As the Aug. 25 primary runoff approaches, the top Republican gubernatorial candidates are engaged in a war of words over campaign funding and a presidential endorsement.
Rancher and attorney Gentner Drummond, the state’s Attorney General, is hoping his Hominy upbringing and military service will appeal to enough Republican rural voters to put him on top.
He faces former state senator Mike Mazzei, a Tulsa financial planner who garnered the coveted endorsement of President Donald Trump, a man who took all of the state’s 77 counties.
Mazzei is hoping that endorsement will help him win the election.
Both men were the top vote getters in the June GOP primary and advanced to a runoff, which typically has low turnout.
Recent polling indicates the men are in dead heat just days before the election.
Primary spending, meanwhile, has reached historic levels.
Mazzei had loaned himself about $11.6 million dollars, a record amount for an Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate, according to state ethics commission records. Drummond has loaned himself $3 million, according to the most recent campaign finance reports.
The Oklahoman in June reported that Mazzei put his business assets up as collateral.
In an interview with Oklahoma Voice, Drummond said there should be a restriction on how much candidates can loan themselves because it prevents qualified, but non-independently wealthy candidates from getting into the race.
“We have well-qualified men and women out there that just simply can’t afford to run, or they run, and when you have to put in more money to be competitive, they don’t have the ability to, therefore, they drop out,” Drummond said.
Mazzei, though, told Oklahoma Voice that he views his loans as a “good investment” in Oklahoma that would result in more prosperity if he is elected by increasing literacy rates and changing tax policy.
“My wife and I decided it was a good investment,” Mazzei said.
Though Mazzei said he didn’t know if he could raise enough money from donors to retire the debt, he does not believe there should be limits on loans. He said that campaign spending is a free speech issue.
Trump’s endorsement
Trump’s endorsement of Mazzei has shaken up the race and given Mazzei a boost at the polls.
Drummond said he believes if Trump hadn’t endorsed Mazzei, his opponent would not have made it out of the primary.
He said Trump’s endorsement ahead of Oklahoma’s June primary cut the legs off fellow Republican contenders Charles McCall, a former House speaker, and businessman Chip Keating, because they both put all their cards on the Make America Great Again movement.
But while Mazzei might have gotten the Trump endorsement, Drummond said he’s secured support from Oklahomans.
“I think that carries a lot of weight,” Drummond said. “Now, to the uninformed that sit in their La-Z-Boy with a six-pack of beer, I think the president is very powerful.”
Drummond said he believes Mazzei obtained the endorsement because he employed a Trump adviser and friend on his campaign team.
Mazzei disputes that.
“Everybody and their brother knows that Donald Trump makes his own decisions and billionaire Donald Trump doesn’t give a whiff about a few thousand dollars from any of his, you know, contacts,” Mazzei said.
Drummond never had a shot at a Trump endorsement, Mazzei said.
He said his economic plan aligns more with Trump’s.
Early voting begins Thursday. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. on Aug. 25.
Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence.
