...] I've been very clear with her that I got way to close to you and shared too much about myself... but we were not romantic. I deleted all her texts and she thinks there is way more going on. She is flipping on me because I will not share more. [...] I did not see this coming. She came home and wanted to read our texts and I had deleted them and then she lost it. Saying I had something to hide. And so I have shared with her that you and I have gotten close and that I crossed the line and etc... but was very clear we had nothing romantic or etc... but she doesn't believe me.

The morning after Mother's Day, he then instructed Key to delete messages:

Ok send me a screenshot of our last several texts and I'll show which ones to remove. Kendra has really shifted now. I think the hurt and wine caused yesterday

Archive link to the story.
- June 14, 2026 at 07:56PM
Lahmeyer text messages exposed
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Jackson Lahmeyer has responded on Facebook to a last-minute mailer from the Mark Tedford campaign. The two are front-runners in the battle for the Republican nomination in Oklahoma's 1st Congressional District.

I wish I didn't have to do this, but unfortunately my opponent, Mark Tedford, has revealed his lack of character by running a false TV ad & mailer about me just 3 days before the election. Mark can't win on the issues so he's resorting to false personal attacks. That's what career politicians do. He claims over a decade ago that my wages were garnished by Sheridan Church. That's false. I had a medical bill I was unaware of go to collections. Once I was notified of this, I paid the medical bill and have the Satisfactory Statement from the collector. This is simply dirty politics. We are the ONLY candidate endorsed by President Trump. The Swamp in DC is scared of our movement because they know we're not going to bend the knee to the establishment. On Tuesday, June 16 take action and vote Jackson Lahmeyer. I will never let you down!

Here's the court case. If I'm reading the docket report correctly, it took Lahmeyer six months after he was served with the lawsuit, five months after the court ruled against him, to get around to paying, and that did not happen until a garnishment was filed and served to the church. Typically a creditor doesn't file a suit until they've sent months of notices, followed by notices from the collection agency. Saying, "Once I was notified of this, I paid the medical bill," is dishonest spin. It may be that Sheridan Church never paid a garnishment, but the church was served with a garnishment notice. Here's the timeline of key events from the docket report:

• 11-10-2016: Small claims initial filing for $1066.82
• 11-15-2016: Summons served on Jackson R. Lahmeyer
• 12-13-2016: Judgment against Lahmeyer for $866.82, plus $86 attorneys' fees and $93 court costs
• 05-02-2017: Garnishment affidavit with summons filed for $1,024.78
• 05-10-2017: Garnishment discharge filed
• 05-30-2017: Release from judgment

It's worth pointing out that this was shortly after Lahmeyer's divorce from his first wife, and it appears that he had sole custody of their child. Tedford also had two similar small claims cases in which a medical bill went to collections. The first case, from 2011, appears to have been disputed, as Tedford's attorney entered appearance in the case shortly after the suit was served, and the plaintiff dismissed the case. In the second case, from 2017, the summons was served on July 8, 2017, and the case was dismissed on August 25, 2017, with no intervening entries on the docket, suggesting the bill was paid soon after the summons was received. Medical bills do sometimes slip through the cracks, but taking six months to deal with the matter after being served with a lawsuit, rather than setting up a payment plan right away, to let things get to the point of garnishment, that seems irresponsible. Whether it ought to matter in a congressional race 9 years later is up for debate, but increasingly character matters as much as a candidate's platform. How are we going to trust you to fulfill your platform if you're not honest with us?
- June 14, 2026 at 09:08AM
Lahmeyer debtor suit went to garnishment
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After posting my ballot card for the June 16, 2026, Oklahoma primary, I got questions, as I usually do, about why I chose one candidate over another. A friend messaged to ask: "Mazzei and not Jake Merrick? Everybody else I know has been on the Merrick train for months." The short answer: Merrick has no shot at making the runoff. He's also got personal financial problems that mirror the poor financial and organizational skills on display in his campaign. I have my issues with Mazzei, but he's the best of the four who are running an organized campaign. Merrick has enjoyed a lot of support online, regularly winning social-media polls, but that hasn't been reflected in the real world. He had 5% support in the February poll, a distant 5th place. When NonDoc took a poll to determine if any of the minor candidates had built enough support to have a realistic shot at the runoff, Merrick was still a distant 5th, with 7%, well behind the top 3 candidates (Mazzei, Drummond, Keating) who were clustered around 21-22% and McCall at 18%. There is a more recent poll, from JMC Analytics, a Louisiana pollster, showing Mazzei 29, Drummond 21, and Keating and Merrick tied at 12, with McCall fading to 8%, but the pollster doesn't have much history of polling Oklahoma. So are people who vote for Merrick "throwing away their vote"?
- June 12, 2026 at 11:32PM
Why not Merrick?
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I've been asked why I support Jeff Starling to be Oklahoma's next attorney general, rather than Jon Echols. Echols's involvement in the imperial speakership of Charles McCall is compelling enough, but the clincher was the answer the two candidates gave at the recent News 9 / NonDoc debate on a question about ongoing litigation relating to the McGirt decision. Here was the question posed to the candidates:

In July 2020, the US Supreme Court ruled...five to four that Congress never disestablished the Muscogee Nation Reservation. Several Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeals decisions then affirmed the reservations for the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole Nations, as well as some of the nine tribes in Ottawa County. The McGirt and Castro-Huerta rulings of course mean that only the federal government and tribal nations can prosecute Indians in Indian country. Governor Kevin Stitt has advocated for the McGirt decision to be overturned either by Congress disablishing reservations or through litigation seeking concurrent state jurisdiction over tribal citizens accused of major crimes in eastern Oklahoma.... Do you believe the state should seek concurrent jurisdiction over tribal citizens in eastern Oklahoma even though it could mean costly and controversial legal battles or can better cooperation and compacting let the federal justice system and tribal courts handle all prosecutorial decisions and adjudications of Indians in eastern Oklahoma?

Starling answered:
- June 12, 2026 at 09:37AM
McGirt, Starling, and Echols
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