The Freedom Caucus failed to unseat seven leadership-aligned senators in June, then lost its vice chairman, a co-founder and a close ally.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Republican voters have spent the summer settling a fight over what kind of Oklahoma Senate they want.
The result was not subtle.
Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton’s governing coalition emerged from the Republican primary season stronger, with more room to operate when the Legislature returns next year. The Oklahoma Freedom Caucus, meanwhile, will return without several of its most recognizable voices.
Tuesday’s runoffs completed a reversal that began in the June primary. Tyler Herring defeated Sen. Jack Stewart in the Yukon-area Senate District 18, and Aaron Forst decisively defeated Sen. Dana Prieto in Tulsa County’s Senate District 34.
Prieto describes himself as a Freedom Caucus co-founder. Stewart is not a member, but he has often aligned with its senators in disputes with leadership.
Two months earlier, all seven Republican senators targeted by Freedom Caucus-backed challengers won renomination. Freedom Caucus Vice Chairman Dusty Deevers also lost his primary, and Chairman Shane Jett is leaving the Senate because of term limits.
“Tuesday’s results, combined with the results from the June primaries, have sent a clear message that Oklahomans want members of the Senate who are focused on governing, delivering results and moving our state forward, not getting caught up in divisive populist rhetoric,” Paxton said Wednesday.
Paxton congratulated Forst and Herring and said he would continue supporting them in their general-election campaigns.
“These results are an important step forward for a Senate that is focused on responsible, conservative leadership and getting things done for the people of Oklahoma,” Paxton said.
Paxton said he was confident the new members would bring valuable perspectives and contribute to the work ahead. He said he looked forward to welcoming them to the Senate and swearing them in this fall.
A fight over how to govern
The Senate’s Republican divide has never fit neatly along a traditional conservative-to-moderate line. Both sides claim the conservative mantle and support lower taxes, limited government and other broadly Republican priorities.
The fight has been over how to use power.
Before the primary, Paxton described the choice as “populists versus governing Republicans.” He argued that passing budgets and legislation requires negotiation, relationships and a willingness to accept part of what a lawmaker wants rather than nothing at all.
Freedom Caucus leaders countered that the Senate’s leadership team blocked conservative legislation and protected Republican senators from votes that could expose differences between their campaign promises and their Capitol records.
Jett acknowledged in June that the election fight was also about future Senate leadership. He said the caucus hoped to elect enough allies to influence leadership elections, committee assignments and the chamber’s agenda. Jett identified Sen. David Bullard of Durant, who lost the last Republican leadership contest to Paxton by one vote, as the leading figure opposing Paxton’s team.
The primary left the Freedom Caucus without a win against any of its seven targets and with Deevers eliminated. The runoffs then cost the harder-right wing two more seats.
Herring and Forst change the balance
Paxton endorsed Herring and Forst during their runoff campaigns.
Herring said the fast-growing Yukon-area district needed a senator with a “seat at the table” and pledged to support Paxton in a future election for president pro tempore.
Forst made clear that he would not join the Freedom Caucus and repeatedly framed the race around legislative results.
“My first obligation as a senator would be to the people of Senate District 34, not to a caucus,” Forst told OK Politics Today before the runoff.
Herring will face Democrat Meredith McGinnis in November. Forst will face Democrat Amy Hossain.
Wood says he has no plans to join Freedom Caucus
Justin Freeland Wood, who won Tuesday’s Republican runoff to succeed the term-limited Jett in Senate District 17, says he has no plans to join the Freedom Caucus.
“The only caucus I plan to be a part of is the Republican caucus,” Wood told OK Politics Today on Friday. “I have no plans to join the Freedom Caucus.”
Wood said that was also what he intended to communicate in his answers to an OK Politics Today runoff questionnaire.
In that questionnaire, Wood described Jett as a longtime personal friend but said he had not received a formal endorsement from him. Wood said he looked forward to building relationships and bringing effective leadership to the Senate.
“We get the most done when we edify each other and build on Oklahoma’s success,” he said.
The Lawton-area Senate District 32 race carried clearer implications for the Freedom Caucus. Republican voters eliminated Deevers in June and advanced Jean Hausheer and Curtis Erwin to the runoff. Neither candidate aligned with the caucus, and both emphasized cooperation across the Senate’s Republican divide.
Erwin won Tuesday’s runoff and will face Democrat Booker Newton and independent Valentin Peña in November.
“Throughout my life, I have led people with different ideas and perspectives toward agreements that serve the greater good,” Erwin told OK Politics Today during the campaign. “Resolving disagreements starts with staying focused on the people we represent.”
Jessica Winegeart, who secured election to Senate District 26, also resisted the factional choice. She said she saw no reason to join any group beyond the Senate Republican Caucus.
The balance shifts
The Freedom Caucus does not publish a complete roster, making an exact count of its remaining strength impossible. Bullard and other senators on the chamber’s harder-right flank remain in place and can continue challenging leadership.
But the direction of the election cycle is clear. The caucus tried to expand by defeating seven senators aligned with Paxton and went 0-for-7. It then lost Deevers and Prieto, along with Stewart, a reliable ally. Jett is leaving because of term limits, and Wood says he has no plans to join the caucus when he succeeds him.
Editor’s note: This story was updated Aug. 28 to clarify that Justin Freeland Wood says he has no plans to join the Oklahoma Freedom Caucus.
