Former Attorney General Drew Edmondson announces run for Oklahoma governor

But, Edmondson said Monday, voters’ decisions on four state questions last November encouraged him enough to give a run for public office one more try.

“Not only the defeat of (State Question) 777, but also some of the very smart decisions (voters) made about criminal justice reform and the constitution’s establishment clause,” Edmondson after announcing his candidacy for governor at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.

Edmondson was heavily involved in the campaign against SQ 777, the so-called Right to Farm amendment, which wound up losing by a large margin. He and other Democrats were also encouraged by the defeat of a state question that would have repealed a section of the state constitution forbidding the use of state assets by religious groups, and the passage of two ballot measures dealing with criminal justice reform.

If that suggested a more liberal bent to Oklahoma voters, though, it did not translate to public office. Democrats continued to lose ground in the House and Senate and Hillary Clinton had the worst showing for a Democratic nominee in Oklahoma since George McGovern in 1972.

That said, Oklahoma has elected Democratic governors early in the first terms of the last five Republican presidents, going back to David Hall in 1970.

Edmondson, 70, served four terms as attorney general before an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2010.

Some thought that would be his last campaign, but Edmondson said he couldn’t sit still.

“I got a little embarrassed I wasn’t doing enough to correct the situation,” he said Monday.

Edmondson said the Republican-led Legislature has essentially sold out to the oil and gas industry and other special interests. He said one of the state’s largest energy companies paid an effective corporate tax rate of 0.3 percent on $21 billion in earnings.

“They’re not breaking the law,” he said. “They’re following the law they bought and paid for.

“Oklahoma is going to be a battleground state in 2018,” Edmondson said. “Not in terms of national politics, but because it will be a battle for our future.”

Edmondson is the fourth Democrat to enter the race, joining House Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, former state Sen. Connie Johnson of Forest Park and Norman Jay Brown, a disabled auto mechanic from Oklahoma City.

Edmondson said he believes he’s running on “broader issues” than Johnson, who advocates elimination of the death penalty and liberalization of marijuana laws, and has a better chance than Inman in the general election because of Inman’s identification with the Legislature.

As many as seven candidates are thought possible in the Republican field, although only two — Tulsa attorney Gary Richardson and Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb — have registered campaign committees with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. Other possibilities include state Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett and Gateway Mortgage executive Kevin Stitt.