For the second time in two years, environmental services businessman Robert Keyes finds himself in a Republican runoff for an Oklahoma State Senate seat, but this time he’s hoping for a better outcome.
“I was getting pressure from other people to get to the table as soon as I could,” Keyes said. “All the pieces just fell into place, and we decided to throw a hat into the race and run.”
In 2024, Keyes advanced to a GOP runoff election in Cleveland County’s Senate District 15, where he finished a close second to now-Sen. Lisa Standridge (R-Norman). After changing his voter registration, Keyes filed in April to seek Senate District 24, which covers the core of Moore on the northwest edge of SD 15.
“I live one mile from the line, and I own real estate in both districts, and it’s the same county. You know, you’re not looking at that big of a difference in what the needs are,” Keyes said. “We’re failing in education, we’re failing in mental health, we’re failing in the incarcerated women. That Indian Hills (Road) line doesn’t change that, not a bit.”
In June’s primary election, Keyes finished second among the five Republicans running to succeed Darrel Weaver, who lost a lieutenant governor bid but was appointed Cleveland County sheriff less than a week after the election. Keyes received 23.3 percent support (1,807 votes) in the primary to advance to the Aug. 25 runoff against Dr. Jon Painter, who received 34.5 percent support (2,682 votes).
Painter, an optometrist, is also making his second attempt at a legislative seat after finishing second in House District 91 in 2014.
“We threw our hat in the ring and we gave it a shot, and it just didn’t work out for us,” Painter said, explaining why he did not immediately run again. “(I) didn’t have a problem with who was in office.”
Painter said his decision to seek SD 24 more than a decade later stems from hearing affordability concerns from residents in the area.
“I’ve got parents that are in their mid to late 80s, and I’ve got kids that are starting trying to buy homes, starting families. Both of them, that discretionary income that they’ve had shrinks way down when they’re trying to buy a house or stay in their house due to high property taxes, due to high insurance rates,” Painter said. “Let’s see if we can do something about it.”
Keyes said he originally planned to run for SD 15 again, but he said he decided to seek SD 24 after personal changes in his life. Still, he retains strong feelings about his 56-vote loss in 2024 and the irregularities he alleged in that race, including data set inconsistencies and Standridge’s public promotion of her campaign treasurer as a notary for absentee ballots.
A Cleveland County district judge ultimately dismissed Keyes’ motion on those matters, and Keyes appealed to the Supreme Court. However, the state’s high court declined to take up his case.
“I did not sue the people that made the mistakes. I sued the election board for failing to do their job and covering it up,” Keyes said. “I originally planned to run against Lisa (Standridge) because of the dirty campaign that they did and what happened in the Supreme Court. I know for a fact I could beat her because all I’ve got to do is produce documented information of what she did, and I would have won, and that was on my agenda.”
Now, Keyes’ agenda involves trying to outrun Painter in the Aug. 25 runoff, with the ultimate Republican nominee facing Democrat Jonathan Morales and independent candidate Melissa Elder in the Nov. 3 general election.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25. Early voting is set to take place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Aug. 20 and 21, as well as from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22.
Keyes: ‘Find the black holes of your money’
The State Senate’s internal dynamics have changed significantly in recent years, with tension growing among factions of the GOP supermajority. Members of the Freedom Caucus, a subset of hardline conservatives that includes Standridge, have consistently clashed with Senate Republican leadership.
Following the June 16 primary election, however, the Freedom Caucus was diminished significantly. Now, six Senate races are headed to runoffs, where many candidates have not defined whether they align with the Freedom Caucus.
An experienced businessman who leads multiple companies, Keyes ran as a pragmatic conservative against Standridge, and his points of emphasis are similar this year while again advertising his candidacy under the slogan of, “Tougher than a $2 steak.”
In interviewing for this article, Keyes opted to meet at his recently renovated StanTech office building, where a large portrait depicts the 2014 attempted assassination of President Donald Trump. Keyes said the political “undercurrent” can be a challenge for elected officials and that it may be difficult knowing how to hold others accountable to their word.
“When we’re willing to sacrifice the good for all of Oklahomans, when we’re trying to push a single concept, that’s a struggle. We’re not elected to do that. Our job as elected officials is to stand up for all of Oklahoma,” Keyes said. “I don’t want to be a part of holding people hostage, I want to be a part of helping people.”
Painter said he knows little about the Freedom Caucus, but he said he is “very conservative” regarding social issues.
“I’ve met with some of the people that are members (…) I mean, how do you know whether you’re for them or against them, or with them or not with them, when you don’t even know who’s in there?” Painter asked. “The main thing is, I’m going to represent District 24 and their likes and dislikes, and their wants and needs.”
According to Painter, cost of living issues are the priority among those “wants and needs,” specifically for seniors and newly married couples.
“It’s not this deal that people are choosing between eating dinner and taking their medications, paying their bills, but you can tell there’s that tenseness there, and they’re starting to feel that squeeze,” Painter said. “If things don’t get better and continue getting worse, then I think that is a real issue.”
Painter said he has discussed potential solutions with a friend at the Cleveland County Assessor’s Office. During an interview in southwest OKC, Painter spoke about ideas he has for reform.
“I will tell you just a little bit. One of them is freezing your property taxes when you buy your house. We can’t eliminate property taxes. We’ve got to pay for infrastructure. We’ve got to pay for our government, first responders,” Painter said. “We can’t eliminate it, but we can make it to where it’s more palatable.”
Additionally, Painter said legislators should “make it easier on small businesses” so they can grow, although he said he did not have specific initiatives in mind.
“When I ran my practice, the laws, the rules, the regulations were set down, and I would adjust my practice,” Painter said. “A year or two later, they’re changing the rules and you’ve got to redirect. It gets frustrating after a while.”
Keyes also talked about economic development and property tax reform. He said creating a tax auditing system would allow for tax cuts without defunding important public services.
“The moment you create that auditing, you will find the black holes of your money. You will find that you can cut taxes, and you will find that you can fund the infrastructure that needs to happen,” Keyes said. “We require public companies who take our money and invest it publicly, they go through a deep, deep auditing system (…) taxes can go hand in hand.”
Overall, many of Keyes’ ideas for reform have financial foundations. He takes issue with out-of-state entities profiting over in-state businesses, and he said the federal Small Business Administration’s 8(a) set-asides — which allow businesses designated as socially and economically disadvantaged to compete for set-aside federal contracts — receive advantages over “Oklahoma businesses.”
“What would happen if we gave every Oklahoma contracting business who does any work with the state a 5 percent advantage over an out-of-state firm? (…) We give women-owned businesses, Native American-owned businesses, all these 8(a) set-asides — they can be 15 to 20 percent higher than an Oklahoma business,” Keyes said. “We give these advantages over here to all these different other types of entities. We don’t even give an advantage to our own citizens of Oklahoma.”
Painter: State needs ‘a good public school system’
A former Sunday school director who spent nearly five years on the Moore Public Schools Board, Painter said he is a big proponent of public education.
“Without a good public school system, property values decrease, crime increases, poverty increases, so you’ve got to have a good, viable public school system,” Painter said. “I, if I’m in elected office, would represent the people in Senate District 24, and they’ve reelected representatives and senators that have been pro-(school) choice. I’ve got to take that into consideration, too.”
Painter said he believes Senate District 24 has one of the best school districts in the state. While he said most of his kids have gone to school in Moore, his youngest attended school in Newcastle, where the class sizes were smaller.
“Parents are going to do what’s best for their kids. If you’re not trying to put them in the best position to succeed, I don’t think you’re doing them justice,” Painter said. “Almost every parent out here is going to do what it takes to give their child the opportunity to thrive, and that’s the way it should be. We should support that.”
Keyes said SD 24’s top issues — education, taxes and insurance — all relate to the economy.
“Everybody wants to throw the teachers under the bus and say we don’t pay them enough, all of these things. (…) The fact is, in our education system, we don’t even have enough knowledge from academics to understand how to manage our own money,” Keyes said. “It’s a lack of knowledge of how to build a business, how to grow a business, and how to make it strong. (That) is what’s missing up there.”
Keyes said each school district is responsible for its own budget and insurance and that those individual allowances should be set up in an indemnity fund.
“All of their general liability insurance, which is close to $1 billion, each school district, the superintendent’s office has to negotiate that and set up those contracts and set up all that insurance, when all of that could be in an indemnity fund,” Keyes said.
According to Keyes, taking “Wall Street” out of the equation would reduce spending.
“You can guarantee you’ll do away with two thirds. So if it’s $1 billion, you’re going to get rid of at least $600 (million), $700 million, and it can stay in the school system,” Keyes said. “It doesn’t have to go away if it needs to.”
Keyes said one of his strengths is his experience at the Capitol and that he has been involved for “at least 26 years of major legislation.”
“In the Legislature, there’s this dog-eat-dog world about who gets to put their name on a bill,” Keyes said. “At the end of the day, who cares who gets their name on it if it’s a good bill for the state of Oklahoma. You have to understand that going into this, and you have to have a plan of how to survive it, and I’ve been there enough, I know how that works.”
Painter said he has not thought much about what challenges he might encounter were he to be elected, but he said he simply wants to “make a difference.”
“I think I’m the candidate that can. We’ve got a lot of backing,” Painter said. “We get lots of good feedback. So hopefully it’ll translate into votes.”
