(and, therefore, The Right Way To Do Things). He's also viciously homophobic/heterosexist. And yet, for Oklahoma he's "the adult in the room." The other might be Tom Cole, for whom I've lost a bit of respect because he rolled over and allowed the defunding of public media--which he used to support.
I don't think people outside of OK realise how much influence Cole wields. He's the House Appropriations Cmte chair, one of the most powerful of such. But, like most if not all Republicans, he's surrendered to Trumpist BS. And he's so entrenched now the only way he'll leave office is on a gurney.
I'd say there's always midterms, but here I don't expect much.
I will be thrilled beyond words if @jenanelson.bsky.social unseats Stephanie Bice, but that's a long uphill climb.
But I live in Cole's district, and I've yet to hear of any opponent, let alone a viable one with resources, to take the fight directly to him.
No disrespect intended to the lady that's ran against him on repeat, but someone whose outreach is mostly through Facebook (!) and Twitter posts without pounding the pavement and doing community meetings, and doesn't have financial resources, isn't a viable candidate. And yet she's defeated
candidates (in primaries) that did have resources and pounded the pavement to get votes. What does THAT say about OK04? Purposely elevating the weak candidate to ensure Cole yet another term in which he gets Trumpier and Trumpier? Maybe he's pissed that Mayor Holt is anti-MAGA so he persuades
I was surprised when Holt endorsed Harris! He's an actual R, not MAGA R.
He didn’t directly name Harris in the piece he wrote before the 2024 election. I saved that article somewhere. It was kind of obvious what he was saying—Trump ain’t it, basically.
Here's his guest column from last fall that was published in the Philadelphia Citizen. Nowhere does he name either candidate, but anyone can put two and two together unless they're really bad at math. It's actually a very good piece: thephiladelphiacitizen.org/guest-commen...
the others that maybe OKC needs to be taken over by the feds and become a war zone because by gum, there's Brown people and uppity liberals and a championship NBA team there (the only thing that sparks joy around here anymore) and that doesn't fit the narrative we want ... also we hate joy.