Oklahoma is the 12th state to join the State Freedom Caucus Network. Its mission: establish a far-right stronghold in the Oklahoma statehouse and replace lawmakers who the organization’s president Andrew Roth calls “liberal Republicans."
Sen. Shane Jett, who chairs the newly established Oklahoma Freedom Caucus, said the goal is to align every Republican lawmaker with a “freedom-centered” legislative focus. That focus means equating the support of freedom to the support of the far-right conservative platform.
“We're going to keep moving them to the right, to the right, so we'll get it right, and so people back home will send us back here with the new mandate to continue the good work we're doing because it reflects their values,” Jett said.
Until that happens, though, not every Republican in the statehouse is in on the far-right takeover. So, Jett said most members will remain anonymous to avoid influencing upcoming committee assignments by leadership in each chamber.
“There have been concerns that there may be punitive action against members who are being affiliated with our organization,” he said.
Other lawmakers in attendance included Congressman Josh Brecheen, OK-2, state Sens. Dusty Deevers, Nathan Dahm and Dana Prieto and Representative Jim Olsen.
The stakes are high for Senators in the new Freedom Caucus who may want to try for leadership roles in the chamber next session, and remaining anonymous can help them avoid scrutiny for far-right leanings the status quo doesn’t agree with.
Deevers, R-Elgin, is vice-chair of the new group in the Senate and spoke on some of the policy focuses the caucus will work toward. Olsen is the vice-chair in the House.
“For too long, far too long, the establishment has refused to even hear in committee important Oklahoma Republican platform items like abolishing the income tax, abolishing abortion and asserting state sovereignty,” Deevers said. “It's time to get the government off of our backs and out of our pocketbooks.”
But Deevers’ implementation of certain policy ideas can be brash. Prohibiting abortion, for example, would involve granting unborn fetuses equal protection rights. Although it failed, that was the aim of Senate Bill 1729 or the “Abolition of Abortion Act.”
And he’s not the only one. Sen. David Bullard, who has not announced his affiliation with the Oklahoma Freedom Caucus, tried to leave it up to Oklahomans when he proposed Senate Joint Resolution 30 this year.
Connecting desired policy outcomes with their beliefs is something each of the lawmakers who announced their membership in the caucus do regularly. And while the current leadership halts many bills with that throughline, it comes down to a big choice majority caucuses will make in February – especially in the Senate.
Senate Republicans elected Sen. Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, to replace Sen. Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, next year, but that choice is not final. At the start of the next session, another internal leadership vote will happen once the new lawmakers get sworn in.
Whoever gets elected can determine the legislation that gets considered and ultimately passed.
Roth, the State Freedom Caucus Network president, said the way to ensure caucus members assume legislative leadership positions is to ensure there are more in the statehouse.
“We provide communication support, we provide policy support, we provide legal support,” he said. “We try to provide everything that these men and women need in order to fight for our freedoms, and we will do that on a full-time basis in order to fight against the establishment.”
