In January of 1921, 'Sophomore' State Representative, Geeorge Schwabe, of Nowata, became the first Republican Speaker of the Oklahoma House. He and his fellow Republicans swept into office in the biggest shift of legislative seats that Oklahoma has ever had.  A total of 40 seats moved from Democrat to Republican, including the delegation from the newly booming city called Tulsa,

In 1919, Oklahoma's State House had 79 Democrats and just 30 Republicans. A very unpopular Democrat president named Woodrow Wilson was in the White House, but rumored to be under his wife's control after a major stroke. Wilson's bid for a 3rd presidential term was terminated.
 The Kansas Flu (referred to as the 'Spanish Flu') had devastated the world. Oklahoma historian, John Dwyer, details the pandemic, here.
In Oklahoma, farmers were devastated by market changes and lowered demand after the Great War. While oil wealth was concentrated in the few, in the cities, Oklahoma was a very rural state. Democrats in Oklahoma opposed extending voting rights to women & minorities. While suffrage was granted on paper, county election boards imposed reading competency tests and other barriers. 
The old Democrat guard had no answers for the bad state of affairs, and Republicans actively demanded accountability.

 The Oklahoma legislature has a legacy of wavering between socialism & fascism. Both of which have a junkyard of failures. We have pictures to prove it.
  When US Senator Bob Kerr prevailed upon the federal budget, to fund a massive network of flood-prevention reservoirs which became our most popular lakes, the State legislature decided to go full 'Sim City' in the early 1960s.   Not only were our state parks expanded (back then camping was still a very popular byproduct of the still emerging automobile age).
 No, the state felt compelled to really get into the lodging, convention, and hospitality industry. For decades, the state has poured millions in tax dollars into a massive network of lodges and resorts which were pitched to the legislature not only as a startup which would "pay for itself.. but yea, would make money to help fund core govt. services!"
Where Oklahoma Democrats loved economic socialism, today's Republicans love economic fascism.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a ruling stating that states can prosecute crimes against Native Americans, committed on Native American reservations if the defendant is non-native. The case Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta clarifies some confusion and difficulty had by law enforcement attempting to find justice for victims, despite there being limitations on state law enforcement officials to either investigate or prosecute crimes on Native American designated land.
The decision was penned by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and was joined by Roberts, Thomas, Barrett, and Alito, with a dissent from Gorsuch, along with Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan; The Post Millennial reports.
The case is primarily about jurisdiction, and the question, as framed by Kavanaugh, is "Under current federal law, does the Federal Government have exclusive jurisdiction to prosecute those crimes? Or do the Federal Government and the State have concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute those crimes?"

Our take:
​Gorsuch revealed too much in his dissenting opinion. He went on to recount, on a very generalized and stereotypical narrative, how the American Indians were persecuted in other regions of US Territories.

The PostMillenial just published this breaking story.

  This past week, Oklahomans were summoned to the election polls for a civic tradition as old as democracy, itself. 
  But of the roughly 2 to 3 million Oklahomans who practically could vote, only about 526K actually got registered & did cast a ballot.
   Just 4 years ago, about 848K were actively voting.  We're not counting the separate 45K independent and minor party votes in these totals. Independents who voted in Democrat primaries are counted in the Democrat tallies.
  The only significant practical difference is a statewide question about cannabis medicine policy on the ballot.
  Republican primary voter participation dropped 21% from 4 years ago. This drop happened despite having both US Senate seats in play this year. There were no US Senate seats on the ballot in 2018.

  The Oklahoma voters produced some big surprises in the June 28th Republican primary.  A State Senator and two House members were rejected by their own constituents. In the Senate, Jake Merrick lost his bid for his first full term after winning a special election 15 months ago, to complete Stephanie Bice's term for SD22, when she departed to join congress as our 5th District member. Kristen Thompson will be the party nominee in the November general election.
  Two of Tulsa's delegation to the Oklahoma House of Representatives were handed defeats by challengers. In a district straddling Tulsa and Okmulgee County, Logan Phillips lost to Chris Banning by a 25% margin. Phillips was first elected in 2018, raising no campaign funds in the pursuit. He was reelected in 2020.
  Wendi Stearman lost a close race in HD11 which straddles northern Tulsa County and half of Washington County. The seat has historically been a Bartlesville claim, and a Bartlesville businessman defeated her with a significant edge in Bartlesville precincts. Stearman was a freshman legislator & rose quickly in leadership while getting some landmark bills pased into law.

  Gentner Drummond appears to have a lead of just less than 2% as of the 10pm hour. The few remaining precincts are in the OKC metro area. Unlike last election cycle, Drummond has a slightly larger cushion than the 200+ votes he lost by in 2018.
  The current AG, John O'Conner, has not run for office previously, and he initially turned down Gov. Stitt's overture when the vacancy emerged.  But in his short service in the office, he's championed several causes and cleaned up several legal messes. Several daunting challenges remain in 2023 and beyond.
​  Drummond will face only a token challenge from a 3rd party candidate, in November.

  Avery Frix & Josh Brecheen(Brah-KEEN), two men with legislative experience, eeked out the two tickets to an August runoff.
 Muskogee Police Chief, Johnny Teehee was in 3rd with just 600 votes less, or 1%.
  The race attracted 14 Republicans, about half of them with some sort of legislative experience.
  The results were wildly different from county to county, with some counties casting over half their ballots for a candidate, only to see him end up further back in the pack, in Oklahoma's 2nd largest district(in square miles).
  This sets up a classic runoff. Twenty years ago, Oklahoma lost a congressional district  after the 2000 census. As a result, Much of CD2 & CD3 were combined. Classic 'Cherokee & Creek' territory were combined with 'Chocktaw and Seminole' territory.

 Thirteen southern & mountain states are effectively leading the nation in securing protections for babies in the womb. Legislation has been laid in place several years ago, for this inevitability. Some of those states have relentlessly challenged the US Supreme Court several times. 
  But when President Trump, in October of 2020, secured Justice Amy Barrett's seat on the high court, the stage was set. The Mississippi case known commonly as 'Dobbs' became the trigger for a solid caucus of 5 'right to life' justices.
  When the Friday morning announcement was published, 13 states were officially protecting the unborn by state legal codes.
  About 15 states, mostly on the two coasts; are determined to continue allowing women to schedule the executions of their unwanted babies.
​  This puts about 22 states in a political & legal battle to set public policy.

  With the polls opening at 7am, Tuesday in every precinct of the state, A huge menu of choices is presented to voters, especially among registered Republicans.
  Several of the media sites associated with SoonerPolitics have already weighed in on their preferences. In the event that you haven't made up your mind on each race, it's often helpful to weigh the perspectives of those who followed the issues and individuals running for each office.
​Let's look at the statewide office Republican candidates, and a couple of the contested congressional seats.

​ Governor: Kevin Stitt. 
  While not a perfect governor, he's taken on issues that his predecessors avoided. He's fixed problems that have long hampered the state. A fiscal conservative in his deeds, not just his words.

  Congressman Mark Wayne Mullin Calls Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell 'Out of touch' and says he should move on.
  This weekend, FreshBlack.coffee podcast followed up on a previous interview with Oklahoma's 2nd District Congressman, Mark Wayne Mullin.  Feedback from the Memorial weekend interview produced a few unanswered questions, which host Eddie Huff passed along to Mullin. 
  Mullin promptly responded with a letter to Huff, providing straightforward positions on matters ranging from his personal interactions and comfort to the capitol police officer who shot an unarmed military veteran as she attempted to access a secured area of the House offices.
  He disavowed any dealings with the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce and gave harsh words about his long--running disagreements with the Chamber agenda.

BREAKING: The US Supreme Court(SCOTUS) just released their decision in the Mississippi Dobbs case. The sweeping reversal of the 1973 Roe v Wade case where the Warren court 'discovered' a constitutional narrative of a right of a mother to hire a 'hitman' to kill her child before birth.
The scene at the street which separates the US Capitol from the SCOTUS building is loud and increasingly raucous as activists on both sides of the argument are voicing their reactions.
Last week we spoke with Rep. Wendi Stearman, the author of the nation's most sweeping statute for the protection of life from the moment of conception, about the Oklahoma impact of this development. She said she is aware that the McGirt confusion could see tribal physicians avoiding prosecution by claiming their exception from state court jurisdiction.
Tulsa Abortion clinics could see a staffing up with tribal citizens and even see a ramping up of in-utero executions.
Below is the official SCOTUS ruling. Thomas & Kavanaugh wrote separate concurring opinions with Alito's famous leaked opinion. Breyer, Kagan, & Sotomayor wrote a dissent.

  In a shameless and transparent 'midnight hour' move, Cindy Byrd joined Democrats Joy Hofmeister & David Prater, to have the founders of Oklahoma's fastest-growing charter schools arrested for undisclosed 'felonies'.
​  Epic founders, Ben Harris & David Chaney, along with Josh Brock of the Epic Leadership team; were perp-walked through the Oklahoma County Jail facilities.

The Epic charter school model is a first of it's kind in Oklahoma, replacing the concrete structure with a home computer connected to the full library of curriculum and a personal tutor. 
 Where Oklahoma's traditional schools ate up about half of public tax dollars for non-instructional expenses, like thousands of 6-figure administrative salaries; Epic prides itself on delivering 80% of funds to direct academic 'classroom' instruction. 

With the clock ticking toward the November reality-check; Congressional liberals were just granted a huge opportunity to advance leftist agenda items when the senate Republican caucus suffered a devastating outbreak of Romneyvirus.
  Breitbart News reports that 10 Republicans are testing positive with initial symptoms impacting gun control judgment and wavering cognizance on the clear language of the US Constitutions 2nd Amendment.
 Among those manifesting the primary symptoms are Senators; 

  As the nation's political left drives toward a civil collapse, One of the prime objectives is to break down civil society through crime. And to compound that problem, the far left has gained the offices of the prosecutor's office and mayor's office.
  Just this week, 2 Los Angeles police officers were murdered after the district attorney failed to press the court for a mandated prison sentence. The sentence is for already being a convicted felon; and... Possessing a firearm! Instead, the LA prosecutor agreed to let him loose on the city. He is now accused of getting yet another firearm and then killing 2 police officers!
  But the problem also has a federal component. In May of 2000, a younger Wayne LaPierre of the NRA told ABC News some blunt realities.
  Referring to then president Bill Clinton, Mr. LaPierre said: ''I've come to believe that he needs a certain level of violence in this country. He's willing to accept a certain level of killing to further his political agenda and his vice president, too.''
Here is the countdown of the 13 deadliest cities, ranked by murders-per-capita.
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It is with strong resolve that the Editorial board of SoonerPolitics endorses Wendi Stearman for reelection.
We shared this story first on the weekly Oklahoma politics podcast, FreshBlack.coffee. It's also posted below. mp3

When a homeschool mom swore an oath and took her seat among the legislature, in 2020, She'd already made a name for herself in Washington & Tulsa counties. Earl Sears had termed out of office and the opportunity for fresh perspectives and new initiatives led the folks back home to have high expectations. They were not misplaced in Wendi.
 Quickly, Wendi gained the confidence of House leadership and she was elevated to Vice Chairman of a new State's Rights Committee.  She voted her values and kept her word. for two full years.
 This spring, with the US Supreme Courts revelations, of an impending overturn of the Roe v Wade 1973 landmark case; Wendi was tapped to present her bill to truly keep her pledge to be a protector of unborn human life.
 Wendi did not disappoint us. She boldly called on the entire legislature to join her in passing a law to protect the unborn from conception.
Last month, Gov. Stitt signed her bill into law, making Oklahoma the most prolife state in the USA.