Wednesday morning the new Oklahoma legislature will be sworn in for their new terms This event will be full of a new round of campaigning and building coalitions for leadership posts within the Republican caucus. SoonerPolitics has learned the names of at least 8 Republican representatives seeking the 5 leadership posts. It appears that no one is challenging Charles McCall for Speaker Designate. He was first elected to the post 2 years ago. He has served since 2012, in the Oklahoma House. He is from Atoka. The Speaker Pro temp is a rather ceremonial post and was filled by Harold Wright, two years ago. But Wright has been discovered to have heavily funded a Democrat senate candidate in an open seat, just this fall. |
The Republican Caucus will elect new caucus leaders Wednesday, November 14 at 10:30am in room 206. Speaker of the House Elect:
Speaker Pro-Tempore Elect:
Caucus Chair:
Caucus Vice-Chair:
Caucus Secretary:
| Jadine Nollen of Sand Springs is challenging for the seat, as is Charles Ortega. None of the 3 has a very strong conservative record in the scoring indexes of the past 4 years. The Caucus Chair is an open position and Todd Russ of Cordell is seeking it, along with the Education Chair, Tammy West. Russ has the edge on experience, solid conservative voting, and familiarity with the process. Caucus Vice Chair and Caucus Secretary each have just one announced candidate. Ross Ford of Broken Arrow is returning for his first full term in office. Carol Bush was in the 'dog house' within the Republican caucus about this time 2 years ago. She publicly apologized for her comments to a liberal columnist when she disparaged other caucus members and Oral Roberts. |