O'Connor touts A+ rating from Oklahoma Second Amendment Association

Oklahoma Second Amendment Association Gave AG John O’Connor An "A+" Rating

Tulsa, OK (May 19th) – In an effort to confuse Oklahomans from Gentner Drummond’s $1,000 donation to Joe Biden for President, Drummond’s liberal allies are running an attack ad against Oklahoma’s conservative Attorney General John O’Connor on the issue of the Second Amendment.  

The truth is, Attorney General John O’Connor has an “A+” rating from the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association because O’Connor has always supported and defended the Second Amendment

American Conservative Union gives Dahm perfect score, ranks as most conservative OK legislator

OKLAHOMA STATE SENATOR NATHAN DAHM RANKED THE MOST CONSERVATIVE LEGISLATOR IN OKLAHOMA, RECEIVING A PERFECT SCORE FROM THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION

Oklahoma (February 1, 2022) - State Senator and candidate for US Senate Nathan Dahm received a perfect score of 100 from the American Conservative Union and has been ranked the most conservative legislator in Oklahoma's lifetime.

Nathan Dahm released the following statement:

"I am honored to be recognized by the American Conservative Union for having the highest-scoring voting record for conservative values in Oklahoma. Conservative values are under attack by the fake news mainstream media and the corrupt political establishment. As the most conservative member of the Oklahoma legislature, I have been fighting tirelessly to stop them from advancing their dangerous, socialist agendas. 

Research Institute for Economic Development releases 2020 legislative score

BUSINESS ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCES 2020 RIED REPORT

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, June 12, 2020 – The Research Institute for Economic Development (RIED), a non-partisan organization and producer of the annual RIED Report, a grading system of Oklahoma legislators’ votes on key economic development and business issues, announced today its 2020 RIED Report. The scores were awarded to lawmakers who served during the second regular session of the 57th Oklahoma Legislature. 

Under the RIED evaluation system, legislators earn points when they support job creation and economic development issues or vote against legislation that is harmful to job creation and economic development.  A score of 70 and above represents a passing grade while 69 and below represents a failing grade. Ten measures were utilized to compile the 2020 RIED Report.

ACU releases rating of OK's 2019 legislative session

Oklahoma Outshines Texas, other Red States in Conservative Rankings

CPAC Host Releases Scores of Oklahoma Legislature

Alexandria, VA (June 11th)— Oklahoma lawmakers voted more conservatively than lawmakers in other states controlled by Republicans such as Texas, Kansas and Ohio, according to the just-released ratings of the 2019 session by The American Conservative Union Foundation (ACUF), host of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

In the 2019 session, the Oklahoma Legislature earned an average conservative score of 68.85%, outperforming neighboring Texas (56.75%) and Kansas (65.26%) as well as Ohio (63.06%).

2019 Conservative Index released, rating OK legislators

Legislators Rated

by Oklahoma Constitution Staff

The Oklahoma Constitution presents the 41st annual Oklahoma Conservative Index, rating our state legislators. Members of each house of the Oklahoma Legislature were rated on ten key votes. A favorable vote on these issues represents a belief in conservative principles.

After taking suggestions from conservative leaders, the staff of the Oklahoma Constitution submitted proposed bills to a vote of the membership of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC) to determine the ten key votes. The legislators were rated based on their votes on bills which included such issues as protecting free speech, protecting the right to keep and bear arms, protecting life, obstructing overbearing government regulations, against subsidizing businesses, and in opposition to revisionist history.

The average score this year was 48% in the House and 61% in the Senate. The Top Conservative and Top Liberal legislators were selected by their scores on the Index. Making the Top Conservatives list were 29 lawmakers who scored 80% or more. On the Top Liberals list were 31 lawmakers scoring 20% or less.

TOP CONSERVATIVES

Four legislators, two in the House and two in the Senate, scored a perfect 100% conservative rating this year. House members scoring 100% were Tom Gann of Inola, and Jim Olsen of Roland. Senators scoring 100% were Mark Allen of Spiro, and Nathan Dahm of Broken Arrow.

The next highest score was 93%, made by Representative Kevin West of Moore. Also scoring 93% were Senators Marty Quinn of Claremore, and Gary Stanislawski of Tulsa. Scoring 90% were House members Denise Crosswhite of Yukon, Tommy Hardin of Madill, Mark Lepak of Claremore, and Sean Roberts of Hominy.

One legislator, Sen. Joe Newhouse of Broken Arrow, score 86 percent. Two House members, Chad Caldwell of Enid, and Rande Worthen of Lawton, scored 83 percent. Also scoring 83% were Senators Larry Boggs of Red Oak, Julie Daniels of Bartlesville, and Casey Murdock of Felt.

Completing the list of Top Conservatives were 13 legislators who scored 80 percent. House members scoring 80% were Rhonda Baker of Yukon, Justin Humphrey of Lane, Mike Sanders of Kingfisher, Jay Steagall of Yukon, and Zack Taylor of Seminole. Senate members scoring 80% were Michael Bergstrom of Adair, David Bullard of Durant, John Haste of Broken Arrow, John Montgomery of Lawton, Roland Pederson of Burlington, Dewayne Pemberton of Muskogee, Wayne Shaw of Grove, and Darrell Weaver of Moore.

TOP LIBERALS

A large number of legislators scored zero conservative this year, including the Minority (Democrat) Leaders in both chambers. Thirteen representatives and three senators took the liberal position on all ten bills included on this year’s Oklahoma Conservative Index. Members of the House scoring zero were Kelly Albright of Midwest City, Merleyn Bell of Norman, Forrest Bennett of Oklahoma City, Chelsey Branham of Edmond, Mickey Dollens of Oklahoma City, Monroe Nichols of Tulsa, Melissa Provenzano of Tulsa, Trish Ranson of Stillwater, Jacob Rosecrants of Norman, Shane Stone of Oklahoma City, Emily Virgin of Norman (House Minority Leader), John Waldron of Tulsa, and Collin Walke of Oklahoma City. Members of the Senate scoring zero were Kay Floyd of Oklahoma City (Senate Minority Leader), Julia Kirt of Oklahoma City, and Kevin Matthews of Tulsa.

The next lowest score was 3% made by four representatives: Denise Brewer of Tulsa, Regina Goodwin of Tulsa, Jason Lowe of Oklahoma City, and Cyndi Munson of Oklahoma City. Two other representatives, Meloyde Blancett of Tulsa and Jason Dunnington of Oklahoma City, scored 6 percent. Three members of the House scored 10 percent, including Andy Fugate of Oklahoma City, Ben Loring of Miami, and David Perryman of Chickasha. Also scoring 10% were Senators Mary Boren of Norman, Michael Brooks of Oklahoma City, Carri Hicks of Oklahoma City, and George Young of Oklahoma City. One legislator, Rep. Ajay Pittman of Oklahoma City, received a 15% score. It is worthy of note that she missed five of the ten votes and voted liberal on the other five. Completing the Top Liberals list was one legislator, Rep. John Talley of Stillwater, who scored 20 percent.

Read more details here at the Oklahoma Constitution's website, including PDF versions of the index. 

If you want to view the Index in non-PDF format, go to this link, courtesy of SoonerPolitics.

2019 Republican District Ratings for Oklahoma Legislature

Here's the 2019 update to my Republican District Ratings, the 2017 version of which can be viewed here.

This rating system is to determine how "Republican" each state house and state senate district is. The formula is comprised of three elements: federal-level (most recent Republican presidential nominee's in-district vote percentage), state-level (most recent Republican gubernatorial nominee's in-district vote percentage), and local-level (in-district voter registration).

If a district might be rated 50.0, that does not mean the Democrat rating would also be 50.0, as I didn't split the remaining portion up between Democrat, Libertarian and Independent. This system simply rates on how Republican a district is. Perhaps another way of putting it is this: a generic Republican candidate should be able to get no less than the RDR in his district.

Have a look at each full list. Given the massive turnover in the 2018 election, I marked which members are freshmen (i.e. elected in 2018). I also added in a new feature, the upward or downward movement of each district compared to my first rating in 2016.

I'll post the related 2019 Conservative Performance Index soon, likely in the next month or so, where we'll examine each legislator's conservative score (an average of two different conservative rating systems) and compare it to their district's Republican rating.

Up first, State House:


Northwest Oklahoma has the top three Republican districts; HD61 maintained top-status with a rating of 72.4, with HD58 (71.4) and HD59 (70.9) in second and third. There's a four-point gap to fourth place, where HD41 comes in with a rating of 66.9. Broken Arrow's HD80 comes in fifth at 66.5, which is a drop of 3.1 since my first ratings were released in 2016.

The five least Republican districts are HD73 in north Tulsa (10.2), HD99 (16.3) and HD97 (22.6) and HD88 (26.0) in Oklahoma City, and HD44 (28.0) in Norman.

The average rating for all House seats is down 0.2 points to 52.0 (2016 average was 51.9). For Republican-held seats, the average held flat at 56.7, the same as in 2016, while Democrat-held seats fell 3.3 points to an average of 37.1 (2016 was 40.4).

The five most-Republican seats held by Democrats are HD7 (51.5) in the northeast, HD79 (50.3) in Tulsa, HD83 (48.0) and HD85 (46.6) in OKC, and HD46 (46.5) in Norman..

The five least-Republican seats held by Republicans are HD62 (39.8) in Lawton, HD13 in Muskogee and McIntosh counties, HD64 (40.7) in Lawton, HD95 (44.4) in Midwest City, and HD14 (46.0) in Muskogee and Cherokee counties.

Average change since 2016 for urban House districts:

• OKC metro, GOP-held: -3.52
• OKC metro, Dem-held: -4.7
• OKC metro, combined: -4.07
• Tulsa metro, GOP-held: -2.74
• Tulsa metro, Dem-held: -3.92
• Tulsa metro, combined: -3.09
• Other urban (Lawton/Stillwater/Enid): -2.4
• All urban, GOP-held: -3.15
• All urban, Dem-held: -4.47
• All urban, combined: -3.58

Average change since 2016 for rural House districts:

• Rural, GOP-held: +4.32
• Rural, Dem-held: +2.9
• Rural, combined: +4.23

Now, let's look at the State Senate:


The most Republican district is again in far northwest Oklahoma and the Panhandle - SD27 at a rating of 72.8. Next are SD19 (65.9) in the Enid area, SD20 (63.7) in the Guthrie and Pawnee area, SD23 (63.6) on the west side of the OKC metro, and SD25 (63.6) in south Tulsa.

The five least Republican districts are SD11 in  north Tulsa (26.3), SD48 (27.3) and SD46 (35.8) in Oklahoma City, SD16 (41.2) in Cleveland County, and SD9 (42.7) in Muskogee and Cherokee counties.

The average rating for all Senate seats is up 0.6 points to 54.1. For Republican-held seats, it's up 1.1 points to 56.6, while for Democrat-held seats it's up 1.7 points to 43.5.

The five most Republican seats held by Democrats are SD34 in Owasso at 58.7, SD37 in Tulsa (57.5), SD44 (50.2) and SD30 (49.6) and SD40 (44.7) - all in OKC.

The five least Republican seats held by Republicans are SD9 (42.7), Midwest City's SD42 (47.0), Lawton's SD32 (47.5), two rural southeast districts, SD8 (47.5) and SD7 (48.7).

Average change since 2016 for urban Senate districts:

• OKC metro, GOP-held: -3.41
• OKC metro, Dem-held: +1.37
• OKC metro, combined: -1.36
• Tulsa metro, GOP-held: -3.32
• Tulsa metro, Dem-held: +4.0
• Tulsa metro, combined: -1.23
• All urban, GOP-held: -3.38
• All urban, Dem-held: +2.03
• All urban, combined: -1.32

Average change since 2016 for rural Senate districts:

• Rural, GOP-held: +4.91
• Rural, Dem-held: [none]
• Rural, combined: +4.91

If you'd like to see maps to show where all the different districts are, go here for State House maps and here for State Senate maps.

BONUS

I've added two more sheets: one showing all House and Senate districts together for comparison, and the other sorted by the percentage changes each district had since the 2016 rating.

Here's the House and Senate combined, to show the RDR for all 149 districts:

This one is is sorted by the percentage changes each district had since 2016:

REID issues 2019 grades for Legislators

FRESHMEN LEGISLATORS, NEW GOVERNOR DEFINE LEGISLATIVE SESSION;

LEGISLATURE SEES FIRST SURPLUS IN FOUR YEARS

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, June 21, 2019 – The Research Institute for Economic Development (RIED), a non-partisan organization and producer of the annual RIED Report, a grading system of Oklahoma legislators’ votes on key economic development and business issues, announced today its 2019 RIED Report. The scores were awarded to lawmakers who served during the first regular session of the 57th Oklahoma Legislature. Over 50 freshmen served during the session 

Under the RIED evaluation system, legislators earn points when they support job creation and economic development issues or vote against legislation that is harmful to job creation and economic development.  A score of 70 and above represents a passing grade while 69 and below represents a failing grade. Sixteen measures were utilized to compile the 2019 RIED Report.

“This was an interesting session on many fronts with legislators faced with a myriad of issues, including opportunities to advance pro-business and pro-job creation legislation,” said Mark Williams, RIED president.

“The vast majority of Senate and House members received passing grades of 70 or above with 14 members scoring 91 which was the highest score of the session. One bill, HB 2632, prevented these legislators from obtaining a perfect 100 score, and other legislators from scoring higher. The bill was hotly debated throughout the session with pro and con advocacy groups weighing in throughout the process. After much negotiation, the measure ultimately passed both chambers unanimously and was signed by Governor Kevin Stitt. Despite the robust debate surrounding the bill, and its unanimous passage, the measure is anti-business on multiple levels and could not be supported by RIED. First, the bill requires contracts between private entities to be reviewed by the Oklahoma Insurance Department rather than be contracted on the open market without government intervention. Second, the bill raises the cost of health insurance for any business that provides health coverage for its employees, and it raises the cost to consumers who purchase their own policies. Lastly, the measure fails to exempt plans governed by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), which translates into ERISA plans now being governed by state law which preempts federal law which will almost certainly lead to legal challenges. The legislature’s passage of HB 2632 unfortunately cast a negative cloud over what otherwise was a positive and pro-business session for state lawmakers.”

Overall, 109 of 149 legislators received passing scores of 70 or higher, including 40 of 48 Senate members and 69 of 101 House members. Fourteen senators and 32 representatives scored 85 or higher.

“With so many new faces in the legislature, I was curious to see how the entire body approached issues that impact Oklahoma’s business climate and economy, both positive and negative,” said Greg Love, RIED board chairman. Overall, I am pleased with the pro-business votes of the majority of legislators, however it is important to note how just one anti-business vote on a singular piece of legislation can send the wrong message outside our borders. Following the 2018 session, I stated how important it was for the executive and legislative branches to seriously address budget reform, and the manner in which fiscal decisions are made across state government.  Progress was made this session, specifically in the form of SB 1, and I urge the legislature and Governor Stitt to continue to embrace policies and procedures that advance Oklahoma economically while positioning our state as a premier business destination.”

The 2019 RIED Report is available at riedreport.com.

The Research Institute for Economic Development was founded in 1997 and promotes economic growth through the evaluation of business, job and economic growth issues considered by the Oklahoma Legislature.  RIED is non-partisan and does not lobby issues, endorse candidates or campaigns.

Maps: Senate Conservative Performance Index visualized

Previously, I've posted the Conservative Performance Index in a spreadsheet form, with details on the scoring and ranking of each member of the Legislature. Since maps have kinda been my "thing" on this blog, I decided to put the CPI into visual format.

We looked at the State House in this post, and now we'll look at the State Senate. To view these in a larger size, click on the images. First up, for reference, the current partisan makeup of the Senate. This includes the winners of three recent special elections -- two Democrats (SD37 and SD44) and one Republican (SD45):

Democrats hold 8 Senate seats now; 4 in the OKC/Norman metro, 3 in the Tulsa metro, and one representing Lawton and some rural areas around Fort Sill. Other than the latter district, Senate Democrats have disappeared from rural Oklahoma, including their former stronghold/base of Little Dixie.

Now, the Conservative Performance Index visualized:

The darker the red, the higher the positive CPI score; the darker the blue, the lower the negative CPI score. Bear in mind, the Conservative Performance Index is based on two factors: the member's Conservative Rating (an average of two voting record rating systems) minus their Republican District Rating (voter registration, gubernatorial and presidential voting). This is to illustrate how conservative or liberal a legislator is for their specific district.

The above map has two districts that were not rated due to being vacant, and one district switched parties. Those are indicated by the red and blue stripes. The Tulsa district that flipped shows the final rating for Sen. Dan Newberry, whose resignation went into effect on January 31st, and thus he is rated for the 2017 regular session.

The latest Senate CPI scores can be found here.

Now, let's split the map up by party affiliation. First up, the 40 Senate Republicans:

Generally speaking, the Senate Republicans scored better than their House colleagues. Members from the southeast (Little Dixie) scored the best, with 5 of the top 7 CPI scores. Freshmen GOP members comprise a whopping 11 of the 15 negative (blue) scores, with the 9 worst scores all belonging to freshmen.


Finishing things off, here are the 6 Senate Democrats:

All of the Democrats have negative to very-negative CPI scores, unlike their House comrades who had several members with positive scores.


Once again, you can view the full Senate CPI scores here. You can view the House CPI scores here and the House CPI maps here.

Maps: House Conservative Performance Index visualized

Previously, I've posted the Conservative Performance Index in a spreadsheet form, with details on the scoring and ranking of each member of the Legislature. Since maps have kinda been my "thing" on this blog, I decided to put the CPI into visual format.

We'll take a look at the State House in this post. To view these in a larger size, click on the images. First up, for reference, the current partisan makeup of the House.

12 of the 28 Democrat House seats are in the OKC/Norman metro, with 5 in the Tulsa metro, and the remainder in outlying, mostly rural areas.

Now, the Conservative Performance Index visualized:

The darker the red, the higher the positive CPI score; the darker the blue, the lower the negative CPI score. Bear in mind, the Conservative Performance Index is based on two factors: the member's Conservative Rating (an average of three voting record rating systems) minus their Republican District Rating (voter registration, gubernatorial and presidential voting). This is to illustrate how conservative or liberal a legislator is for their specific district.

Therefore, some Democrats have higher CPI scores due to the liberalism of their district and their relative conservatism, while some Republicans have lower CPI scores due to the conservatism of their district and their relative liberalism.

The specific House CPI scores can be found here.

Now, let's split the map up by party affiliation. First up, the 73 House Republicans:

Ouch. Lots of blue for negative CPI scores. GOP members underperform pretty dramatically in the northwest and central parts of the state, with most of the very-positive CPI scorers being toward the southern or eastern fringes of GOP-held territory (with a few metro exceptions).


Finishing things off, here are the 28 House Democrats:

You will likely need to view the image larger in order to see the cluster of Democrat districts in the metros. Other than Donnie Condit in the McAlester area, the rural Democrats all have negative to very-negative CPI scores, while some of the metro members overperform for their district.


Once again, you can view the full House CPI scores here. I'll take up the Senate CPI maps soon.

Conservative Performance Index: OK Senate

UPDATE: view the Senate CPI maps here.

Following up on my Conservative Performance Index for the Oklahoma State House post this morning, this post compares each state senator's conservative score to their district rating, to add up their Conservative Performance Index.

The conservative rating ('CR' in the spreadsheet) I use is an average of the most recent American Conservative Union scores for Oklahoma legislators, and the Oklahoma Constitution's Conservative Index. Using multiple sources broadens the perspective and scoring system for what I feel is a more accurate picture.

Positive CPI scores indicate that the member's conservative voting outperforms their district's Republican rating (RDR). Negative scores show that the member is more liberal than the district.

One purpose of this system is to illustrate how conservative or liberal a legislator is for their district. As filing for office is coming up next month, this edition of the Conservative Performance Index will be the final version before elections are decided for the upcoming legislative term.

In this post, we'll look at the CPI for State Senate members (the State House CPI can be viewed here).


This year's Senate CPI is more of a mixed bag than the House CPI. The top five Senators (all Republican) stayed about the same or increased their conservative scores, while the freshmen GOP class sunk the overall Republican average by having (with few exceptions) negative to extremely-negative scores.

Top scoring senators this time are Joseph Silk (R-SD5) at +36.1, followed by Nathan Dahm (R-HD33) at +34.3, and Josh Brecheen (R-HD6) at +34.2. Rounding out the top five are Anthony Sykes (HD24) at +29.9, and Mark Allen (SD4) at +29.4. As you can note by comparing the rankings, the top 9 members are the same this time as they were last time, with most changes being one-rank leapfrogging.

Unlike in the State House, no Democrats have positive CPI scores. Anastasia Pittman (D-SD48) tops out the Democratic caucus at -3.2. J.J. Dossett (D-SD34) has the lowest Democrat score at -22.1. The average Democratic CPI is -14.5 (last time was -8.0).

On the Republican side, 25 members (62.5%)  have positive CPI scores, while 15 (37.5%) have negative scores. Of the 13 freshmen, only 2 (15%) had positive scores. That means 11 (85%) of freshmen Republicans had negative ratings.

The average Republican CPI is +3.9 (last time was +15.0). The freshman GOP average is -12.3, while the non-freshman average is +11.8. As with the House, the freshman GOP class is an appalling and unmitigated embarrassment.

The only non-freshmen Republicans with CPI scores below 0 are Ervin Yen (R-SD40) at -5.6, Stephanie Bice (R-SD22) at -5.1, now ex-Sen. Bryce Marlatt (R-SD27) at -5.0, and Ron Sharp (R-SD17) at -4.0. James Leewright (R-SD12; +3.3) and Julie Daniels (R-SD29; +1.8) are the only freshmen Republicans above 0.

The House Democrats outperformed their Senate counterparts, while the Senate GOP scored far better than the House GOP did (although both freshmen Senators and Representatives had a nearly identical average).

Conservative Performance Index: OK House

UPDATE: view the House CPI maps here.

Following up on my 2017 Republican District Ratings from a while back, this post compares each legislator's conservative score to their district rating, to add up their Conservative Performance Index.

The conservative rating ('CR' in the spreadsheet) I use is an average of the most recent American Conservative Union scores for Oklahoma legislators, the Oklahoma Constitution's Conservative Index, and for the House, the recent Platform Index for the two special sessions over the past few months. Using multiple sources broadens the perspective and scoring system for what I feel is a more accurate picture.

Positive CPI scores indicate that the member's conservative voting outperforms their district's Republican rating (RDR). Negative scores show that the member is more liberal than the district.

One purpose of this system is to illustrate how conservative or liberal a legislator is for their district. As filing for office is coming up next month, this edition of the Conservative Performance Index will be the final version before elections are decided for the upcoming legislative term.

In this post, we'll look at the CPI for State House members. We'll examine the State Senate in the next CPI post.


This year's CPI is somewhat lower than the 2016 CPI. Top scoring legislators this time are freshman Rick West (R-HD3) at +30.9, followed by George Faught (R-HD14) at +30.3, and Jason Murphey (R-HD31) at +30.1. Rounding out the top five are John Bennett (HD2) at +27.8, and Travis Dunlap at +25.2.

For comparison, the top seven in 2016 were all above these scores (Faught is the only common member; the rest dropped further down the list or termed out). Most districts got more Republican, while conservative averages sagged some overall; the combination reduced most CPI scores. For comparison, I've added a column to show where each member ranked in the 2016 CPI.

The top Democrats were Shane Stone (D-HD89) at +21.9, Regina Goodwin (D-HD73) at +20.9, Jason Lowe (D-HD97) at +20.3, George Young (D-HD99) at +10.8, and Eric Proctor (D-HD77) at +10.5. Four of these hold seats with very low Republican District Ratings (ranging from 10.3 to 31.7, averaging 20.4), with the exception of Proctor, whose district is a 43.5 (slightly more Republican than the most-Democratic GOP-held seats).

Cindy Munson is the lowest scoring Democrat, as well as the lowest scoring non-freshman member, at -29.4. The only member to score lower was Zack Taylor (R-HD28) at -32.4; Taylor won a special election and thus is only rated on his special session votes. 4 Democrats and 12 Republicans have CPI ratings of -20 or worse.

The lowest non-freshmen Republicans are Casey Murdock (R-HD61) at -25.0, Leslie Osborn (R-HD47) at -22.3, Mike Sanders (R-HD59) at -17.8, Chris Kannady (R-HD91) at -17.5, and John Pfeiffer (R-HD38) at -16.5.

An astounding 46 Republicans (63%) have negative CPI scores (24 of which of are freshmen), while only 27 (27%) have positive CPI scores. 21 Democrats are negative, and 7 have a positive CPI. Last year, six Republicans and one Democrat had a CPI of +30 or higher; this year, only three Republicans are at that level. 7 Republicans and three Democrats are between +20 and +30, compared to 18 Republicans last year.

Of the 27 freshmen Republicans, 24 have negative CPI scores, while 3 have positive CPI scores. That makes the freshmen GOP average -12.2. This freshman class is an abysmal failure for conservatism and the Republican Party.

The average Republican score is -2.7 (last year was  +14.8), and the average Democrat score is -5.5 (last year was -4.4). If freshmen Republicans were taken out of the equation, the GOP average would have been +2.9.

Next time, we'll examine the 2017 Conservative Performance Index for the State Senate.

2017 Republican District Ratings for Oklahoma Legislature

Here's the 2017 update to my Republican District Ratings, the 2016 version of which can be viewed here.

This rating system is to determine how "Republican" each state house and state senate district is. The formula is comprised of three elements: federal-level (most recent Republican presidential nominee's in-district vote percentage), state-level (most recent Republican gubernatorial nominee's in-district vote percentage), and local-level (in-district voter registration).

If a district might be rated 50.0, that does not mean the Democrat rating would also be 50.0, as I didn't split the remaining portion up between Democrat, Libertarian and Independent. This system simply rates on "Republican-ness". Perhaps another way of putting it is this: a generic Republican candidate should be able to get no less than the RDR in his district.

Have a look at each full list. Given the massive turnover last year, I marked which members are freshmen (i.e. elected in 2016). I'll post the 2017 Conservative Performance Index soon, where we'll examine each legislator's conservative score (an average of two different conservative rating systems) and compare it to their district's Republican rating.

Up first, State House:


Northwest Oklahoma has the top three Republican district; HD61 maintained top-status with 71.0%, while HD59 (69.8%) and HD58 (69.1%) leapfrogged from 6th and 7th place last year. Broken Arrow's HD80 comes in fourth with 68.2%, and #5 goes to HD41 (a gerrymandered district running from Enid to the edge of OKC) with 67.3% .

The five least Republican districts are HD73 in north Tulsa (10.3%), HD99 (16.6%) and HD97 (22.9%) in Oklahoma City, OKC's HD88 (27.9%), and HD72 (29.7%) in north Tulsa.

The average rating for all House seats is up 0.3 points to 52.2%. For Republican-held seats, it actually fell overall by 0.4 points to 56.7%, while Democrat-held seats also fell 0.5 points to an average of 40.4%.

The five most Republican seats held by Democrats are HD6 (56.0%) in the northeast, recent special-election snag HD75 (54.3%) in Tulsa, HD7 (51.1%) in the far northeast corner, OKC's HD85 (49.4%; a 2015 special-election steal), and HD86 (48.5%) in Adair County.

The six least Republican seats held by Republicans are HD13 (39.5%) in Muskogee and McIntosh counties, HD62 (41.8%) and HD64 (42.3%) in Lawton, HD71 (43.7%) in Tulsa, and HD19 (44.5%) in the southeast.


Now, let's look at the State Senate:


The most Republican district is again in far northwest Oklahoma and the Panhandle - SD27 at 69.5%. Next are SD25 (65.8%) in south Tulsa, SD19 (63.8%) in the Enid area, SD22 (63.6%) in northwest OKC, SD29 (62.7%) around Bartlesville.

The five least Republican districts are SD11 in  north Tulsa (26.5%), SD48 (27.2%) and SD46 (37.5%) in Oklahoma City, SD9 (41.1%) in Muskogee and Cherokee counties, and SD16 (42.3%) in Cleveland County.

The average rating for all Senate seats is up 1.4 points to 53.5%. For Republican-held seats, it's up 0.2 points to 55.5%, while for Democrat-held seats it's up 3.5 points to 41.8%.

The three most Republican seats held by Democrats are SD34 (an early 2016 special-election stunner) at 59.1%, SD44 (51.8%; the most recent special-election grab), and SD32 (47.9%).

The five least Republican seats held by Republicans are all in southeast or east-central Oklahoma -SD9 (41.1%), SD7 (43.9%), SD8 (44.7%), SD5 (44.9%), and SD6 (47.3%).

Of note, the least-Republican Republican-held House and Senate districts both cover the city of Muskogee and most of Muskogee County, and both were won in 2016.


If you'd like to see maps to show where all the different districts are, go here for State House maps and here for State Senate maps.

Below the break, I've added two more sheets: one showing all House and Senate districts together for comparison, and the other showing the percentage changes each district had since the 2016 rating.

State Chamber rates judges on the ballot

Know your judges before you vote

 by Fred Morgan, President and CEO of the State Chamber

Are you going to vote on Nov. 8? Good.

Do you consider yourself an educated voter? Even better. You know who you’re going to vote for president, senator, congressman and probably even who you’re going to vote for in your state representative and Senate race. Excellent. You may have even made up your mind on the seven state questions that will be on the ballot.

One last question: Have you decided how you’re going to vote when it comes to the retention of any of the appellate judges on the ballot? Are you going to look at the ballot and just vote “no” for all of them, or maybe “yes” for all of them? Do you know how they have voted on decisions that affect you, your business and your family?

Unfortunately, most voters go into the voting booth with little or no knowledge of who these judges are or how they have voted on decisions important to Oklahomans.

Four years ago, the State Chamber of Oklahoma, in partnership with other chambers and trade organizations, created the Oklahoma Civil Justice Council to serve as an educational tool for the public to learn more about our courts and judges. To that end, the OCJC has published its 2016 evaluation of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and the Court of Civil Appeals. We published similar evaluations in 2012 and 2014. These evaluations, conducted by independent reviewers, analyze cases where the judges have disagreed, reviewing the exact same law and the exact same facts, and which have an effect on civil liability.

So, how do our appellate court judges do when it comes to restricting civil liability that increases the cost of your insurance and the prices you pay for everything? Remember, the higher the rating, the more inclined the judge is to follow the laws passed by the Legislature. The lower the score, the more inclined the judge is to make up their own laws expanding liability.

• Supreme Court Justice James R. Winchester, 74 percent.
• Supreme Court Justice Douglas L. Combs, 36 percent.
• Court of Civil Appeals Judge Tom Thornbrugh, 39 percent.
• Court of Civil Appeals Judge John F. Fischer, 37 percent.
• Court of Civil Appeals Judge Larry Joplin, 82 percent.

When you vote to retain (or not to retain) appellate judges on Nov. 8, you might want to remember these numbers. Check out the full ratings at www.okciviljustice.com.

Conservative Performance Index - OK Senate

Following up on my Republican District Rating system, this post compares each legislator's conservative score to their district rating, to add up their Conservative Performance Index.

The conservative rating ('CR' in the spreadsheet) I used is an average of the American Conservative Union scores for Oklahoma legislators and the Oklahoma Constitution's Conservative Index. Using two sources broadens the perspective and scoring system.

Positive CPI scores indicate that the member's conservative voting outperforms their district. Negative scores show that the member is more liberal than the district.

In my last post, we looked at the CPI for State House members. Now, let's look at the CPI for State Senate members.


SD5 Sen. Joseph Silk has far and away the best CPI score at +45.4. The next four are all Republicans - SD6's Josh Brecheen (+32.7), SD33's Nathan Dahm (+31.9), SD4's Mark Allen (+31.6), and SD14's Frank Simpson (+31.4).

12 Republicans have CPI scores of +20 or better. Only two Democrats have positive scores: Anastasia Pittman (SD48, +7.2) and J.J. Dossett (SD34, +0.7). The only Republicans with negative scores are Ron Sharp (SD17, -1.6) and Bryce Marlatt (SD27, -1.6).

The average Republican CPI score is +15.0, and the average Democrat CPI score is -8.0.

13 senators are leaving office due to term limits, not seeking reelection, or losing their primary election. The average CPI for those leaving office is +2.0 (+7.1 for Republicans and -14.8 for Democrats). For the members who are running for reelection or elected without opposition, the average CPI is +13.9 (+17.7 for Republicans and -4.6 for Democrats).

Conservative Performance Index - OK House

Following up on my Republican District Rating system, this post compares each legislator's conservative score to their district rating, to add up their Conservative Performance Index.

The conservative rating ('CR' in the spreadsheet) I used is an average of the American Conservative Union scores for Oklahoma legislators and the Oklahoma Constitution's Conservative Index. Using two sources broadens the perspective and scoring system.

Positive CPI scores indicate that the member's conservative voting outperforms their district. Negative scores show that the member is more liberal than the district.

In this post, we'll look at the CPI for State House members.



In what might surprise some, the top performer is Democrat State Rep. Regina Goodwin. She represents HD73, in the heart of north Tulsa. Her district has the lowest Republican rating in the state at 10.0%. Her conservative rating is 53, giving her a CPI of +43.0. She is the only Democrat in the top 34 House scores.

The second highest CPI score is Rep. George Faught of HD14 at +38.1. Term-limited Rep. Sally Kern (HD84) is third with +36.1, and term-limited Rep. Paul Wesselhoft (HD54) is fourth with +34.4. Freshman Rep. Scooter Park (HD65) is fifth with a CPI of +33.3. Incoming House Speaker Charles McCall is sixth at +33.1.

The lowest Republicans are Rep. Casey Murdock (HD61) with -15.6, term-limited Rep. Doug Cox (HD5) with -5.5, Rep. Leslie Osborn (HD47) with -3.8, term-limited Speaker Jeff Hickman (HD58) with -3.0, and term-limited Rep. Marian Cooksey (HD39) with -2.7.

Six Republican and one Democrat have CPI scores above +30. 18 Republicans have a score between +20 and +30. The average Republican score is +14.8, and the average Democrat score is -4.4.

61 Republicans have positive CPI scores, while 9 Republicans have negative CPI scores. 12 Democrats rate in positive territory, while 19 are negative (including six below -20).

33 House members are leaving office due to term limits, not seeking reelection, or losing their primary election. The average CPI for those leaving office is +6.2 (+14.0 for Republicans and -6.4 for Democrats). For the members who are running for reelection or elected without opposition, the average CPI is +9.8 (+15.1 for Republicans and -3.2 for Democrats).


In my next post, we'll look at the Conservative Performance Index for the State Senate.

Republican Ratings for all State House and Senate Districts

I've developed a rating system to determine how Republican each state house and state senate district is. The formula is comprised of the three elements: Mitt Romney's percentage in the 2012 presidential election (federal-level), Mary Fallin's performance in the 2014 gubernatorial election (state-level), and Republican voter registration (local-level).

Have a look at each full list. I included which members are leaving office (not seeking reelection, defeated in primaries, or term limited), as well as which districts have general election races.

On Monday (Lord willing) I'll post what I'm calling the Conservative Performance Index, where we'll examine each legislator's conservative score (an average of two different conservative rating systems) and compare it to their district's Republican rating.

Up first, State House:


At 70.6%, the most Republican district is HD61, which is comprised of the Panhandle and the far northwestern part of the state. The next three most Republican districts (HD67 - 69.7%, HD80 - 69.6%, HD69 - 69.1%) are all in south Tulsa and Broken Arrow, and #5 goes to HD41 at 68.7% (a gerrymandered district running from Enid to the edge of OKC).

The five least Republican districts are HD73 in  north Tulsa (10.0%), HD97 (17.0%) and HD99 (22.9%) in Oklahoma City, HD72 (29.3%) in north Tulsa, and 88 (31.5%) in Oklahoma City.

The average rating for all House seats is 51.9%. For Republican-held seats, it's 57.1%, and for Democrat-held seats the average is 40.4%.

The five most Republican seats held by Democrats are Wagoner County's HD12 at 54.9% (an open seat), HD8 (northeast) and HD85 (David Dank's old seat, the Democrats surprise special election win) at 53.9%, HD6 (northeast corner), and HD7 (far northeast corner).

The six least Republican seats held by Republicans are HD62 (41.8%) and HD64 (42.2%) in Lawton, Muskogee's HD14 and southeast Oklahoma's HD22 (43.4%), and Pontotoc County's HD25 and Sequoyah County's HD2 (45.4%).


Now, let's look at the State Senate:


The most Republican district is again in far northwest Oklahoma and the Panhandle - SD27 at 69.1%. Next are SD25 (67.3%) in south Tulsa, SD22 (66.2%) in northwest OKC, SD41 (65.0%) in the Edmond area, and SD33 (64.1%) in Broken Arrow.

The five least Republican districts are SD11 in  north Tulsa (17.7%), SD48 (18.3%) and SD46 (32.1%) in Oklahoma City, SD9 (38.2%) in Muskogee and Cherokee counties, and SD16 (40.1%) in Cleveland County.

The average rating for all Senate seats is 52.1%. For Republican-held seats, it's 55.3%, and for Democrat-held seats it's 38.3%.

The three most Republican seats held by Democrats are SD34 (the Brogdon/Brinkley seat, also a special election stunner) at 59.3%, SD1 (47.6%), and SD13 (46.6%).

The five least Republican seats held by Republicans are all in 'Little Dixie' -SD5 (41.1%), SD7 (41.3%), SD8 (41.4%), SD6 (44.3%), and SD4 (44.4%). I believe all five senators are the first Republicans ever elected in their seat.


If you'd like to see maps to show where all the different districts are, go here for State House maps and here for State Senate maps.

AUL Ranks Oklahoma Most Pro-Life State

Americans United for Life, a national pro-life organization, released their ranking of states today. Oklahoma came in at the number one spot.

AUL's List List shows cutting edge legislation restricts abortions and protects life at the state level
Launches national petition to urge the same at the federal level

WASHINGTON, D.C. (01-20-11) – For the sixth year in row, Americans United for Life released the “Life List” – a ranking of all 50 states based on the way each deals with a comprehensive list of life issues – from euthanasia to abortion. AUL CEO and President Dr. Charmaine Yoest said that the model legislation AUL specializes in, and the state-based approach to protecting life in the law, is “changing the momentum towards life at the state level. We are seeing a cultural shift toward protecting life and rolling back the tide of unrestricted abortions that Roe v. Wade produced.”

“The results reveal that legislative action at the state level is turning the tide toward life with strategic refinement of the law,” said Yoest. AUL has produced 38 pieces of model legislation and been influential in drafting opt-out language for states that do not wish to pay for President Obama’s health care plan that includes abortion coverage.

In the top 5 spots in 2011 are 1: Oklahoma, 2: Louisiana, 3: Pennsylvania, 4: Arkansas and 5: Texas. At the bottom of the list were New Jersey, Vermont, Hawaii, California and Washington State.

[...]

Oklahoma tops the Life List for the first time. In 2006 (the first year of AUL’s ranking), Oklahoma was ranked at #15. Over the past few years, the state has aggressively pursued and implemented a comprehensive agenda of life-affirming initiatives. Among the measures recently enacted in Oklahoma are an ultrasound requirement, limits on the provision of RU-486, coerced abortion prevention, and protections for health care freedom of conscience. Moreover, in 2009, Oklahoma became the first state to enact AUL’s innovative Pregnant Woman’s Protection Act, permitting pregnant women to use force to protect their unborn children from criminal assaults.

View more information from AUL at this link.

Call me biased, but this news is another reason why this blogger considers Oklahoma to be the best state in the nation.

Gun Owners of America rates Oklahoma candidates

Gun Owners of America, the other national pro-gun lobby, has issued their candidate ratings for the state of Oklahoma.

Sen. Tom Coburn received an A+, meaning he's a "Pro-Gun Leader" who "introduces pro-gun legislation". His opponent, Jim Rogers, did not answer the questionnaire.

Reps. John Sullivan (OK-1) and Tom Cole (OK-4) got an A - meaning "philosophically sound" and a "Pro-Gun Voter". Rep. Frank Lucas also received an A, while his Democrat opponent, Frankie Robbins, got a D- (Leans Anti-Gun: Usually against us).

Rep. Dan Boren got an A- (Pro-Gun Voter: philosophically sound), and his Republican challenger, Charles Thompson, got an A.

Tom Coburn is the only candidate who has been endorsed by GOA so far this cycle in Oklahoma.

Faught Receives Top Limited Government Score

State Rep. George Faught (R-Muskogee) received the top 'Limited Government' rating from Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise (OK-SAFE) for votes bills that made 3rd Reading this session. A bill that actually passes on 3rd Reading is sent to the next chamber (from House to Senate, or Senate to House).

OK-SAFE took ten bills, and rated them. "The general guidelines for supporting a bill were that it promotes constitutionally-limited government, or was a preemptive bill against more federal intrusion or initiatives. The general guidelines for opposing a bill were that the bill increased the power, scope and reach of government beyond it's proper function or boundaries, and/or increased the use of technology as enforcer (i.e surveillance)."

Faught was one of five representatives to get the top score: 9 out of 10 votes. The other legislators were Charles Key (R-OKC), Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie), Mike Ritze (R-Broken Arrow), and Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore).

You can view the scores for the entire state house by clicking here. Go here to find out more about OK-SAFE.