Republicans Roberto Seda and Teresa Sterling are hoping to draw on their professional backgrounds in law and law enforcement to solve problems on behalf of House District 91 constituents in southwest Oklahoma City and Moore.
The winner of the Aug. 25 Republican runoff will face Democrat Chris Fowler in the Nov. 3 general election.
One of the Legislature’s most influential members for a decade, Rep. Chris Kannady (R-OKC) is term-limited, and the battle to replace him drew five candidates to the June primary. Endorsed by Kannady — a controversial figure along the Oklahoma Republican party’s dogmatic divide — Sterling led the field with 32 percent, and Seda finished second with 28 percent support.
Since then, Seda and Sterling have picked up key endorsements. Sterling has been endorsed by Oklahoma Farm Bureau, while Seda has been endorsed by former opponent Michael Freeman, who finished third in the primary with 23 percent support.
HD 91 is situated in Cleveland County and covers part of southwest Oklahoma City and Moore, including the 73139, 73159, 73160 and 73170 ZIP codes.
For Sterling, 59, tragedy became one of the galvanizing factors that led her down a path toward politics. In 2017, Sterling’s mother died while in the care of a Norman rehabilitation center following a bout with bacterial meningitis. Sterling said her mother’s diaper and bedsheets were not regularly changed and that she eventually died in the center’s care.
“She ended up dying there even after they said, ‘No, we’re not going to kill your mom,’” she said. “I was in there every day with a new complaint, and I found out very quickly that the laws to protect the elderly are just basically non-existent and nobody really does anything about it. I ended up writing a 21-page report about what I experienced and submitted it to the health department.”
Sterling said the memory of her mother still motivates her nearly a decade after she died.
“They don’t have to have liability insurance, which is just shocking,” she said. “I had a retail business, and I had to have liability insurance. So that’s one of the things that got me interested, that experience. And also just sitting there watching our failed schools, prisons and mental health (system). Everything in the state needs to be fixed, and it feels like nobody is fixing anything. Somebody just needs to sit down and work through the problems one at a time and fix them, and not just write laws to fix them, but to go back and look at them a year later to make sure they have the intended results.”
Seda, 47, also believes more can be done to help older Oklahomans. In particular, he said seniors are most vulnerable to property tax increases, as older retirees often have already paid off their homes yet still see their insurance and tax costs rise annually.
In Oklahoma, seniors 65 and older who qualify can currently apply for a property tax freeze, but Seda believes the process of getting a property tax freeze should become automatic when people are eligible.
Seda said he recently had a conversation with a 73-year-old woman who didn’t know she was eligible for a freeze on her property taxes.
“Had she known at 65, that’s eight years she could have not had to deal with rising property taxes, and she was totally unaware of it,” he said. “So I think things like just making it automatic is a way to make sure everyone eligible can take advantage of it. In a lot of cases, these are people who have worked for 30 or 40 years and paid off their homes but have to constantly worry about their property taxes going up.”
Seda said some people over 65 have too much in income or too many assets to qualify, which is why he supports doubling the income threshold for eligibility for the freeze. He also said phasing out property taxes as homeowners age, as he said is done in other states like Georgia, could be another approach.
“I don’t know if any of those are the right solutions, but I think it’s a conversation we need to continue to have,” he said.
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.
Seda: ‘Let’s figure this out’
Seda grew up in a military family with stops in Germany and England before spending much of his adolescence in Lawton, where he graduated high school in 1996.
He later earned a mechanical engineering degree from Oklahoma State University in 2001. Seda decided to continue his education with a master’s in business from Oklahoma City University in 2003, and later a law degree from the University of Oklahoma in 2012. He worked at General Motors in Midwest City and later for Spiriti Aerosystems in Tulsa before going into law.
Today, Seda operates a law firm with six locations specializing in probate and estate planning. In his spare time, the father of three enjoys golf and playing the popular card game Magic: The Gathering with his kids.
“I was looking for a way to connect with my kids, so I started playing with them, and it’s like my relief,” Seda said.
But there has been less time for that lately, as Seda spends his main phase trying to summon votes by knocking on doors in the district. His spiritual focus has been largely on issues like property taxes and homeowners insurance, which he said have been the most frequently discussed topics at doorsteps so far in the campaign.
“When I started knocking on doors last year, I was focusing on property taxes and insurance, [issues I felt] were important to people,” Seda said. “It’s crazy to think about, but 11 months later [it is] really resonating with people that those are the important issues.”
Oklahoma’s homeowner insurance costs are among the highest in the nation, and they are still rising. Some attribute that to a lack of competitiveness in the marketplace, or factors like severe weather risks and state regulations.
“The engineering part of me loves to solve problems,” Seda said. “So when I go to homeowners insurance, I don’t claim to know the answers, but here’s what I can do. I can put a focus group (together) where you bring in agents, homeowners and the insurance companies, and we say, ‘Let’s figure this out, because it’s not sustainable.’”
Seda said he doesn’t believe enough has been done to learn about the problem of rising insurance rates for homeowners who pay on average $4,000 to $6,000 per year.
“The conversation starts with the people that are the most knowledgeable, and I’m not sure the insurance commissioner has been soliciting feedback from all of these different folks, everyone that is going to be affected,” Seda said. “And so that’s where I wanted to start because it’s ridiculous that your insurance just keeps going up.”
Like Seda, Sterling has heard a lot about the rising cost of living, including property taxes, which she said have a disproportionate impact on those who live on fixed incomes. She favors a broader freeze on property taxes for seniors and possible reforms to state income taxes for everyone.
“We do have to look at the big picture because you don’t want to hurt the schools, and we need to pay for our roads,” she said. “I do understand that, but there’s got to be a way to make it easier for seniors, especially to make ends meet, especially for those who are on a fixed income. They work all their life to pay off their home, and then they end up renting it from the county government. I don’t think that’s right.”
Sterling said increases in property taxes also punish younger workers who are trying to buy their first home and start a family.
“The other thing is, you have younger folks who have bought a home, and maybe they do some work to fix it up, and then [the county assessor] can come in and reassess their value on what is an unrealized gain that they think you might have if you sell your house sometime in the future. And they just keep raising taxes on it.”
Sterling: ‘It feels like nobody is fixing anything’
Sterling came up in the often-gritty world of law enforcement, first as a patrol officer before transitioning to homicide and child abuse investigations for nearly two decades of her 26-year career with the Oklahoma City Police Department. Given her background, Sterling is centering much of her campaign on fighting crime and stopping abuse of vulnerable populations, including the elderly.
Sterling said her career in investigations, as a patrol officer and a small business owner have offered a wide variety of experiences that she believes would serve her well should she be elected.
“As a police officer, our job is to solve problems,” she said. “People call us because there’s a problem. We come in and try to find the best solution. We have to weigh every part of the scenario, every piece. And we have to listen. And I think that last part is what a lot of people forget about when they get to the Legislature. They don’t listen, and they don’t consider how the laws they pass might affect people.”
Similarly, Seda said his top priority if elected will be listening to his constituents and making sure they have access to him, as well as focusing relentlessly on issues that directly impact their lives. That’s one area where he said he differs from Sterling.
“I know Teresa’s running on crime, but crime isn’t the No. 1 issue in our district,” he said. “This is where it gets to, ‘Do you know your district?’ Teresa moved into the district a year ago. I’ve lived here for 20 years. I’m not going to win law enforcement, because she knows that in and out. I wouldn’t even try to claim it. But crime isn’t the No. 1 issue for District 91, and that’s why I’ve focused on things like homeowners insurance and property taxes. Because I can help fix those.”
The HD 91 race marks Sterling’s second attempt to win legislative office. In 2022, she narrowly won a Republican primary for the chance to challenge Rep. Annie Menz (D-Norman) in House District 45, but Menz defeated her that November with 53.5 percent support.
Having moved west in Cleveland County, Sterling calls House District 91 “God’s Country” based on what she says is the quality of its residents. Sterling said she is pro-gun and has been a Republican since she registered to vote at 18.
“I’ve always held conservative values, and I love our state, and I love our country,” she said. “And this would be the only job I would have. I may not be the smartest person in the room, but I’ll always find the smartest person in the room when it comes to helping people solve problems. I consider myself a fact finder, and that’s what I would do in my job as a representative.”
Both candidates participated in an HD 91 candidate forum Thursday, Aug. 13. Video of the forum appears on YouTube and is embedded below.
