(Update: On Tuesday, June 16, Rick Vernon won election to represent Senate District 38.)
With state police still investigating Barry Christian’s death as a homicide, Republicans across western Oklahoma’s sprawling Senate District 38 will head to the polls Tuesday to cast their votes for who should succeed Sen. Brent Howard (R-Altus).
Retired Altus Fire Chief Joe Buchanan and attorney Rick Vernon are running to represent SD 38, which was left open after Howard chose not to seek a third and final term in office. The district encompasses seven counties across southwest Oklahoma, including Beckham, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa, Tillman and Washita.
Christian, a 54-year-old oilfield drilling professional from Sayre, also filed to run for SD 38, but he was found dead in his pickup truck April 30 in the Sandy Sanders Wildlife Management Area, approximately 20 minutes from his town of residence
Despite Christian’s death, details about which remain scant, his name remains on SD 38 ballots. No other candidates filed to run for SD 38, so the winner of the Republican primary will be the next senator for the southwest Oklahoma seat. Depending upon how many people show an affinity for Christian, however, the race could head to a runoff.
Both Buchanan and Vernon agreed to interviews about their campaigns ahead of the June 16 election.
Buchanan, 63, is a fourth-generation Oklahoman born and raised in Altus. He is a rancher and served as a firefighter in Altus for 34 years before retiring as fire chief. Buchanan has been endorsed by the Lawton Firefighters Association. He and his wife currently reside in Altus.
Buchanan said his time as a firefighter helped him learn skills that would be helpful working in the Oklahoma State Senate.
“Throughout my career, I had good friends up at the Capitol (…) I kind of learned my way around the Capitol,” Buchanan said. “My fire experience will help me in the Capitol. I was fire officer, I was a line officer. I showed up, and I made decisions in seconds — you know, life or death decisions. I learned to think on my feet (…) that’s a lot at the Capitol, and you’ll have more time to think about the questions and answers up there, but it doesn’t take me forever to come to a conclusion.”
Vernon, 50, also has deep roots in western Oklahoma. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Oklahoma State University, where he met his wife, before earning his juris doctorate at Oklahoma City University School of Law. Vernon said he has practiced law in Altus for more than 26 years. He was chairman of the Altus Chamber of Commerce in 2012 and currently serves on the Western Oklahoma State College Board of Regents. Vernon was appointed to that board in 2019 to fill the seat vacated by Howard when he was elected to the Senate. Now, Vernon has been endorsed by Howard.
Vernon said he decided to run after his friend chose not to seek reelection. Despite his appreciation for Howard’s service and support, Vernon said he is running to highlight important issues that are not currently being addressed in Oklahoma City.
“There’s a lot of political noise and political theater at the State Capitol, and we need more people that are serious about governing and focusing on issues that will move our state forward,” Vernon said. “Our part of the state has been ignored for too long. Let’s try to get a seat at the table and be a strong voice for western Oklahoma.”
Polls are open on Election Day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
‘The resources we have need to be used for the people’
Both candidates agree the Legislature as a whole has overlooked key issues impacting their region, one of those being a lack of water infrastructure.
Vernon said water resources and infrastructure constitute a big challenge in the district, since the drought-prone area receives less rainfall than eastern Oklahoma. He said his professional background may help him address that issue.
“That would be one of the first areas I’d focus on if I were to get elected,” Vernon said. “As an attorney, I’ve helped small businesses, families, farmers and ranchers plan for the future, protect their legacies and solve their problems. Through my experience as an attorney and as a community leader solving problems, I think that would be something I could bring to the table to help address that issue.”
Buchanan agreed water infrastructure needs to be improved, saying that “green energy” poses additional complications.
“We can’t take the data centers. We can’t afford the water. We’re not rich in resources,” Buchanan said. “The resources we have need to be used for the people of western Oklahoma.”
According to Buchanan, western Oklahoma is “behind the curve” on water resources, although Howard attempted to negotiate .
“It’s been overlooked for years and years and years,” Buchanan said. “Let’s get some water infrastructure in here. But I (also) want to support education, I want to support fire and police. You have to have a safe community, or you don’t want to be there to begin with.”
According to both candidates, another issue that has been overlooked in rural Oklahoma is education. Vernon said prioritizing public education will always be one of his platform priorities.
“We primarily have public schools out here, not a lot of private schools,” Vernon said. “There’s been some good focus and some good policy on private schools over the last several years, but I think we need to refocus on what’s going to help public schools and help our teachers and the students with the education issues that we’re facing.”
Vernon said teacher recruitment and retention is key in addressing the state’s teacher shortage. He said improving reading levels is a good step, but he emphasized that improving other areas should be looked at as well.
“I know there’s been some legislation and some movement toward improving our reading levels, but what I’m hearing on the doorsteps is we also need to look at math scores, and also helping students with writing skills in the classroom,” Vernon said.
Buchanan also wants education reform, but he has approached things differently. He said his efforts to influence education reform have involved speaking with individual school leaders across the the seven-county district.
“In August, we started going to every school district and talking to every superintendent in the seven counties, and most of the principals, and asked them what we could do to fix education,” Buchanan said. “Legislators are not going to fix education. They’ve had plenty of time, and we’ve thrown plenty of money at it, and we’re still last. But an educator would know how to fix the problem, and the legislators should help.”
During his visits to schools, Buchanan said he has received plenty of suggestions for policy reform. He said mandating policies can’t happen without proper funds, and he committed to helping any way he can.
“If you go to mandate a policy, you need the finances to fix it also,” Buchanan said. “If they need to legislate a little money, yes, I’m all for it. but if we need to pass a bill to change the law to help them, I’m certainly for that.”
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‘We need to make western Oklahoma inviting to people with businesses’
Energy and agricultural resources are a cornerstone of Senate District 38, but in running their campaigns, money is another resource the candidates must consider.
According to Ethics Commission filings, Buchanan has reported raising $53,150 — $39,050 from individuals and $14,100 from PACs. Vernon has reported raising $74,500 — $70,500 from individuals and $4,000 from PACs. Both men of financial support from past legislative leaders, with former House Speaker Lloyd Benson donating to Vernon and former Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Schulz donating to Buchanan.
In terms of policy, both want to encourage economic development and cautiously consider tax reform. B the two men appear to approach their goals differently.
According to Vernon, community leaders and state leaders should work together to bolster rural economic development.
“I would like to see community leaders and state leaders, along with maybe the Department of Commerce, to look at industries or businesses (…) find towns that have resources that could help them develop and grow jobs here in western Oklahoma,” Vernon said, “I would like to see more communication at the state level to where resources are being shared and communications being shared with regards to what industries could could be located in what town.”
Buchanan said attracting new businesses to rural communities means educating kids to be workers, using agriculture as an example.
“We need to make western Oklahoma inviting to people with businesses. We need to get our children in vo-techs and colleges, making workers for these businesses,” Buchanan said. “Western Oklahoma has been here for a while. The agriculture is huge, but you have to have workers for the agriculture. You’ve got to have schools to educate their children, and so forth.”
Buchanan said getting small businesses to grow is a “chicken before the egg or the egg before the chicken” situation.
“You don’t know what’s first,” he said. “Do you train the kid to get the business to come here to work for him, or do you get the business here and train the kid? It needs to all happen about the same time on a small scale.”
While he opposes raising taxes, Buchanan said fair property taxes are necessary.
“We do need to have property taxes, but they need to be fair,” Buchanan said. “You’ve got to have money to have roads and fire and police and everything to make a community, and so you’ve got to have some taxes, but I’m not for more taxes. I think we’ve collected plenty of taxes. A lot of it goes to waste, and we need to stop the waste.”
Buchanan said his primary goal is to be a voice for the people of western Oklahoma.
“They’ve been overlooked and under-appreciated,” Buchanan said. “We don’t need a meek and timid leader sitting in an office somewhere. We need somebody willing to work, willing to listen to the people and to take action.”
Vernon said cutting property taxes in rural Oklahoma is something to be cautious about, and he said some of the initial proposals he has seen would not be good for the district.
“We depend on those ad valorem dollars to fund our public schools, to fund our county governments and core services,” Vernon said. “Responsible cuts could be looked at, but we have to be very cautious how it would affect our schools and our county governments here out in rural Oklahoma.”
Vernon wants people to remember he is advocating for all of Oklahoma, not just Senate District 38.
“There are broad issues and there are specific issues to our region of the state, but I want to be someone who’s at the Capitol who’s serious about governing and moving our state forward,” Vernon said.
