Oklahoma Democratic Party


The Oklahoma Democratic Party is an Oklahoma political party affiliated with the United States Democratic Party. Along with the Oklahoma Republican Party, it is one of the two major parties in Oklahoma politics.
The party dominated local politics in Oklahoma almost since the days of early statehood in 1907 to 1994. In national politics, the party became a dominant force beginning with the presidential election of 1932 and the Franklin D. Roosevelt political re-alignment. From 1932 to 1994, the majority of members of Congress from Oklahoma have been Democrats, and of the 27 men and women who have been elected to the office of Governor of Oklahoma, 22 have been Democrats.
However, the party has fared poorly since 1994. Democrats lost five out of six congressional races that year and since then have only won a single seat back, only to lose it again in the 2012 election. In response, the traditionally disorganized Oklahoma Democrats have taken steps to create a more organized state party, hiring a professional executive director in 1995. Even so, Democrats continued to lose ground in the 2000s, losing control of both the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the Oklahoma Senate. In 2008, Oklahoma gave the lowest percentage of any state's vote to national Democrat Barack Obama in the presidential election.
As of January 15, 2013, there are 962,072 registered Democratic voters in Oklahoma.
In the 2012 general election, the party was successful in defending all incumbents in the Oklahoma Legislature and defeating two Republican House members.

History

The Oklahoma Democratic Party once dominated state politics for much of Oklahoma history from 1907 to 1994, with its strength in greatest concentrations in the southeastern part of the state, known as "Little Dixie" because of the post-Reconstruction migration of people from southern states such as Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas.
Upon statehood, all but one of the Congressional seats was held by Democrats. The Democrats won eighteen of the twenty-one gubernatorial elections since its statehood in 1907. The Democratic Party held on average 81 percent of the seats in the state legislature between 1907 and 1973. With the onset of the Great Depression, the party gained even more influence for several decades.
The first legislature, dominated by Democratic party members, passed legislation that made it nearly impossible for African-Americans to seek elective office.
Democratic opposition to deficit spending in the late 1930s marked a growing conservative movement in the party, which led to a 1941 constitutional amendment requiring legislators to pass a balanced budget. The growing conservative movement in the party also led to the rejection of many New Deal programs after initial acceptance in the early 1930s.
After the federal Voting Rights Act and congressional reapportionment in Oklahoma in the 1960s, black state lawmakers returned to the Oklahoma Legislature, this time many aligning with the Democratic Party and hailing from Tulsa or Oklahoma City.
Since the 1980s the party has seen a decline as Christian fundamentalists have shifted to the Republican Party. The Democratic Party has not attained more than 41 percent of the vote for president. As of 2000 about 55 percent of Oklahoma voters registered as Democrats. The party continues to decline in strength in both the Oklahoma Legislature and executive branch. For the first time since statehood, Republicans hold all statewide-elected offices starting in 2011.

Current structure and composition

The Oklahoma Democratic Party headquarters is located North Classen Boulevard in Oklahoma City. They host the biennial state conventions in May of odd-numbered years, in which they elect executive officers and delegates to the Democratic National Committee. The Democratic National Committee is responsible for promoting Democratic campaign activities, overseeing the process of writing the national Democratic Platform, and supervising the Democratic National Convention. Delegates serve four-year terms concurrent with presidential elections.
Alicia Andrews became the newly elected chair and first African American and African American Woman chair of the party on June 8, 2019. Dave Ratcliff, the former secretary, was elected vice chair that same year. Former Governor David Walters and Kalyn Free are delegates for the Democratic National Committee.
The state party coordinates campaign activities with Democratic candidates and county parties, and officers who correspond with the state's five Congressional districts. In 2005, the Democratic National Committee began a program called the "50 State Strategy" of using national funds to assist all state parties and pay for full-time professional staffers.
The Young Democrats of Oklahoma is the official age 13-35 division of the Oklahoma Democratic Party.

Officers and Staff

Officers:
Staff:
The Oklahoma Democratic Party is made up of conservative, centrist and liberal members. Less than a third of registered Democratic voters in Oklahoma supported President Barack Obama in 2012, due to the larger proliferation of conservative and centrist members of the party.
Compared to other Democratic factions, Centrist members of the Oklahoma Democratic Party support the use of military force and the use of deadly force in self-defense. They are more willing to reduce government welfare. Many Oklahoma Democrats are socially conservative by supporting the United States pro-life movement and traditional marriage. The Oklahoma Democratic Party tends to support moderate to conservative positions on gun control and open carry.
The Oklahoma Democratic Party held a state convention on May 14, 2011, in which they discussed a number of platform positions. Participants discussed support for public health programs, government-funded embryonic stem cell research, the legalization of medical marijuana, education funding, and opposition to voucher programs that divert tax dollars to private institutions. They also discussed the state party's support of teacher's rights to unionize and policies to protect homeowners from unfair foreclosures. Other party platform positions included support for the elimination of predatory lending practices, support for limitations on credit card interest rates, support for the elimination of the state sales tax on food, support for increasing taxes on the wealthiest citizens of Oklahoma, and support for reforms to the state criminal justice system. The party's position on gun laws was moderate, stating support for limited, but responsible gun laws. The party also supports continued investments in green energies.

Current elected officials

The Oklahoma Democratic Party holds one of the state's U.S. House seats, and currently hold none of the statewide offices, no majority in either state legislative chamber, and neither of the state's U.S. Senate seats.

U.S. House of Representatives

As of, there have been a total of 22 Democratic Party Governors.
#NamePictureLifespanGubernatorial
start date		Gubernatorial
end date
1Charles N. Haskell1860–1933November 16, 1907January 9, 1911
2Lee Cruce1863–1933January 9, 1911January 11, 1915
3Robert L. Williams1868–1948January 11, 1915January 13, 1919
4James B. A. Robertson1871–1938January 13, 1919January 8, 1923
5Jack C. Walton1881–1949January 8, 1923November 19, 1923
6Martin E. Trapp1877–1951November 19, 1923January 10, 1927
7Henry S. Johnston1867–1965January 10, 1927March 20, 1929
8William J. Holloway1888–1970March 20, 1929January 12, 1931
9William H. Murray1869–1956January 12, 1931January 14, 1935
10E. W. Marland1874–1941January 15, 1935January 9, 1939
11Leon C. Phillips1890–1958January 9, 1939January 11, 1943
12Robert S. Kerr1896–1963January 11, 1943January 13, 1947
13Roy J. Turner1894–1973January 13, 1947January 8, 1951
14Johnston Murray1902–1974January 8, 1951January 10, 1955
15Raymond D. Gary1908–1993January 10, 1955January 12, 1959
16J. Howard Edmondson1925–1971January 12, 1959January 6, 1963
17George Nigh
1927–January 6, 1963January 14, 1963
20David Hall1930–2016January 11, 1971January 13, 1975
21David Boren1941–January 13, 1975January 8, 1979
22George Nigh1927–January 8, 1979January 12, 1987
24David Walters1951–January 14, 1991January 9, 1995
26Brad Henry1963–January 13, 2003January 10, 2011