SD 15 Candidate Maxing out Campaign Donations to Opponents Who Left Race
Who is it and why are they doing it? Vote informed in the runoff election Tuesday August 27th
Happy Saturday everyone! Don’t forget about the Sunday, August 18th town hall regarding the resolution language with Ward 5 Councilman Nash from 3:00-5:30 at City Hall and the Study Session with the entire Council on Tuesday, August 20th at 5:30 pm also at City Hall.
Until then, here is some light reading to prepare you for the runoff election on Tuesday August 27th if you live in Senate District 15.
Registered Republicans living in Cleveland County have an important runoff election coming up on Tuesday, August 27th. Republicans living in Senate District 15, shown in green, are voting for two candidates: Lisa Standridge and Robert Keyes.
In the June primaries, the candidate slate was whittled down from 6 to 2.
Robert C. Keyes is the president and CEO of Associated Environmental Industries, his second drilling company. He is a board member of the National Ground Water Association. He has self-funded much of his campaign and seemingly has the most yard signs up of any candidate- at least in my neck of the woods. He loaned himself $350,000 so far (Which is $100k more than reported before the primaries). He has collected over $17k in donations and has spent nearly $333,000 on digital and TV Media placement, mailers, signs, texting services, and canvassing.
That’s a lot of money to spend for the honor of being hired by the electorate for a job that pays $50k/year. But maybe it’s just a big stance to show he can’t be bought.
He has been endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce and the Association of General Contractors, however, hasn’t openly used any of those endorsements on his websites, Facebook page or on the campaign trail. I find this very interesting. Typically, candidates for public office are throwing around their endorsements left and right. He’s not. Why?
Is the Association of Oklahoma General Contractors and the Chamber lining up to pay off Mr. Keyes’ personal campaign loans once he wins? I ask because if you look at the campaign finance ledger, he shows that $350k as “loans.” It is my understanding that if he was truly going completely independent, that money would show up as “in-kind” donations.
Lisa Standridge, wife of incumbent District 15 State Senator Rob Standridge, works in pharmaceuticals at Blanchard Drug and Gift. She loaned herself $25,000 for her campaign. She has amassed over $7,000 in donations and spent a little more than $10,000. I haven’t seen much campaigning from her and I haven’t seen any endorsements either. On the heels of a husband who served in that same senate district for 12 years, I am a bit surprised by her inability to fundraise.
**Update to add: Here are her endorsements.
Here is the full list of candidates and the campaign finance summaries.
Exiting the Race
When the SD15 race started, there was a crowded field with 8 Republican candidates, but shortly after filing Alex Torvi left the Senate Race in November 2023 to join the HD46 race as the only Republican challenger to incumbent and turnpike opponent Dem. Jacob Rosecrants. Matt Watson left the Senate Race in January 2024 to join the HD45 race as the only Republican challenger to incumbent and turnpike fighter, Dem. Annie Menz.
The race was crowded with 8 candidates, so they were most likely looking for better odds. But, as soon as they officially left the race for better odds, they got a financial boost from their former opponent: Robert Keyes.
Alex Torvi Switched to HD46 November 2023
Alex Torvi got his money on January 9, 2024 and it came as a family package = $6,600. He must have driven a harder bargain that Mr. Watson. I know Mr. Torvi and he is an amazingly talented artisan with a successful tile business; he and his son actually laid tile in my house. But, HD46 has a great representative already in Jacob Rosecrantz, who has been a no more turnpikes friend since the beginning. While he doesn’t carry our bills for us, he always votes with us.
Matt Watson Switched to HD45 in January 2024
Matt Watson didn’t get his campaign contribution until late April 2024 and it was a single $3,300 donation. Mr. Watson stopped by my house in July when he was door knocking on the street. He was a nice guy, but I told him that he should run in a district that didn’t already have a great representative in Annie Menz. She’s really been fantastic for us.
Plus, he works for a really large engineering firm in Oklahoma. That makes me nervous.
Senate District 15 Votes
This is not my Senate District, but I have met with both candidates and both are staunchly NO MORE TURNPIKES. I had no reason to doubt them. But how is it possible that candidates are willing to spend $350,000 to win a STATE Senate Seat only to receive an annual paycheck of $50,000? Is the state political machine that lucrative? Don’t answer that.
What is it that he thinks he can accomplish in a four-year term that would make that worth it? And will he have to spend $350k plus again next campaign season? With that level of personal investment compared to outside donations, it makes me wonder if he's signaling that he can't or won't be bought. This idea is reinforced by the fact that he hasn't openly accepted or acknowledged any endorsements, despite multiple heavy hitters pushing for him to take the seat.
But then on the complete opposite of the spectrum, why would a candidate seem to be relying on name recognition as her entry way into the position with very little campaigning and expenditures? And why hasn’t someone, with at least 12 years of name recognition in that senate seat, been able to raise more money?
I also have a question about the real or perceived conflicts of interest in receiving donations and endorsements from certain people and certain entities. I think money and endorsements are playing both sides in this race.
I have a sneaking feeling that AOCG endorsed Keyes because they know he has the connections in the transportation and environmental compliance arena to make their lives miserable and so they are trying to buy favor if he indeed wins; but maybe they gave the endorsement to him to get all the NO MORE TURNPIKES crowd riled up and vote for Standridge, who they perceive to be more easily controlled, like her husband.
Now for the large donations provided to opponents that left the race. How are they perceived? Buy-off or encouragement? Did Keyes approach the candidates and offer the money to leave or were the candidates thinking about exiting first and Keyes made their decision easier? And why would he have to buy-off his opponents anyway? It wasn’t as if Watson or Torvi were going to make it out of that group of 8 in the first place. Or maybe they were the only two to agree to leave?
Can candidates decline campaign donations and endorsements? Yes, they can. But typically, they do it publicly so everyone knows where they stand, and one candidate has neither publicly accepted nor denied endorsements.
I thought the campaign finances were interesting, so I passed it on.
Check it out for yourself. Oklahoma Ethics Commission Electronic Reporting System.
If there are any other candidate forums between now and the runoff, maybe you can ask some of these for me. And I certainly encourage you to ask these sorts of questions during the House District forums this fall.
Who are you voting for August 27th?
So it seems that Keyes is appearing to be untouchable by corporate or state entities, but has not really stated his clear position on the turnpike or Norman entertainment initiative and whether he will stand with the people or big business/government. This makes me nervous to support. Lisa sounds like she is running on Name only and is easily swayed to whoever benefits her most, that is a NO VOTE from me. The most important thing is we need our STATE representatives/senators to stand for peoples rights and property rights and not for Greedy business/bankers to profit from a over-reach whether it be in transportation or business districts.
Minor point in the SD15 race: OK Senate terms are 4 years, as opposed to the 2 years in the House.
I do think Lisa may be less reliant on funding because her husband’s name recognition provides her a pseudo-incumbent advantage. But it’s still quite a disparity in comparison to the amount Keyes has put into his campaign—which would likely send a message to potential challengers in 2028 that running against him is an uphill battle.
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As for HD46, Rosecrants may be a longtime ally in the Turnpike fight (I’m not certain on Torvi’s stance, but he’s spoken on the importance of property rights, so hopefully that would include the eminent domain issue), but otherwise, Rosecrants has not accomplished a lot with his taxpayer salary. He has little willingness to cooperate with the Republican majority—often voting against or abstaining from many “red meat” bills that shore up Oklahoma’s traditional values, civil liberties, and wellbeing of the general public during this period of national decline.