In the good ol’ days, Julys were down months for politics. The Legislature had adjourned. The state’s election year primaries were over. Suffocating heat along the Potomac slowed congressional machinery to a crawl before the August recess. And campaign seasons weren’t expected to kick off until Labor Day.
Then came 2024.
A post-debate Democratic cacophony drove President Joe Biden to end his re-election bid. A statewide Republican elected official suddenly was embroiled in scandal that involved the words “alcohol” and “groping.” And the GOP state superintendent and two state education boards decided they no longer were obliged to follow the law.
Summertime and the living is easy? Hardly. July was a through-the-looking-glass month with almost enough drama to make one pine for the doggiest of dog days.
Undoubtedly, the temptation will be great to leave last month’s whirlwinds behind. But it would be unwise to dismiss them as isolated incidents of limited, long-term consequence.
Which is why both major parties in Oklahoma should pay particular attention to what we just witnessed.
A Democratic president who put country over personal political ambition upended, at least nationally, what seemed like a GOP presidential landslide-in-the-making. Biden’s sacrifice breathed new life into his party, even in a state where Democrats don’t hold a single statewide office or congressional seat.
Republican leaders may conclude it’s of little consequence in Oklahoma where GOP legislative supermajorities remain intact, and a vast majority of general election voters are likely to favor Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
In politics, as in life, confidence is one thing. Hubris another.
It’s worth remembering that Democrats dominated Oklahoma’s politics for much of the 20th century. Even as Republicans methodically gained legislative seats, too many Democratic leaders embraced Alfred E. Neuman’s motto: “What, me worry?”
Similarly, today’s GOP poohbahs operate on autopilot, ignoring warning signs all around them.
Renewed Democratic enthusiasm? So what? Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett’s allegedly scandalous behavior at a recent regulatory conference in Minnesota? Shoulders shrug. Superintendent Ryan Walters and his Republican state boards displaying breathtaking disregard for an Oklahoma Supreme Court order and Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s opinions? Eyes closed, ears plugged.
Indifference to Democratic energy is probably to be expected. Human nature, don’t you know. But indifference to Hiett’s, Walters’ and the state boards’ behavior risks allowing disparate fires to erupt into a full-blown political conflagration that could upend the current imbalance of power.
It would be one thing if the GOP was one big happy family. It is not.
Once upon a time, in Ronald Reagan’s world, there was an 11th Commandment: thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican. Now supermajority Republicans in Oklahoma are locked in a bitter civil war reminiscent of 20th century Democrats.
Four decades or so ago, a self-styled Moral Majority animated the GOP. It would have demanded Hiett step aside and declared un-American Walters’ creation of an enemies’ list of educators who refuse to bow to his demands.
Unfortunately, the MAGA wing now is ascendant, driving many actual conservatives out of the party or to the sidelines. But culture warriors alone won’t be enough to win elections once voters get a bellyful of elected leaders who excel at campaign sloganeering yet prove themselves incapable of governing.
That day will come. The political pendulum never stops swinging. Just ask Oklahoma Democrats.
