On Monday, Oklahoma state Auditor Gary Jones announced that he would seek the GOP nomination to succeed termed-out Gov. Mary Fallin next year. When Jones started expressing interest at the end of March, he seemed pretty lukewarm about the idea, saying he could instead run for state Senate or “maybe that best position for me is going home and feeding cows and spending time with grandkids.” Even now, Jones, who previously declared that "I'll have significantly less money than anybody,” seems pretty meh about the whole idea of running for governor, saying he’ll wait until the fall to formally launch his campaign. But Jones has said that he’s “not enamored with the idea of being governor,” so maybe he really doesn’t care about being outspent.
Jones joins wealthy attorney Gary Richardson, who has said he’s willing to self-fund at least $2.5 million, in the GOP primary. Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb recently filed to run, and while he didn’t announce he was in, his website and social media pages all have “Lamb Governor” banners, so we can safely treat him as a full-fledged candidate. Oklahoma is a very red state, but two potentially strong Democrats entered the race in recent weeks: state House Minority Leader Scott Inman, a vocal Fallin critic, and ex-state Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who narrowly lost the 2010 primary.
And Team Blue may have good reason to think that they have an opening next year. As we’ve noted before, thanks in large part to falling oil prices, Oklahoma’s budget is an utter mess. News OK recently noted that 97 of the state’s 500-some school districts have transitioned to a four-day week, and more could join them. The legislature is currently involved in intense budget negotiations, and the four-day school week could be the status quo for a while in many parts of the state. Voters seem to be taking their anger out on Fallin, with a new survey from SoonerPoll.com giving Fallin a horrific 31-61 favorable rating. If Democrats can convincingly make the argument that the eventual GOP nominee will essentially continue Fallin’s governorship, they may be able to pull off an upset.
However, the Republicans likely will try to distance themselves from Fallin. Indeed, Lamb resigned from his post as small business advocate in Fallin’s cabinet back in February, arguing that he couldn't support tax increases that Fallin was pushing, declaring that they'd "harm Oklahoma's small businesses and families, especially those in our service industry." Jones, a former state GOP party chair, has feuded with Fallin over fiscal decisions for even longer. Richardson ran for governor in 2002 as an independent and almost certainly cost the GOP the win, so he’s not exactly a party loyalist.