Election losses by high-ranking Republicans are reshaping Oklahoma's Legislature

For the second time in as many months, a high-powered Republican member of the Oklahoma Legislature crashed and burned on election night, an indication that infighting among the GOP is increasing and the party's far right-wing is now a major voice in state elections.

The defeat of state Rep. Kevin Wallace, chairman of the powerful House Appropriations and Budget Committee, comes after Ada voter s ousted state Sen. Greg McCortney, who had been tapped to be the next leader of the Oklahoma Senate.

Both men had plenty of campaign funds, were well organized and held high profile positions that kept their names in front of the voters. McCortney was the Senate's majority floor leader before he became its heir-apparent leader.

Yet both still lost.

McCortney fell in an ugly primary battle that involved the governor and a dark money group charged with painting him as a liberal whose sole goal was to defund the police. Wallace lost Tuesday in an even uglier primary runoff that turned on issues such as human poop as fertilizer, land owned by non-U.S. citizens and wind power.

McCortney's loss in June threw the Senate into a leadership battle, the echoes of which are still moving through the Capitol. Wallace's loss is now reverberating throughout the House of Representatives. Wallace's race, which could add up to the most expensive state legislative race in the history of Oklahoma, saw more than $1 million spent between both candidates.

Unlike McCortney, who had Gov. Kevin Stitt as a critic, Wallace was supported by the Republican governor, who even came to Wallace's district and knocked on doors.

This summer, Wallace and other lawmakers have been pushed to address the state's controversial school Superintendent Ryan Walters. And though it's unclear whether or not Walters is popular in Wallace's district, Wallace's loss now clouds the issue of an investigation by the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency into Walters and his agency , the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

So why are powerful Republicans like Wallace and McCortney getting the ax?

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No easy answer to why powerful incumbents lost

The answer isn't easy.

Understanding the defeat of Wallace and McCourtney involves a lesson in dark money groups, political spin, outrage from the governor, the personalities of both lawmakers, their relationship to their legislative districts, tax cuts, past legislate votes, public fear, redistricting, and the types of hyper-local issues that can swing elections.

"This may be the only time in the political history of this state, that the pro tempore, speaker, the floor leaders in both the House and the Senate, the appropriations chairman in both the House and the Senate all are departing the same year, so against their will and some because they are term limited," said Cal Hobson, a former Senate pro tempore.

The current political climate in Oklahoma, Hobson said, "is quite a story."

While Hobson said Wallace's defeat surprised him, he said the loss can't be pinned on a single issue but to several. "There are a bunch of local issues," Hobson said. "Including the spreading of human fertilizer."

That fertilizer, known as biosolids, was a hotly contested issue in the district. In a story published by Investigate Midwest, Wallace acknowledged he had used biosolids on his farm. According to the online news outlet, Wallace was confronted during a candidate forum in June by some constituents who asked why he wouldn’t come out against the fertilizer, which they called “humanure.”

“The biosolids sludge is regulated by the Department of Environmental Quality, I have used it twice … it has been legal to use in this state for eight years now,” Wallace said at the forum. Wallace acknowledged he had received complaints from his neighbors, but “property rights is what I’m for … (and) I’m not breaking the law,” he told the audience."

Wallace could not be reached for comment on this story.

District issues played a role in Wallace, McCortney's losses

The poop problem, plus questions about Wallace's relationship with his district quickly became issues in the campaign. Other issues came into play, too.

One of those issues, Iowa Tribe Chairman Jacob Keyes said, was wind turbines.

"Honestly, part of that loss − in Lincoln County − was the battle over the turbine farms trying to come in," he said. "I think people in the county didn't view him (Wallace) as being strong enough against the wind turbines. Most of the negativity about him I saw was on that topic."

Wallace also faced criticism from his opponents about what they viewed as a lack of pushback against Chinese ownership of land in Oklahoma.

Outgoing House Majority Leader Jon Echols said the race highlighted the differences in what government officials and elected leaders believe voters are interested in and what the voters, themselves, say they are interested in.

"Those differences are stark," Echols said.

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Like others, McCortney, the former Senate majority leader, said there is more than one answer to the question of why voters ousted their incumbent leaders. "When you're in a runoff, it's expected to be a fight," he said.

"I don't think anyone knows the full answer," he said. "It's not consistent ideologically, it's not just different groups who went in here or lose in there," McCortney said. "I don't know that anyone has really figured out the pattern. Except, perhaps, low-turnout elections are bad for incumbents."

Since his loss in June, McCortney said he's been contacted by as many voters who didn't believe there was a problem in his race, and therefore stayed home.

"In my race I have had an incredible number of people — the people that I worked with, the people that were engaged, the people I was shoulder to shoulder fighting on issues with — who, on some level admitted to me they didn't think there was any way I would lose, and so they didn't vote," he said.

Low voter turnout continues to be an issue

Hobson, Echols and McCortney all agreed that low voter turnout has been and continues to be a problem in Oklahoma elections. "It affects elections, there is no doubt," McCortney said.

Data underscores this. Several studies have shown Oklahoma has some of the lowest voter turnout rates in the nation. In 2020, Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida told Tulsa television station KTUL that Oklahoma was "near the bottom of the pack" for voter turnout.

Solving the problem will be difficult, Echols said. "Primaries are family fights," he said. "One thing that became clear is that voter turnout in a lot of these races was abysmally low and its what decides the races. We have to find a way to increase engagement inside the political process."

Both Wallace and McCortney's races, Echols said, went extremely negative. Those types of races need to be analyzed to help prepare for future campaigns, Echols said . "We need to go back and learn lessons from these races about what gets out voters and what doesn't," he said. "That's the only thing left to do."

And what about next year?

With new leadership guaranteed in both chambers of the Legislature, the 2025 session could be contentious. Even though the Senate and House are both expected to have GOP supermajorities, not only will they have new leaders, the will have new chairpersons of what is considered the most powerful legislative committee: Appropriations.

House Democrats say they have their concerns, too. Wallace's loss raises questions about the recently announced investigation of the Oklahoma State Department of Education by the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency, state Rep. Mickey Dollens said.

"I'm not sure what's going to happen there," Dollens said. "Since 2016, Chairman Wallace has always been the one to present the budget to Democrats. He's been available to answer questions about the budget. Now we have new players."

The leadership of the House will go to Republican Rep. Kyle Hilbert, of Bristow. Dollens said he expects Hilbert to do well, but that the fallout from the elections could cause the GOP caucus double down on cultural war issues and possibly move the caucus further to the right in an effort to avoid future primary confrontations.

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"I think this is another really good reason on why we need open primaries in Oklahoma," he said. "It gives candidates the chance to campaign to a broader electorate and not have to worry about pandering to the fringe bases in order to win a primary."

Open primaries, Dollens said, would eliminate the continued election of far right fringe candidates being elected.

In addition to all he legislative changes, Stitt is expected to push hard for his agenda during his final two years in office. The governor has already gone public with another call for additional tax cuts and what some lawmakers call, legacy building legislation.

Still, even with a difficult session expected, both McCortney and Echols say they expect that the Legislature, in the end, will do the right thing, without saying what, exactly, that meant.

"The degree of difficulty has gone up, but I think there will be strong leadership on both sides," McCortney said. And even though neither he nor Wallace will be in office next year, McCortney said he remains positive.

"I think everything will be OK," he said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Election losses by high-ranking Republicans are reshaping Oklahoma's Legislature