SCOOP: Oklahoma gubernatorial race heats up early with $1.6M ad buy for 'America First' candidate
Starting on Wednesday, July 9, the Oklahoma Conservative Coalition is making an eight-week, $1.6 million advertising investment in broadcast, cable, satellite and streaming statewide, Fox News Digital has learned.
"Charles McCall is the only America First and Oklahoma First candidate in this race with a proven conservative record," Erinn Mahathey, spokesperson for Oklahoma Conservative Coalition, told Fox News Digital. "This is just the beginning. With the right experience, real momentum, and a winning message, McCall is built to go the distance and deliver real results for Oklahoma."
With less than one year until the Republican primary, two candidates have emerged as potential front-runners in the race for Oklahoma's highest office. As a reliably red state, the winner of the Republican primary will largely be expected to win the general election that November.
McCall announced his gubernatorial bid earlier this year, running on his record of "working hand-in-hand with Governor Stitt and President Trump" to build a "stronger Oklahoma rooted in an America First agenda."
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has announced his own campaign for governor, running a conservative platform touting his leadership as attorney general against the "Biden Administration's radical overreach" and promising to stand "strong with President Trump."
However, the McCall campaign has criticized Drummond for donating to the newly elected Oklahoma Democrat Party Chair John Waldron and for voting to delay enforcement of a new ban on transgender surgery for minors amid a pending preliminary hearing in a federal lawsuit.
According to The Oklahoman, Drummond said the agreement "simply allows more time to mount the strongest possible defense" and "should in no way be interpreted as a concession of any kind."
In a 4-4 vote earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Oklahoma State Supreme Court's decision that St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School in Oklahoma City, a religious charter school, receiving public funds would be unconstitutional.
Incumbent Gov. Kevin Stitt, R-Okla., and Drummond were locked in a feud over the landmark case, as the two continued a long-standing clash over policy and politics in Oklahoma, including debates over constitutional authority and local policy initiatives.
Stitt, who serves as vice chair of the National Governors Association, is term-limited as Oklahoma governor in 2026.
Earlier this year, the Conservative Political Action Conference endorsed McCall's campaign, and his super PAC highlighted his conservative policy as House speaker, on issues like protecting American farmland, school choice, tax cuts and pro-life bills.
Oklahoma House Rep. Cyndi Munson, small business owner Leisa Mitchell Haynes and former Oklahoma State Senator Mike Mazzei have also declared their gubernatorial campaigns.
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