Keith is more conservative than she may appear
On Aug. 27, tens of thousands of Tulsans went out to vote for the next mayor of Tulsa with many hoping for a definitive result. This was not the case, however, as no candidate reached a majority. So, the election is now going into a runoff set for Nov. 5, national election day, between Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith and House Representative Monroe Nichols. Interestingly, regardless of the results of the mayoral election, Tulsa will have its first Democrat as mayor since Kathy Taylor’s term ended in 2009. On the surface, this may frustrate Republican or more conservative voters who feel they have no chance of being properly represented. However, although Keith is registered as a Democrat, her political views align more with conservative ideologies.
For instance, Keith has sworn not to defund the police. This is a clear response aimed at the liberal talking point that police departments receive more funding than what is necessary to protect communities and that, rather than this money often going to violent measures that cause harm to the community, it should be reallocated to community services such as mental health counseling and funding affordable housing. This point has often been dumbed down to the idea that liberals just want to defund the police and Keith, much like many conservatives nationwide, has furthered this mischaracterization. Additionally, according to Blue Voter Guide, she has yet to receive endorsements from Democratic or progressive institutions while Nichols, her opponent, has received endorsements from several including the Black Wall Street Times and Laborers’ Local 107.
According to the City of Tulsa’s campaign and expenditure report, Keith, however, has had transactions totaling over $20,000 with an organization called Campaign Advocacy Management Professionals (CAMP), which has associations with numerous right-wing organizations and individuals. Some of these include House Freedom Action, which assists in electing conservative candidates into Congress; the campaign of Senator Markwayne Mullin, who has supported Donald Trump over the past four years and was one of the first to endorse his re-election campaign; and Texas Right to Life, a pro-life organization that aims to preserve the “God-given Right to Life… from fertilization to natural death,” according to their website. Thus, while Keith may be affiliated with the Democratic party and not appear conservative, her endorsements say otherwise.
Still, the race has been non-partisan for the most part with the candidates not publicly relying on endorsements from prominent partisan state figures and institutions, which has likely served to Keith’s advantage. Tulsa as a whole is more liberal than much of Oklahoma despite the county going red in the last presidential election. So, it serves Keith well to play the middle ground — that is, seeming as though she is a Democrat so that she has a chance to receive votes from Democrats, particularly more moderate Democrats who would have otherwise defected to Monroe, while being affiliated with more right-wing groups. By having this affiliation and not presenting herself as liberal, she is able to attain the votes of Republicans, including conservatives, who will likely think of her as the lesser of two evils in the upcoming runoff. If she had maintained the pattern of many conservative politicians by aligning herself with Trump, however, she would have lost moderate Democrats who may have voted for her as well as Republicans who have disaffiliated themselves with Trump after his actions on Jan. 6, his subsequent second impeachment and the charges that involve him having a disregard for democracy.
Thus, while Tulsa will end up getting a Democrat for mayor no matter which way Tulsans vote on Nov. 5, it will be in name only as Keith is more aligned with right-wing groups and ideology than left-wing ones and likely holds Democratic affiliation so that she may receive a wider spread of voters and cut into Nichols’ possible voters.
