Oklahoma Senate leadership in limbo after primary defeat of pro tem-elect (2024)

OKLAHOMA CITY — Leadership of the Oklahoma Senate was in limbo on Wednesday following the defeat Tuesday of Ada Republican Sen. Greg McCortney in the primary election.

McCortney had been elected by colleagues to be the next president pro tem of the Senate following the departure of Sen. Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, who was term-limited and could not run for reelection this year.

McCortney, who was first elected to the Senate in 2016, emerged as a leader as lawmakers dealt in ensuing years with challenges ranging from serious revenue shortfalls to early regulation of the medical marijuana industry to the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was the Senate majority floor leader this year.

McCortney was defeated in Tuesday’s Senate District 13 GOP primary by Jonathan Wingard, who has served in the Oklahoma National Guard and in active-duty positions in Afghanistan and Kuwait. Currently, Wingard and his wife specialize in breeding red tail boas and ball pythons for sale as pets.

“With your help we were able to swing the momentum towards common sense conservatism. We will ride this momentum into the state capitol and fight for the kind of representative government that our constitution guarantees us all,” Wingard said in a letter celebrating his victory, posted on his campaign website.

According to his filing with the state Ethics Commission, Wingard raised $22,613.63 for his campaign. Much more was spent by Advance Right, a political action committee based in Edmond. The group spent $221,952.32 on the primary election in McCortney’s district. The money was spent on text “blasts,” printed mailers, yard signs, TV ads and hiring people to go door-to-door in the district, all to persuade people not to vote for McCortney.

Wingard also garnered support from Oklahomans for Health and Parental Rights and the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association.

Gun rights activists and parental rights activists have come out in opposition to McCortney before. During the election for the next pro tem in the last session, members from the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association stood outside the meeting room, praying that McCortney would not be elected pro tem designee.

McCortney’s defeat came as a surprise to many lawmakers.

Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, an assistant majority floor leader who also was elected to the Senate in 2016, described him as a “classmate” who will be missed. She said McCortney’s election defeat came as a surprise and that she and others on Wednesday were still processing the news.

“It wasn’t something that was expected,” Daniels said. “So now everybody is just surveying the landscape and considering the possibilities.”

She said it was too soon to talk about who might emerge as the next Senate leader. Asked whether she might consider making a run for the pro tem position, she said: “I’m not prepared to say that. It’s too early to say what might happen, but we are going to have a Senate leader, and we will move forward to accomplish good policy for the state.”

McCortney had been criticized by some lawmakers and others for not advancing certain bills for votes on the Senate floor. Some, including Gov. Kevin Stitt, had hoped that McCortney, Treat and others in the chamber would support a vote on a proposed cut to the state’s income tax.

Wingard has indicated that he would support a personal income tax cut like the one that has been proposed by the governor.

Daniels said it was probably a “real leap” to suggest that McCortney’s defeat might make a vote on a tax cut more likely to occur in the Senate in the coming year.

“We’re not talking about policy right now, just moving forward,” she said. “But I’m a fan of tax cuts, and no matter who is serving in that position, that’s an issue that isn’t going to go away.”

Senate Majority Whip Casey Murdock, R-Felt, said the change in Senate leadership could make a vote on a tax cut more likely, but he said he didn’t think McCortney’s position on the issue would have been a primary motivation for most voters.

“As an incumbent running for reelection, it’s how you get out and meet people and communicate with them,” he said. “It’s not one issue that will get you unelected. One issue is not enough to take down a pro tem designee.”

Murdock, who served in the House for two terms beginning in 2014 before being elected to the Senate in 2018, might also be considered a contender for the pro tem’s position. He declined to comment on that possibility.

“I think there’s still a lot of people in shock trying to figure out what happened. Once the shock wears off, we’ll meet,” he said. “I think the caucus needs to meet and discuss possibilities for electing a new pro tem designee sooner rather than later.”

Murdock noted that some incumbent senators still face challengers either in runoff elections or in the state’s general election, scheduled for November. He said the Senate leader can play an important role in helping them by fundraising, putting together door-knocking teams or otherwise assisting with campaign organization.

“So we need a leader to step forward,” he said.

If not before, the GOP will settle on a pro tem nominee during a caucus retreat planned for November. A formal floor vote will be held in January as part of an organizational day at the Capitol.

All senators — Republicans and Democrats — vote on the floor for the upper chamber’s president pro tem.

World staff writer Melissa Jacques contributed to this story.

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