Senate Candidates Field Conservatives Questions
Oklahoma Republican Senate hopefuls tout conservative credentials during forum
by Silas Allen
Speaking in a room crowded with conservative voters Wednesday, three Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate agreed that out-of-control spending and federal overreach have put the nation on a path to ruin.
Former Oklahoma House Speaker T.W. Shannon, U.S. Rep. James Lankford and former state Sen. Randy Brogdon spoke during an Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee candidate forum. Each made the case that he is the most conservative candidate in the field.
The three are vying to fill the Senate seat vacated by Sen. Tom Coburn, who plans to step down early next year.
Brogdon, of Owasso, warned voters that future generations will see a weak economic outlook if the country doesn’t change directions quickly. The country is “spending ourselves into oblivion,” he said.
Brogdon, who served in the Oklahoma Senate from 2002 to 2011, blamed the federal Environmental Protection Agency for driving jobs overseas and called the federal government “the greatest threat to our liberty and our economic prosperity.”
Shannon, of Lawton, cited his record as House speaker as proof of his conservative credentials, including refusing to expand Medicaid as a part of the federal Affordable Care Act.