Dave Rader Announces Bid for Tulsa Senate Seat
For Immediate Release: October 19, 2015
Dave Rader Announces Bid for State Senate
Tulsa—Former University of Tulsa head coach Dave Rader announced his candidacy for State Senate District 39 on Monday, a district that will be vacated by Senator Brian Crain due to term limits.
“Tulsa is our home and has always been the place I was ‘from,’” said Rader. “Tulsa gave me the opportunity to learn the value of hard work, responsibility, and conservative values. I am a product of Tulsa Public Schools and the University of Tulsa, and was given the opportunity to represent the community in a very public way professionally and by working in the private sector of our great city.”
For Rader, working in private industry in the Tulsa area began just after college in the oil industry where he used his Mechanical Engineering degree at a submersible pump company—which, at the time, was uniquely Oklahoma. Other experiences allowed for opportunities in the IT world during the dot com boom, and later with asphalt, gas processing, and midstream industries—all located in the Tulsa area.
Rader has always had an interest in serving his community via an elected office and says there are three issues that will dictate the advancement of Oklahoma in the near future: jobs, education and transportation.
“Jobs are key to a family’s growth and stability as well as a community’s growth and stability,” Rader said. “We must keep, sustain, and attract jobs.”
Regarding our schools, Rader said quality education is key for not only the perception of Oklahoma’s space in the 21st century, but also it provides the talent for companies to stay, build, or even relocate to Oklahoma.
He added that transportation provides commerce with reliable connections for products and crops to market. “Transportation, so often, gives the first impression to visitors of our state, cities and towns of being a desirable place to visit, live, and set up shop,” Rader said.
Rader has served as a board member on non-profit agencies including Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and currently serves as a board member with John 3:16 Mission where the restoration of lives is goal of the mission.
“Tulsa is a giving city, and now it is time for me to serve this community that means so much to me,” said Rader. “There is a deep desire to serve the people of District 39, the city I call home, and the state of which I am very proud.”
Rader lives in Tulsa with his wife of over 36 years, Janet. They have 3 children; Daniel, honorably discharged as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy with a Mechanical Engineering degree from OSU and now working at John Zink Company in Tulsa, and is married to Deidra, and parents to twins Jett & Jax; Jordan, PhD in Nuclear Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology living in New Jersey, and is married to Emily, and parents to J.D.; and Kendal, a graduate from TCU with a Speech Pathology degree and the University of Tulsa with her Masters, and now employed by Little Lighthouse. Rader and his wife Janet attend First Baptist Church of Tulsa where he serves as Deacon and Bible study leader.
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