Jackson Lahmeyer, the candidate previously backed by President Donald Trump in Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, dropped out of the race one day after advancing to a runoff in the GOP primary.

NOTUS first reported earlier Wednesday that he was expected to drop out of the race.

“After prayerful consideration with my wife, Kendra, and my team over the last twenty four hours, I’ve made the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for Congress,” Lahmeyer said in a statement.

“I do not want to be a distraction to my family, my church, and the great people of Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, who deserve a strong conservative voice representing them in Washington,” he continued.

Following publication of the NOTUS story that Lahmeyer was expected to leave the race, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would be withdrawing his endorsement of Lahmeyer and endorsing state Rep. Mark Tedford, who advanced to the runoff alongside Lahmeyer.

The runoff set for Aug. 25 is to fill a seat being vacated by Republican Kevin Hern, who is running for Senate.

Lahmeyer made the move after the Daily Mail published text messages purported to show that he was flirting with a woman who is not his wife

Lahmeyer did not respond to a text and call seeking comment.

The story has been updated to reflect Lahmeyer leaving race.

This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Oklahoma Watch.

The post Pastor Once Backed by Trump Quits Oklahoma House Race appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

Andrea Eger heads to Inola to find the local residents who actually want a controversial $4 billion aluminum smelter built in their town. Plus, Jennifer Palmer and Maya Henry investigate a major shift in how Oklahoma county jails handle inmate visitations, and Jake Ramsey breaks down the complex factors driving the homelessness crisis in Norman. Catch these stories and more on the latest Long Story Short with Shaun Witt.

The post Long Story Short: Helter Smelter, Jail Visitations and Norman’s Homelessness Crisis appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

More than 600,000 Oklahomans voted in Tuesday’s primary election, soundly rejecting a state question to raise the minimum wage and narrowing the candidate field in dozens of races that attracted record-breaking spending. 

In statewide races, incumbents and candidates with previous officeholding experience generally fared well, with the exception of State Treasurer Todd Russ. Most sitting Republican state lawmakers, challenged from the right by candidates who argued they weren’t conservative enough, were also able to retain their seats. 

Democrats overwhelmingly selected House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson as their nominee for governor. In Oklahoma’s Fifth Congressional District, which produced a surprise Democratic upset in 2018, former state superintendent candidate Jena Nelson defeated Trey Martin. The race garnered national attention after U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed Martin, an ironworker from Edmond. 

Focus now shifts to the August runoff election, where Republican voters will decide four statewide primary races and a handful of state legislative contests. A Democratic runoff for U.S. Senate was also set. State law requires candidates to receive a majority of votes to advance. 

Here are four takeaways from Tuesday’s election results, which are unofficial until certified by the Oklahoma State Election Board. 

Several Statewide Races Go to Runoff 

The power of the incumbency and the endorsement were on full display in Oklahoma’s Republican gubernatorial primary. 

Attorney General Gentner Drummond will face off against former state senator Mike Mazzei in an August 25 runoff. The winner will be widely favored to become the state’s next governor, as a Democrat hasn’t won a statewide election in Oklahoma in two decades.

Bolstered by nearly $11 million in personal loans and an endorsement from President Donald Trump, Mazzei was able to overcome early deficits in polling and name recognition. He campaigned heavily on a promise to reduce and phase out property taxes, starting with seniors. 

Drummond, who was elected attorney general in 2022, touted his office’s efforts to crack down on illicit marijuana operations and consumer fraud. He received early endorsements from the Oklahoma Fraternal Order of Police and Professional Firefighters of Oklahoma. 

State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd soundly defeated incumbent State Treasurer Todd Russ by a 20-plus point margin. In the months leading up to election day, Russ faced scrutiny over his ties to a lobbyist who received a state contract and his use of a Clinton state office as a commuting hub. 

Jon Echols, former Republican House majority leader, defeated Jeff Starling to secure the party’s nomination for attorney general. The race attracted more than $8 million in outside spending, most of it negative. 

Republican runoffs were also set for state superintendent, insurance commissioner and labor commissioner. For a full list of races and results, click here. 

Incumbent Legislators Perform Well

After political outsiders ousted multiple high-ranking legislators in 2024, lawmakers were on high alert against primary challengers. 

A major shakeup did not materialize. Thirty-four of 37 incumbents facing a primary challenge, all Republicans, secured their party’s nomination or won reelection outright on Tuesday night. Another two, Sens. Dana Prieto and Jack Stewart, are headed to an August runoff. 

The only incumbent immediately ousted was Sen. Dusty Deevers, a pastor from Elgin who has pushed for legislation to ban pornography statewide and authorize murder charges for those who receive an abortion. He received less than 30% of the vote in Senate District 32. 

Deevers, who was elected to the seat in a 2023 special election, faced more than $200,000 in outside spending ahead of the election. Challengers Jean Hausheer and Curtis Erwin will face off in the August runoff. 

State Question Defeated

Voters rejected State Question 832, which proposed gradually raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2029.

Proponents of the voter-initiated state statute gathered signatures in 2024 and had hoped it would appear on the November 2024 ballot, but faced procedural delays.

Gov. Kevin Stitt set the question for the June 2026 primary ballot, an election date with lower voter turnout than the November general election. 

Nearly $4.5 million in state question communications was reported to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. More than half of it came from People for Opportunity, a dark money group that advocated against the initiative.

Stitt, House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton and more than 100 other Republican lawmakers opposed raising the minimum wage.

Incumbents Win & Competitive Congressional Races Continue

All Republican congressional incumbents won their races in landslides, with fifth congressional district candidate Stephanie Bice running unopposed.

Bice will face Jena Nelson, who beat Sen. Bernie Sanders-endorsed Trey Martin, in the November general election.

The most competitive congressional race was for the first congressional district, where five candidates sought to replace Kevin Hern, who secured the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

Mark Tedford and Jackson Lahmeyer will face off in an August 25 runoff for the first congressional district Republican nomination.

Trump-endorsed Lahmeyer was at the center of a sexting controversy two days before the primary election when an online tabloid published a story alleging he was caught sending intimate text messages to a woman who worked as a fundraiser for his campaign.

Keaton Ross covers democracy and criminal justice for Oklahoma Watch. Contact him at (405) 831-9753 or Kross@Oklahomawatch.org. Follow him on Twitter at @_KeatonRoss.

Jake Ramsey is a reporter covering evictions, housing and homelessness. Contact him at (405) 370-3798 or jramsey@oklahomawatch.org.

The post Incumbency, Presidential Endorsements Beneficial in Oklahoma’s Primary Election appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

State Question 832 (Proposal to Raise the Minimum Wage)

Republican Primary Races

Democrat Primary Races

The post Election Results appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

Just 18 days before today’s election, a group called Stand With Oklahoma PAC was formed to influence Republican primary voters. 

Public information on the group, which registered as a political action committee with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission on May 29, is scarce. Stand With Oklahoma PAC lists its address at a packing and shipment store in Nichols Hills. Its phone number and email address are tied to the Tabularius Group, a Washington, D.C.-based political consulting and campaign finance firm. 

Stand With Oklahoma PAC is not lacking in financial resources. Over the past two weeks, the group has spent at least $380,000 on advertisements and direct mailers opposing a variety of legislative candidates. 

The group’s top target has been incumbent Sen. Dusty Deevers, who has faced more than $200,000 of negative ads. That averages out to about $11 per registered Republican voter in Senate District 32. The group did not respond to phone calls inquiring about its spending activity. 

The high rate of outside spending from groups such as Stand With Oklahoma PAC reflects a broader trend in Oklahoma legislative races.

From April 1 to June 15, outside groups spent nearly $3 million on Oklahoma House and Senate primaries. About 16% of the spending went to negative opposition ads. 

Most of the independent expenditures have come from political action committees, which are allowed to raise and spend an unlimited amount of money to support or oppose a political candidate or issue, so long as there is no coordination with the candidate. Their funding often comes from 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, which are not required under federal law to disclose their donors. 

Transparency advocates argue that the unchecked spending and high level of anonymity can perpetuate misinformation and give an unfair advantage to wealthy special interests. Defenders of the practice say it’s constitutionally protected political speech that could be threatened by overregulation. 

“I think our constituents are tired of being bombarded by anonymous ads, text messages and direct mail pieces trying to influence them to vote a certain way in public elections,” state Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa, said after an October interim study on dark money spending. “Not only are they tired of it, but we all should be concerned about why these entities are trying so hard to hide who they are, and the nature of their financial interest.”

Three outside groups, the AFC Victory Fund, Stand With Oklahoma PAC and Representative Government Defense Fund, have spent a combined $75,000 opposing state Senate candidate Brady Butler. Their tactics include showing the staunch conservative Republican from Weatherford sandwiched between progressives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, smiling ear to ear. Other ads have made similar claims that Butler is liberal or would push back against the Trump administration if elected.

Butler, who lost a runoff for Senate District 26 by less than 400 votes in 2022, said he is sure the ads will have at least some influence on voters. 

“The trouble is, while they don’t like the way the dark money often puts the story out, they assume there’s a measure of truth behind it,” Butler said. 

Butler said he would support legislation requiring a statement at the end of every advertisement, forcing outside groups to list at least one donor. Stripping political action committees of the ability to hide behind an organizational name would encourage kindness and truth, he said. 

“When you’re just representing a fake entity or some unknown group, it’s much, much easier to be inflammatory in your statements,” Butler said. 

A political action committee called Americans for Growth and Opportunity has spent more than $20,000 against political newcomer Malana Bracht, a Republican candidate in Senate District 42. Mailers from the group claim Bracht supported the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and did not vote for President Trump in the 2020 general and 2024 primary election. She denies those claims. 

While not convinced that the ad blitz will sway voters, Bracht said she thinks the negative campaign constitutes defamation.

“I don’t like it,” she said. “It feels rigged and wrong even within my own party that’s doing it.”

At the request of the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, the Legislature could consider restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence in political advertising next year. While stalled in previous years, laws to make outside spending more transparent could also garner support, as several candidates for governor told Oklahoma Watch they would support such a change. 

Editor’s Note: This is part two of a story series on dark money in Oklahoma elections. To read part one on outside money in statewide elections, click here.

Maya Henry is a summer 2026 intern at Oklahoma Watch. Contact her at mhenry@oklahomawatch.org.

Keaton Ross covers democracy and criminal justice for Oklahoma Watch. Contact him at (405) 831-9753 or Kross@Oklahomawatch.org. Follow him on Twitter at @_KeatonRoss.

The post Outside Money Ad Blitz Targets Oklahoma Legislative Candidates appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

Here is the audio of Oklahoma Watch’s published stories for the week of June 8, 2026.

– Full Week Playlist: Listen to all the stories back-to-back, without interruption.
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Interested in becoming a sponsor or would like to learn more? Contact Shaun Witt at switt@oklahomawatch.org or 405-824-1469.

The post Audio Stories: June 8, 2026 appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

Open your mailbox, turn on the radio or fire up a network television channel, and you’ll likely be bombarded with negative ads attacking Oklahoma political candidates. 

Outside groups are flooding Oklahoma with a record amount of advertising ahead of the June 16 primary election. From April 1 to June 14, these organizations reported $27.5 million in independent expenditures to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. Candidates spent a comparable $26.9 million from their campaign accounts from April 1 to June 1.

The Republican primaries for governor and attorney general have attracted most of the outside spending, much of it from political action committees that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as long as they do not coordinate with candidates. These groups are often funded by politically involved 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, which are not required under state and federal law to disclose their donors. Critics have coined the term dark money to describe the tactic.

Top outside spenders include Secure Oklahoma PAC, which has reported $3.42 million in advertising opposing Jon Echols and supporting Jeff Starling in the Republican attorney general primary. The group’s various attack ads and mailers accuse Echols of being disloyal to President Donald Trump. 

Secure Oklahoma PAC reported having just $1,000 in the bank on March 31, the last quarterly reporting deadline under state ethics rules. The next report, covering April through June, is due July 31. 

In the Republican gubernatorial primary, the Make Oklahoma Great Again PAC has spent at least $3 million on ads supporting Gentner Drummond and opposing Mike Mazzei. The group faced widespread scrutiny last month for releasing an ad created using generative artificial intelligence that showed Mazzei cozying up to Hillary Clinton. 

Several television stations pulled the ad following public outcry from public officials, including Gov. Kevin Stitt, who threatened to call a special session to regulate AI in political advertising if such tactics continued. 

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC affirmed the right of corporations and outside groups to spend unlimited amounts of money in elections via independent expenditures. But the ruling didn’t prohibit states from requiring big spenders to reveal their donors.

Several states have enacted laws requiring disclosure when an organization reaches a spending threshold. Colorado requires outside groups to disclose their top donors when spending surpasses $10,000. The state also mandates disclosure when artificial intelligence technology is used. 

While supporters say the information is vital for voters, opponents contend that overregulation can have a chilling effect on free political speech and subject donors to harassment. 

Oklahoma Watch contacted the campaigns of Mazzei, Keating and Drummond, who have each faced millions of dollars in outside attack ads, and asked if they would support legislation requiring outside groups to disclose more information. All said yes. 

Mazzei, a former state senator whose campaign gained traction following a May 29 endorsement from President Donald Trump, has faced more than $4.3 million in attack ads from political action committees. Much of the advertising has criticized him for a 2014 yes vote on a bill to commit Oklahoma to the National Popular Vote Compact. A campaign spokesperson said Republican senators were misled on the bill and worked to stall it once it advanced to the House.

“Total transparency will clean up campaigns and provide at least some accountability for false and misleading attacks,” Mazzei said in a statement. 

Drummond, who acknowledged the constitutional right of political speech, said more scrutiny of the groups would benefit Oklahoma elections. 

While the Make Oklahoma Great Again PAC has backed Drummond, another group, School Freedom Fund Oklahoma, has countered that with $3.1 million in attack ads. Drummond is the only Oklahoma candidate the organization has targeted. 

“I believe sunlight is the best disinfectant,” Drummond said in a statement. “Voters have a right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and I would welcome greater transparency and disclosure in our political system.”

Keating has faced $1.5 million in opposition spending from two political action committees, the Oklahoma Conservative Coalition and Faith and Freedom Forward PAC. 

One of the ads from the Oklahoma Conservative Coalition, which hit television airwaves and digital platforms last month, claims that Keating supported “mutilating our kids with harmful procedures” while serving on the board of the University Hospitals Authority and Trust. The Frontier rated that claim as mixed in a fact check, noting that such boards are generally tasked with overseeing a hospital’s finances and administrative functions. 

Keating, who helped fund a dark money group that opposed former state Sen. Greg McCortney in 2024, said he believes voters have grown wary of the anonymous attacks. He said the state is in need of a campaign finance overhaul to tackle the issue. 

“You shouldn’t be able to hide behind any kind of curtain,” he said. “I want all the names out there.”

Efforts to increase transparency in outside spending have garnered little support in the Legislature. Senate Bill 1051, introduced in 2025 by Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin, proposed banning outside groups from using fictitious names or false addresses to conceal their identity. It stalled after it did not receive a committee hearing. 

At an October interim study on dark money in Oklahoma elections, Ethics Commission Director Lee Ann Bruce Boone outlined several potential solutions, including launching a public donor-chain dashboard and mandating more stringent auditing of outside groups. 

“We want voters to know who is trying to influence elections,” Bruce Boone said. “We don’t want people to have a negative view of campaign spending and contributing to the election process. It’s not necessarily illegal, it’s just about those disclosure laws.”

Editor’s Note: This is part one of a series on dark money spending in Oklahoma elections. Part two, focusing on independent expenditures in state legislative races, will be published tomorrow.

Maya Henry is a summer 2026 intern at Oklahoma Watch. Contact her at mhenry@oklahomawatch.org.

Keaton Ross covers democracy and criminal justice for Oklahoma Watch. Contact him at (405) 831-9753 or Kross@Oklahomawatch.org. Follow him on Twitter at @_KeatonRoss.

The post Republican Primaries for Governor, Attorney General Drive Record Outside Spending appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

Four Republican candidates for insurance commissioner appearing Tuesday on an OETA forum fielded a question on whether insurance executives found to have acted in bad faith should be subjected to potential incarceration.

The answers provided distinctions between the candidates as they vie to lead a department that commands substantial authority over Oklahomans’ finances, but is widely regarded as inscrutable — which is to say, boring.

Councilperson Greta Shuler of Shawnee, an insurance sales professional who once lost her own home to an Oklahoma tornado, spoke of having found evidence of insurance fraud across the state and did not hesitate to assert that financial penalties for insurance company bad actors may not be enough.

“There’s a point at which monetary value is not painful enough,” Shuler said. “Depending on what type of criminal activity has taken place, people should be held accountable for their behavior. If money is not an object to them, fining them doesn’t do any good.”

Former legislator and chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee Marty Quinn, from Owasso, disagreed sharply and took issue with the tone and suggestion of the question.

“Jail time is not the answer for everything,” Quinn said. “I think jail time is just a way to get us on TV saying that we need to send people to jail.”

The Tuesday vote for commissioner comes as Oklahoma policyholders await a decision from the Oklahoma Supreme Court on whether Attorney General Gentner Drummond, himself a candidate for governor in Tuesday’s primaries, will be permitted to intervene in Hursh v. State Farm, the case at the center of Oklahoma’s ongoing State Farm saga.  

Invoking RICO laws more typically associated with organized crime, Drummond has said that if the Supreme Court rejects his intervention, he will file another lawsuit. On April 27, Drummond refused to rule out the possibility of criminal prosecution.

“I think that the RICO statutes permit the attorney general to go civil and/or criminal,” Drummond said. “Clearly I see RICO in a civil vein, but if we go deeper in that process and it becomes evident that there’s criminal actions, then of course, we would take it in that direction.”

“Maybe We Have to Send Them to Jail”

The question posed Tuesday on jailing executives stemmed from a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case known as State Farm v. Campbell, in which State Farm sought relief from a $145 million punitive damages jury award in a case from Utah.

State Farm won the case in a 6-3 decision, and today State Farm v. Campbell stands as an important precedent capping punitive damages at approximately ten times compensatory damages. Compensatory damages offer compensation for an individual’s loss and pain and suffering; punitive damages are intended as a further punishment to the entity that caused the loss, on the assumption that a greater financial penalty will result in modified behavior.

Notably, the three dissenting justices in State Farm v. Campbell included conservative firebrand Antonin Scalia and liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsberg, both now deceased. The third dissenting justice was Clarence Thomas, who continues to serve on the Court.

During oral argument in the case, Justice Scalia suggested that fines or penalties assessed against a wealthy bad actor, such as State Farm, may never result in systemic change. Scalia offered an alternative.

“No amount of money will suffice; maybe we have to send them to jail,” Scalia said. “Whatever it takes to stop them. I mean, what if nothing will stop them but sending them to jail?”

On Tuesday, the candidates were asked whether they agreed with Scalia’s alternative.

“That Seems Pretty Common Sense to Me”

Candidate Bob Sullivan, an independent agent from Inola, couched his support of Scalia’s suggestion in light of a concern expressed by several candidates: large money judgments assessed against insurance companies may be levied back against consumers down the line.

Sullivan saw potential incarceration as a fair solution.

“That’s probably one of the fairest ways to solve an issue like this, where there is widespread abuse,” Sullivan said. “If you really hold their feet to the fire and you’re considering jail time, that’s cost-neutral to policyholders.”

Edmond-based candidate Chris Merideth, who touts claims organization leadership and is a registered lobbyist for Farmers Insurance, which has lost several multimillion-dollar bad-faith cases in Oklahoma, seconded the view that it is policyholders who ultimately pay for lawsuits. Merideth offered a solution similar to Sullivan’s.

“If a person has broken a criminal law in Oklahoma, [jail] should absolutely be an option,” Merideth said. “We need to look at things like licenses and doing business in the state, and potential criminal penalties if criminal law has been broken. That seems pretty common sense to me.”

Democrat Craig MacIntyre, the only candidate running with actuarial experience — recent changes to insurance law call for actuarial scrutiny of rate increases — was not at the Tuesday forum, but spoke with OETA the following day. MacIntyre criticized the result of State Farm v. Campbell.

“I think the decision to cap the damages was a mistake,” MacIntyre said. “I think punitive damages are by definition to punish, and you only punish if it hurts. There needs to be something else, so the idea of throwing egregious offenders in prison doesn’t bother me.”

MacIntyre expressed a preference for the auto violations system in Finland: penalties as a percentage of net worth.

“When penalties have no true negative impact, behaviors don’t change,” MacIntyre said.

Quinn, who repeatedly highlighted his legislative experience, repeated his view that Scalia’s suggestion that jail time for bad-faith insurers was a ploy for a television audience.

“I think there are a lot of other options that ought to be viewed rather than us getting on TV in a forum and acting like we’re in favor of sending people to jail,” Quinn said.

In addition, Quinn reiterated the belief that insureds pay the price for expensive litigation.

“The first check is written by the company, and the last check is written by everyone here,” Quinn said. “That system has not worked.”

Challenging Excessive Rates

The recent passage of House Bill 3781, which will take effect July 1, 2027, will make it possible for the next insurance commissioner to challenge excessive rates.

After Tuesday’s forum, Oklahoma Watch contacted all the candidates with a follow-up question, based on the belief that money judgments won by policyholders are levied against other policyholders.

The question addressed whether, now that the commissioner can challenge rates, a rate hike by an insurer that has been penalized with significant punitive damages is the kind of premium increase the commissioner will be empowered to stop.

Only Sullivan responded, with insistence that data presented by insurance companies for rate-making purposes should be limited to information related to claims.

“Absolutely,” Sullivan said. “[An insurer’s] expenses related to punitive damages, fines, and fees resulting from bad-faith judgments should not be borne by policyholders.”

J.C. Hallman covers a variety of topics for Oklahoma Watch. Contact him at jchallman@oklahomawatch.org.

The post Candidates Weigh Hypothetical Jail Time for Insurance Executives appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

In May, Operation SAFE, the governor’s initiative to remove homeless encampments from state property, was enacted in Norman.

Two weeks later, the Norman City Council was criticized by residents and officials over an agenda item proposing a temporary suspension of the zoning ordinance to allow camping in residential areas. The agenda item was not scheduled for a vote, but was met with a unanimous rejection after public outcry.

And, while a wave of anti-homeless policy and rhetoric has swept through Norman and the state, the State Fire Marshal on Monday temporarily shut down the Norman Night Shelter for code violations, a move that put more than 50 people at risk of sleeping outside.

Shelter Shutdown

City Care employee Rebecca Seals said that when she arrived at the shelter on Monday, about 10 a.m., she was greeted by a Norman city employee, a Cleveland County fire marshal and three other people that she didn’t recognize. Those three were state fire marshals.

Seals said she was told that a complaint had been filed and that the marshals would be inspecting the property.

City Care, a homeless shelter and support services organization based in Oklahoma City, operates the Norman Night Shelter, but the building is owned by the city.

The complaint was anonymous and delivered to the state fire marshal on June 1 via the United States Postal Service, according to a report from the marshal’s office.

Seals said the inspection took about an hour and a half, but it felt like forever as the possibilities of what could happen raced through her head.

That’s when the group of officials came back and told her about the code violations. No one was allowed to stay in the shelter until the violations were fixed. The required modifications included:

• The northeast exit door is to open outwards instead of inwards, as well as removing the barrel bolt and installing panic exit hardware.
• Install panic exit hardware on the south exit doors.
• Repair or replace inoperable exit signage.
• Repair or replace all inoperable emergency egress lighting.
• Replace all missing, damaged or stained ceiling tiles.
• Install a fire extinguisher in the men’s side of the shelter.
• All fire extinguishers must be maintained.
• Open junction boxes and exposed wiring are prohibited.

Tiffany Martinez Vrska, the Norman chief communications officer, said repairs are estimated to cost the city $10,000 to $12,000. She said the repairs should be completed by Friday.

“As soon as that (the repairs) are taken care of, we can get in there,” Vrska said.

That meant no person experiencing homelessness could stay in the shelter for at least four days. It also gave the City Care service providers a limited time to find a shelter for more than 50 people. According to the marshal’s report, the inspection was completed at 12:31 p.m. The shelter normally opens at 5 p.m.

“I didn’t know if anybody would step up and take us in on such short notice,” Seals said.

Pop-Up Shelter at the First Presbyterian

City Care President and CEO Rachel Freeman said that after calls to several organizations that could provide shelter for a few days, First Presbyterian Church of Norman agreed to temporarily house those experiencing homelessness.

That’s when the work began to convert the church atrium into a pop-up shelter.

Following the lead of Shawn Loyd, the chief programs officer for City Care, and Michael East, the senior pastor of First Presbyterian, workers with City Care and a Norman police officer moved tables and chairs, brought in beds and took breakable objects out of the room.

Oklahoma Watch visited the shelter for three days to witness the setup, meet with service providers and speak to people experiencing homelessness.

The wall of the First Presbyterian has text that reads, “Making our corner of the world more like the kingdom of God.”

East, the senior pastor, said that is the vision of the church and why they have been placed in Norman.

“When complications or problems or needs arise within the community, that’s the role of the church; we should be the first to step up and say, ‘We can help,’” East said.

East hearkened back to a sermon he gave the Sunday prior on being a good Samaritan, and how that connected to the need that arose in the community when the shelter was shut down.

“In that sermon, I talked about how there are places where in our community it becomes a no man’s land,” East said. “Everyone has a good, reasonable excuse not to help, but Jesus says, ‘You have to go a step further if you want to follow me.’”

Despite the quick response from the service providers and the church, the move destabilized the homeless community.

Decommissioning and Destabilization

Some staying at the shelter are disabled, others are elderly and many experience mental health problems. When they arrived at the shelter, they were asked by service workers to board a bus provided by Care-A-Van and go somewhere many had never been.

It was hot out, and tensions were high. Freeman said that because of Operation SAFE and the shelter being shut down, many of the people experiencing homelessness were at risk of crisis.

“They’ve been decommissioning encampments with no plan on the back end,” Freeman said. “In Norman, right now, there’s really nowhere for people experiencing homelessness to legally be.”

It was especially harmful to one woman, who was checked into the hospital with problems breathing after her first night at the pop-up shelter. She was in a wheelchair and required a mobile ventilator.

William, 47, is a homeless man staying at the church, and has been homeless for a year. Oklahoma Watch is only using William’s first name to protect his identity and avoid repercussions in his housing search. 

He said he’s tried several times to get housing, but is still struggling. William said he cannot work because he can’t lose his disability check and benefits. That’s not for lack of trying. He said he still dreams of writing and creating his Dungeons & Dragons-like tabletop game, the Legends of Yaugmire.

“If I do anything to better my life, I get kicked on my ass,” he said.

William was not directly affected by the encampment sweeps during Operation SAFE, but said he had friends lose their belongings, and that the sweeps and recent legislation have only made it harder for him to survive and get back on his feet.

“This whole thing has been fucked,” William said. “You can’t live. Most of these people get disability checks. They want to get off the streets, but tell me some place I make three times more in rent when I make less than $1,000 a month.”

Karrie, another woman experiencing homelessness and staying at the church, said she did lose items in an encampment sweep, though she wasn’t sure if it was Operation SAFE.

Karrie lost her tent, blankets, her daughter’s jacket, her medications and her birth certificate. Without those items, she was at serious risk of health complications, and without a birth certificate, the progress she had made towards housing was gone. Then, she was told the shelter was shut down.

“It’s scary,” she said. “My first thought was, ‘I guess I’ll sleep on the sidewalk if they don’t open up.’”

Wynton White, 43, is also staying at the shelter. She has been sporadically homeless since 2020. White said the shutdown threw her a curveball.

“People like us just need assistance because deep down we’re scared,” she said.

White has health complications, and after her mother died, her support system in Oklahoma was nonexistent, which opened the door for her to be homeless. She said the shutdown and the sweeps have only displaced and dehumanized homeless people.

She said that, because of this dehumanization and her personal experiences, she hopes to give back to the community one day through service work.

“We’re people, we’re not the plague,” White said. “We just had a stroke of bad luck.”

Criminalizing the Problem

Freeman said that because Norman lacks infrastructure in its homeless services, the shelter mainly serves people with high levels of chronicity, meaning they’ve been homeless outside longer and their needs are higher.

Sabine Brown, a senior policy analyst at Oklahoma Policy Institute, said that avoiding chronic homelessness starts with the housing-first model.

Housing-first projects prioritize permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness to improve their quality of life through shelter and resources like case management, healthcare and food.

“Unfortunately, we’re seeing a shift away from that,” Brown said. “Instead of investing in affordable housing, the state has chosen to pass legislation that criminalizes people.”

Jake Ramsey covers evictions, housing and homelessness. Contact him at (405) 370-3798 or jramsey@oklahomawatch.org.

The post Encampment Sweeps, a Shelter Shutdown and Nowhere Left to Go: Norman’s Homeless Crisis Deepens appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

Because wages claimable under the Work Opportunity Tax Credit only apply to first-year employees from target groups, all else being equal, businesses’ claimable credits would only decrease without hiring the same number of such employees annually; SQ 832-mandated wage increases would not significantly reduce the availability of such potential employees.

The WOTC incentivizes hiring from groups that have faced employment barriers, including SNAP recipients – who comprised 64% of WOTC certifications from 2022 – 2024 – veterans and felons.

Though SQ 832, which is on the June 16 ballot June 16, would increase the minimum wage to $12 per hour, with gradual increases to $15 by 2029, many SNAP beneficiaries would continue to meet the income criteria of below 130% the federal poverty level.

Seventy percent of SNAP recipients are full-time workers. Assuming 35 hour weeks, making $12 and $15 an hour falls below the current maximum gross monthly incomes for one-person and two-person households, respectively.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Oklahoma Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims.

Sources

• IRS Work Opportunity Tax Credit
• Congress The Work Opportunity Tax Credit
• Oklahoma Policy Institute Fact sheet for State Question 832: Increasing Oklahoma’s minimum wage
• U.S. Government Accountability Office Federal Social Safety Net Programs: Millions of Full-Time Workers Rely on Federal Health Care and Food Assistance Programs
• State of Oklahoma Human Services Maximum Food Benefit Allotments and Standards for Income and Deductions

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