Oklahoma’s blue creep in Tuesday’s elections came from work that often went unseen. The state maintains its supermajority Republican stronghold, but three women were behind the effort to loosen that grip.
Six Oklahoma House seats flipped to Democrat, and Senate Democrats found candidates to contest 21 of 25 seats — a 20-year high. Last year, only 25 of the state’s 77 counties had an active Democratic Party. That’s up to 54 today, with more being formed.
John Croisant got closer than any Democrat in 40 years to taking Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District seat, receiving 48% support. Cyndi Munson narrowed the blue margin for governor with 46% of the vote, another 20-year high.
Behind these gains are women: Tulsa’s Rep. Melissa Provenzano as House minority leader, Oklahoma City’s Sen. Julia Kirt as Senate minority leader, and Erin Brewer, the Oklahoma Democratic Party chairwoman.
The two Democratic legislative caucuses and the state party have slightly different missions with the same end goal. The Republican systems have been robust in money and reach, while the Democrats struggled and squabbled.
“It started dissolving when losing the majority,” Kirt said. “The House lost its (Democratic) majority first, then the Senate. Effects of term limits started hitting about that time, and tenured lawmakers left. Fundraising and recruiting candidates in the minority is totally different and a lot harder.”
A Democrat hasn’t won a statewide office since 2006. Republicans have been in the House majority since 2006 and Senate since 2008. For two decades, when a Democrat gained a GOP seat, the party lost elsewhere.
That changed Tuesday with the six new House Democrats.
“When you lose, money goes away, and we’ve had no national investments,” Provenzano said. “When (Munson) got half a million dollars from the Democratic Governors Association right before the election, that was a big deal. Nothing like that had happened for a long time.
“Now we proved we can win. We can show national and local donors that it’s possible. We started the pendulum swing.”
Repairing relationships
As the Democratic Party eroded, infighting sometimes became the norm. There were moments when none of the party leaders were communicating.
“It was a struggle at times,” Provenzano said. “Our agendas did not always align.”
All say that’s changed in the past year.
“It’s a different day,” Brewer said. “We can’t be territorial. Everyone has a different role to play. … These are women I really respect and feel privileged to work with. That partnership really does matter, especially in the minority party to link arms and move forward.”
The differences between the party and the legislative caucuses are mostly about scope.
The party supports all candidates with an infrastructure of registering voters, training volunteers and campaign professionals, and fundraising to benefit the entire landscape. It has its own internal leadership infrastructure with connections to the national organization.
The legislative work is more targeted in recruitment and support, which may include taking positions in primary races. Party leaders protect incumbents, go after open seats and prioritize the most winnable districts.
“We need separate voices in the ecosystem rather than one single person or approach,” Kirt said. “My main goal is to gain more seats in the Senate. We all have different goals but to the same end.”
After Brewer came into the job last December, the three women developed a strategic plan outlining where they fit together.
“Our role is to give all candidates and elected officials a foundation and support they need to be successful,” Brewer said. “We have a true partnership.”
What changed?
To re-engage Democrats, party volunteers knocked on 150,000 doors to talk and invite constituents to meetings. Officials made inroads in rural areas by doubling the number of counties with active parties. It found that adding a county chapter led to a gain of about six points in local elections on Tuesday.
“People keep hearing ‘We’re a red state,’ and that becomes self-fulfilling. They feel their voice doesn’t matter,” Brewer said. “We tell them they are not alone, and we want to hear what they have to say.
“For some, even putting a yard sign out is a bold move. We show how their perspectives and their votes matter. We’re giving them support.”
The Senate Democrats started holding town halls for the same reason and began finding potential candidates.
“Recruiting is like finding a soulmate,” Kirt said. “You have to find the right person at the right time of their life and in the right place.”
Levels of candidate support vary by the party and legislative caucus. The support includes coaching on ethics compliance, handling donations, creating websites and marketing materials, finding campaign managers and conducting voter outreach.
But the candidates are expected to do the hard work like campaigning door-to-door, speaking at community meetings and participating in candidate forums.
“I’m elated we picked up six seats, and we targeted those seats,” Provenzano said. “We can’t win their campaigns for them. We can advise, support and match their energy.”
Surrounding states showed bigger Democratic gains.
Arkansas broke its Republican supermajority by flipping 10 House seats and one in the Senate. Kansas also ended its GOP supermajority by picking up as many as 20 seats. Texas Democrats took over that state’s House, ousted the governor and won a hotly contested U.S. Senate race.
“We’re at the starting point, while those other states are a few years ahead,” Provenzano said.
Kirt called the narrow Democratic losses “bittersweet” but said much was learned that will be helpful in the next election.
“It breaks our heart when you get that close,” Kirt said. “But I’m pragmatic. We are working on a longer strategy and can’t be driven by one election cycle.”
An election takeaway goes back to a grassroots lesson: Engaging voters in person makes the most difference. Democrats found that the more candidates appeared on doorsteps and at public events — not private gatherings — to answer unvetted questions, the better they did.
“It’s about planting seeds allowing the next election,” Kirt said. “I’m hearing the pendulum is swinging, but it doesn’t swing by itself. It takes hard work.”
Brewer said the more competitive races are energizing voters and that several more rural counties are forming Democratic parties.
“This momentum is not going away,” Brewer said.
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