Law & Principles

OKC mayor, conservative Republicans differ on California-style election scheme

November 21, 2024

Ray Carter

When officials with Oklahoma United launched an initiative petition to effectively end primary elections in Oklahoma and instead adopt a California-style “jungle primary” system, they touted the support of Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt.

Under the proposed system, all candidates from all parties would compete on a single June ballot with all voters able to choose any candidate. The top two vote recipients would then proceed to the November ballot, even if both candidates are from the same political party.

Proponents of State Question 835 argued their proposed election system has already been tried with success in Oklahoma.

“That is how we vote in every single town and city in the state of Oklahoma today,” said Margaret Kobos, founder and CEO of Oklahoma United.

Holt endorsed the California election model in a press release, saying, “Cities in Oklahoma like mine are known for our dynamic and effective governance, and the main reason is that we have an electoral system that allows everyone to vote. Our voters get to see all the candidates and our candidates have to face all the voters. As a result, our leadership delivers unity and consensus outcomes that are clearly moving us forward. The entire state deserves that same level of success, and that’s why an open primary system for Oklahoma is so important and so valuable.”

Supporters claimed SQ 835 would increase voter participation in elections, but the municipal races that Holt touted as producing “dynamic and effective governance” have drawn very low turnout.

In Holt’s most recent mayoral election, only 16.9 percent of voters participated, a far lower share than the number who participate in Oklahoma general elections under the current system.

Holt received the support of only 36,355 votes in 2022 in a city with more than 372,000 registered voters, meaning roughly 90 percent of Oklahoma City voters did not cast a ballot for Holt.

The turnout in Holt’s mayoral race was far, far lower than the turnout in Oklahoma’s general elections under the current system that SQ 835 supporters want to eliminate.

Turnout in this year’s November general election in Oklahoma, which included the presidential race, hit 64.42 percent. Turnout in the 2022 general election, in which the governor’s race topped the ballot, reached 50.35 percent.

Like many other backers of SQ 835, Holt is associated with Democratic candidates.

While technically a registered Republican, Holt authored a column this year indicating he would not support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and would instead “vote for virtue.”

The column was widely understood as an endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The website Raw Story reported on Holt’s column, stating, “Voters in a strong red state have received a dire warning from their capital's Republican mayor not to elect former President Donald Trump.”

While Holt is among those calling for the abolition of party primaries, Republicans with a history of supporting conservative causes quickly came out in opposition to the proposed state question.

In a post on X, U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin R-Westville, responded, “I strongly oppose the open primary initiative petition filed by Oklahoma United. This is nothing but a liberal attempt to weaken Oklahoma’s conservative voices. President Trump won all 77 counties for the third straight election, and the Left can’t stand it.”

Also on X, U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, stated, “Oklahomans already have the choice on how to vote in every election.”

U.S. Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Coalgate, responded to the effort to shift Oklahoma’s elections to the California model by tweeting, “Does this bring about more conservative election results for Oklahoma? The answer is ‘No!’ It undermines the conservative ideology in Oklahoma.”

U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Tulsa, tweeted, “I believe that only Republican primary voters should decide Republican primary elections in Oklahoma. I oppose any effort to subvert the will of Oklahoma Republican voters to decide who their nominees are for public office.”

Mullin, Lankford, Brecheen, and Hern were all elected in higher-turnout elections than Holt.

A press release issued by Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Nathan Dahm lambasted the proposed California-style election system, saying, “The sole purpose of this effort is to dismantle the Oklahoma Republican Party primary system and dilute the voice of the registered Republican voters in their own Republican primaries.”

“To forcibly say Republicans must allow Democrats or anyone else to vote in Republican primary elections is diametrically opposed to our Constitutional Republic,” Dahm said. “We have political parties for a reason.”

State Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, issued a statement indicating that SQ 835 highlights the need to reform Oklahoma’s initiative petition process.

“On November 5th, Oklahoma spoke loud and clear that we are a conservative state that is only becoming more conservative. So, why then would Oklahoma suddenly move to a liberal, open primary system, which seeks only to disenfranchise Republicans?” Bullard said. “This proposed state question is a sure pathway to turn our state blue and a ‘solution’ in search of a problem.”

Bullard said that officials, rather than “running liberal policies like open primaries to hand our elections over to the left,” should instead “be focused on reforming the initiative petition process to keep out-of-state leftists from perverting our state.”

“To protect Oklahoma, we need policies that require state question signature gatherers to collect signatures in dozens of counties, which would align with legislation I’ve filed in the past,” Bullard said.