In case you missed it, there was a midterm election…

November 10, 2018

On my very first day of graduate school working toward a Masters in Public Administration, in the very first hour of my first class, the professor made the statement that only 10% of the voting electorate is informed when they go to the polls to cast their ballots. I’m not sure if it was naiveté on my part, but I was shocked.

I was well into my public health career when I started graduate school, and my colleagues and I frequently discussed politics and upcoming elections. I fondly remember the days in my first job in the Health Education & Information Service at the Oklahoma State Department of Health when my supervisor, Leslea, would round up the crew at lunch, and we would eat and discuss the “hot topics” of the day, long before the television show The View ever aired. I loved it because I’ve always been fascinated with politics. I’m someone who has voted in every election since I turned 18 years of age.

My interest in politics started early in my life, and I probably have my dad to thank for that. When my I was in elementary school, a friend of my grandfather and father ran for county commissioner. I think I was probably in the fifth grade, which means my sister would have been a third-grader. My dad was very involved in campaigning for his friend. The primary election was in the summer, so my dad would often drive through neighborhoods and drop my sister and me off, laden with pencils with our candidate’s name on them. We would go door-to-door asking residents to vote for our candidate. We would do this for several blocks until my dad came back, picked us up, and took us to another neighborhood. For those feeling a little squeamish about my father leaving his 10 and 8 year-old daughters to walk through neighborhoods and knock on doors, it was the late 1960s in Ada, Oklahoma! Although our candidate lost in the primary, I was firmly on a path to becoming a political junkie.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit that early on I wasn’t an informed voter. This may be hard to imagine now, but in the 1960s and 1970s, southeastern Oklahoma was solidly Democratic. It was the home of former Speaker of the House Carl Albert, who served three terms as Speaker, including during the Nixon years and Watergate scandal. Nicknamed “the Little Giant” because he was only 5 feet, 4 inches, Speaker Albert was a beloved figure in Oklahoma. Back then, the majority of registered voters registered as Democrats. My family was no exception. In fact, both sets of my grandparents were known as “yellow dog Democrats,” a saying in Oklahoma that meant they would rather vote for a yellow dog than a Republican! While Will Rogers, another beloved Oklahoman, famously said, “I never met a man I didn’t like,” I heard my grandfather say he “never met a Republican he liked.”

Now, I didn’t rebel in the normal teenage ways, such as underage alcohol use, drug use, or skipping school (oh wait, maybe I did skip a few classes), but by gosh, I wasn’t going to vote for a candidate just because my family told me I should. So, the very first opportunity that I had to vote – the 1976 Presidential election – armed with no information about either candidate other than their political party, I proudly cast my vote for Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter. I didn’t fair any better on my next election – the 1978 midterms. By then, I had met and was engaged to my husband, whose family had ties to the Edmondson family. Former Oklahoma Representative Ed Edmondson ran for Senate that year, and my husband told me that I needed to vote for him. Needless to say, no man, including the one I was going to marry, was going to tell me how to vote (Are you sensing a pattern here?). Representative Edmondson lost in the primary that year to former Oklahoma Governor David Boren. But instead of researching the policy platforms of the candidates, I again went to the polls knowing nothing about how either candidate stood on any issue. I had one purpose – to vote for the Republican candidate, former Oklahoma State University President Robert Kamm, just because he was Republican. Kamm lost to Boren, who served in the Senate from 1979 to 1994, then served as President of the University of Oklahoma from 1994 to 2017.

Fortunately, I finally learned my lesson by the time the 1980 Presidential election rolled around. By then, I was 22 years old, and I spent a considerable amount of time learning about each candidate. After the 1978 election, I never again voted in an election without knowing the issues and how the candidates stood on them.

In 1982, a relatively unknown District Attorney from Muskogee County, Oklahoma named Mike Turpen entered the Attorney General race in Oklahoma. Turpen was one of my husband’s fraternity brothers. In 1982, he ran a grassroots campaign that was reminiscent of Beto O’Rourke’s recent Senate campaign. No gathering or event was too small for Turpen to attend. He canvassed the state listening to voters and relating to them on a personal level. My husband and I still lived in Ada at that time, and we went to a gathering in someone’s home where Turpen was speaking. I remember asking him several questions about issues that were important to me, and he answered every one. Typical of Mike Turpen in those days, he had not made any lodging arrangements for the evening, and was deciding on the fly where he would go the next day. He also didn’t have any luggage or a change of clothes. So, my husband invited him to spend the night at our house. I washed the clothes that he was wearing, and he put them on the next day and headed out to the next town and event. Turpen won that election and served as Attorney General until 1987.

Mike Turpen lost a bid to become Oklahoma’s governor in 1986, but he has been active in the Oklahoma Democratic Party since that time. Today, Turpen co-hosts KFOR’s Sunday morning political show, Flashpoint, with former Republican Oklahoma City mayor, Kirk Humphreys, and KFOR anchor, Kevin Ogle.

Following the 2016 election, I was in Oklahoma with my husband during the Christmas holiday, and he turned the television on to watch Flashpoint. During the program, Humphreys talked about not liking Trump, but that “he had to vote for him because he was the Republican candidate.” I sat dumbfounded as I watched the exchange on television. I was embarrassed and ashamed about being an uninformed voter until I was 22 years old, and here was an educated and relatively respected man saying that the only reason he had voted for a candidate was because he was a Republican. I shouldn’t have been surprised, though, because I’ve heard other Republicans say the same thing.

I have conservative friends who make assumptions that I am “disappointed when Democrats lose” or that I supported Hillary Clinton “because she is a woman, and you’re a feminist, Shelli” or because the 2016 election was “historic.” Those comments offend me, especially when people who profess to “know and care about me” say them. Obviously, they don’t “know” me at all. I am one of the 10% who is actually informed. I vote for candidates based on their policy platform, not because of their political party. I have voted for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, and I am offended when conservatives try to paint me with their own attitudes. Even though I have lived and voted in Texas for the past 10 years, I still visit Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole’s office when I am in Washington, DC to thank him and his staff for the assistance they provided my family in getting my daughter’s passport in 2007.

Like so many others across the country, I was very invested in this midterm election. Unlike so many previous elections, though, I got involved. I went back to my roots and knocked on doors for candidates I supported. Some won, and others didn’t. And while I’m disappointed in the losses, it’s not because “Democrats didn’t win.” I’m disappointed in what it could mean for our country and the values that are important to me – civility, equity, human decency, empathy, and respect.

But in spite of the losses, there are things that make me hopeful. Voter turnout for the midterm election exceeded expectations with more than 47% of the voting eligible population actually casting a ballot. And, diverse candidates won, making us look more like the America we actually are. At least 100 women won seats in Congress, including the first Native American, Muslim, and Hispanic women. Other states elected their first female governor and senator. Colorado elected this country’s first openly gay governor.

The concession speech by Beto O’Rourke, like the candidate, was inspiring. In Oklahoma, several teachers ran and were elected to the state legislature. Democrat Kendra Horn upset Republican incumbent Steve Russell and broke a 44-year Republican hold on Oklahoma's 5th congressional district, turning the Oklahoma City-area district blue for the first time since the mid-1970s.

The Facebook posts by Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate Drew Edmondson (yes, of the same Edmondson family I mentioned earlier) and his daughter-in-law (and my former colleague) Andrea Hamor Edmondson were gracious. Although, I can’t vote in Oklahoma, I was following Drew’s campaign. I even marched in the Cherokee National Holiday Parade with my sister-in-law in Tahlequah, Oklahoma on Labor Day, supporting Drew. From my home south of the Red River, I have watched Oklahoma’s decline with mixed emotions (see Russell Cobb’s August 29, 2017 article in The Guardian entitled “Oklahoma isn’t working. Can anyone fix this failing state?”). Until recently, Oklahoma ranked 49th in the nation in teacher pay, and entry-level employees with a high school diploma at the convenience store, QuikTrip made more money than teachers. Teaching is my family’s “business,” so cuts to education concern me for a variety of reasons. Someday, I will have to return to Oklahoma, and I felt like Drew was the best candidate to restore Oklahoma.

The Facebook post I saw from my friend, Sunshine Cowan on Election Day also inspired me. Sunshine (yes, that is her real name, and no her parents weren’t hippies) posted about voting with her husband, Jerel and their children. I’m hoping Sunshine and Jerel don’t mind me including her post in my blog.

“Voted with the kiddos. Canyon walked through the process with Jerel, and Ponder stood with me. We had a civics lesson along the way.

Ponder asked who I was voting for. I told her there were a lot of people on the ballot, and that’s why we had to do our research. Then, with much hope in her voice she asked, “Are there any girls running?” When I said yes, she beamed and replied, “Mom, let’s vote for all the girls!” I explained that we wanted to vote for smart and strong girls - not just girls - and that meant doing our research and being thoughtful with our vote.

She informed me last night that she’s running for President someday. Ponder and I were at our ballot box before Jerel and Canyon. When Jerel and Canyon finished first, Canyon said, “Dad, did Mom have more people on her ballot?”

#FillTheEntireBubble #FamilyVote #NoStraightPartyVoting #Research#PonderForPresident #HandsFullAndHairInEyes”

Thank you Sunshine and Jerel for teaching your children how to be responsible, informed voters – something I didn’t understand until I was 22 years old, and many others still haven’t learned.

Finally, my last moment of awe this week actually comes from a Republican voice. I’ve recently discovered the podcast Pantsuit Politics. The podcast is hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland (Sarah from the left) and Beth Silvers (Beth from the right). The tag line is “ No shouting. No insults. Plenty of nuance.”

Sarah and Beth have written a book entitled I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening). They say the book is a “guide to grace-filled politics.” The book will be available in February 2019. I’ve already pre-ordered my copy, and you can, too at https://www.thomasnelson.com/p/i-think-youre-wrong-but-im-listening/.

On the November 9, 2018 podcast, Beth, the Republican, said that she will not “be a living embodiment of anger and bitterness” about the world that Donald Trump has created. She went on to say,

“It is not my job to wish for a different version of Donald Trump based on his experiences of grace. It is my job to say what can I be and do in the world if I am capable of extending grace to him and to everyone who voted for views that I think are incredibly offensive to fundamental American values of liberty, justice and equality. It is my job to say what work can I do here as a suburban white woman of many privileges to help bring people along.

I hear the message from many Democrats in our country that it is not the work of marginalized communities to help people of privilege understand “privilege.” And, I get that. I think it IS the work of those of us of privilege to help our fellow people of privilege understand that privilege. I think it is my work as a Republican to say to people we are following an ideology as a party right now that offends Democracy, that offends our Constitution, that is unrepresentative of our values.

I will not sell out everything else for a few policy proposals that I happen to agree with.

We should win because of good ideas, not because of treating Nancy Pelosi like she is some kind of anti-Christ. Not by making people in Central America who are hundreds of thousands of miles away sound like an invading army. We should win because of good ideas.”

Amen, sister! Perhaps, there’s a reason to be hopeful, after all!

#Ivoteissuesnotparty

#proudtobeinformed

#areyoulistening