Oklahoma’s next U.S. Senator will be Tulsa energy executive Alan Armstrong.
Armstrong currently serves on the board of Williams Companies, where he was CEO until last year. The company has 5,000 employees and its pipelines and other infrastructure handle nearly a third of the natural gas used in the United States every day.
He will finish out the term of departing Senator Markwayne Mullin, who was approved by his Senate colleagues to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security Monday.
Gov. Kevin Stitt said he selected Armstrong because of his business acumen and understanding of Oklahoma’s energy industry.
“It was a non-political pick,” Stitt said.
Armstrong will serve in the Senate until January, when the winner of November’s general election will take office. Oklahoma law bars him from running for the seat he was appointed to.
The selection of Armstrong spurred some controversy among conservatives due to a donation he made to former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, in March 2021. Kinzinger has been highly critical of Trump for pushing the idea that he is the rightful winner of the 2020 election, and voted to impeach him. Thousands of Americans stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, because of their belief that the election was “stolen” from Trump. There is no evidence to support that claim.
This story will be updated.
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