Congratulations and good luck to Mike Mazzei.

He’s going to need it, as last week’s election results show. Mazzei won the Oklahoma GOP gubernatorial primary runoff by just over 2,000 votes. 

A win may be a win, but in this case it should serve as a warning to both Mazzei’s campaign and the state Republican party.

In 20 years of covering elections, I have never seen the outcome of a statewide race so close. The fact that it was reveals how fractured the Republican voting base really is, and that Mazzei will have a tough time getting the deeply divided rest of the state to coalesce behind his vision for our future. 

Heading into the primary election season, Mazzei took the traditionally conservative stance in highlighting that he believes human life begins at conception. He wants to eliminate Oklahoma’s income tax and abolish property taxes for veterans and senior citizens. And he wants expanded access to a tax credit program in which state taxpayers pay for wealthy families’ children to attend private school.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who lost in the primary runoff, laid out a more moderate path forward, with different priorities. 

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Cyndi Munson put it best in a press release after polls closed on Aug. 25. Drummond, she said, campaigned on the issues we’re all facing — “struggling public schools, lack of access to healthcare, and rising costs of groceries, utility bills and other needs of everyday Oklahomans.” He wanted to invest more, not less in public schools.

It’s clear from last week’s election that Oklahomans are wondering if far-right policies – encapsulated by Mazzei – are serving us well.

The evidence says no.

Our rural hospital infrastructure is collapsing. A recent report found that 45 hospitals are at risk of closing — the third most in the nation.

We continue to have a mass exodus of quality educators. Even though our Legislature micromanages schools with mandatory recess time and high-stakes reading testing, we somehow don’t have the adequate policies — or compensation — that incentivizes teachers to remain. 

Access to mental health treatment is lagging, and we have some of the highest suicide rates in the nation.

We also have an exceptionally high poverty rate, which is straining our social service providers, our Medicaid system, and non-governmental nonprofits, like churches and food banks that have been forced to step in to fill the gap.   

Whoever wins in November’s general election will inherit this disaster that has progressively gotten worse under Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt the past eight years.

As the face of the GOP, Oklahoma’s over 1.2 million registered Republicans will be looking to Mazzei for a plan to fix this — and fast. And it better be a plan to solve the real issues because the tired tropes of attacking marginalized groups of people like trans kids and immigrants and fighting against abortion access are no longer unifying the Republican base.

Speaking of the base, you may be wondering where President Donald Trump fits into the picture for Oklahoma. He endorsed Mazzei ahead of the June primary election.

Mazzei made sure to thank the president for that during his election night victory speech. Unsurprisingly, he did not acknowledge why almost as many Republicans picked Drummond in spite of Trump’s endorsement.

Perhaps Mazzei’s supporters like Trump more than Mazzei’s plans.

Lawmakers would do well to remember that if the time comes to consider implementing Mazzei’s ideas. 

Trump may have the influence to be a kingmaker from the White House, but Oklahomans of all walks of life are living in a reality where Drummond’s platform spoke to them.

As Drummond said to Mazzei in his concession speech: “You have to show up for the farmers and ranchers. The small business owners and the working families. And you have to show up for the Oklahomans who didn’t vote for you.”

That includes, hundreds of thousands of registered independents who were locked out of weighing in on this race solely because they’re unaffiliated with any recognized political party, 

One last thing to consider: As Munson’s statement alluded, Democrats aren’t mad at the prospect of facing Mazzei in reliably red Oklahoma 

Their longshot odds of winning the governor’s office in November just went up a slight tick.

Mazzei’s GOP victory leaves open a crack in the door that Munson could take advantage of. To do that, she’ll need to figure out how to get Oklahoma voters to overlook the dreaded “Democrat” that will appear by her name.

That’s a tall order for anyone. But if Mazzei is unable to appeal to more moderate voters and develop a strategy to navigate our way out of our current morass, some voters may just hold their noses and vote for the Democrat come November. 

Or they might just stay home.

So, again, let me wish Mazzei luck over the next few months. 

He’s going to need it.

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