McCall vying to be Oklahoma's next governor

Yahoo

06-06-2025

After serving eight years as the Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, Charles McCall is now vying to be the next governor of Oklahoma.
McCall was elected to House District 22 in 2012 and elected Speaker in 2016, serving as the state's longest-serving Speaker of the House. Outside of his political role, McCall is the CEO and Board Chairman of AmeriState Bank in Atoka. He previously served as Mayor of Atoka from 2005 to 2012.
According to his campaign, while serving as Speaker, McCall focused on getting the state's fiscal house in order, helped decrease personal and corporate income taxes and was the leader of there Parental Choice Tax Credit, which allowed parents control over their children's education.
' When I came into speakership in 2017, it was just the worst of times here in the state of Oklahoma fiscally,' McCall said. 'We'd done a four-year contraction, no reserves, cut budgets, just really difficult. And I was picked to be the speaker because of that, because I was a banker.'
McCall said the caucus chose him to help navigate the state out of a bad financial situation, which he said was achieved in about two years, he said. The past six has been 'record year after record year,' he said.
' So Oklahoma's now in a place where we're not in a hole. We are thriving, we have reserves now,' he said. 'What motivates me (to run for governor) and what I'm excited about is the opportunity that's on the horizon for the people, the state of Oklahoma, as well as businesses. I think we're just right on the cusp of taking another huge step forward.'
He said the economy doubled its output in the past six years and the appropriated budget, which was about $6 billion when he became Speaker, is about $13 billion today.
' Oklahoma is no longer a flyover state. We are a fly-to state,' McCall said. ' We have people with great values and good work ethic. So Oklahoma's starting to be recognized on the national stage. We're already, in some areas, we're the best in the country already. But we really, once again, we're just on the cusp of being able to have a real breakthrough for the people of the state economically.'
He said the next governor of Oklahoma needs to be somebody with business experience and success while also knowing how the government operates and being able to seize opportunities. He said Oklahoma has yet to land a big industry or company moving to the state, adding that the state has been on the shortlist but is always bumped out.
The state has seen growth and success in the aviation and aerospace industry, McCall said, which is the state's second largest industry beating out agriculture and tourism. McCall said he thinks Oklahoma has the best opportunities to grow in the technology sector.
' Our low cost of energy and low cost of living and natural resources — and our proximity in the country— make us the ideal choice. We just have to have the right environment, the right incentive,' McCall said. ' I really think that's where the opportunity is. We're seeing a lot of investment in the state around technology right now. Data centers, in (particular) are the most emerging technology everybody is chasing.'
The growth of data centers, and companies interest in building centers in Oklahoma, was a topic of discussion during a legislative summary in Chickasha with Rep. Dick Low, R-Amber, and Brad Bowles, R-Marlow back in February.
Boles said it takes the same amount of power required for 250,000 houses to power one 500-megawatt data center. During the meeting with Grady County locals, Boles said potential centers would have to go through the Southwest Power Pool, which takes about two years to get approval.
Boles also said he authored a bill during this year's legislative session that would allow data centers or large industrial companies to come to Oklahoma if they were off the grid. This would require the companies to provide their own power generation to the facility while going through the two year process to be added to the grid.
McCall said data center companies want to come to Oklahoma because the state has the power capacities but added that the state is approaching some capacity within the power grid and will need to bring additional generation to that state.
He also said he believe rural areas have the opportunity to grow as people are looking for more space to live, for quality of life and more space to roam and run, adding that he believes that's why people are leaving Dallas and Houston.
EDUCATION
While Speaker, McCall authored the bill that created the Parental Choice Tax Credit allowing parents control over their children's education and providing a income tax credit that can be used for tuition and fees for eligible private school educations.
McCall said education was a top priority for him as Speaker and will continue to be if elected governor.
'I think the legislature's done what it needs to do in supporting the funding of education but there's some things that need to happen in the executive branch of government,' McCall said.
Despite having an elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction, McCall said he believe the next governor will need to push for a 'very disciplined plan' to improve the state's education outcome.
' That's something that I'm prepared to do. I don't think it can be accomplished, you know, in year one or year two,' he said. 'I don't want to give anybody the expectations that we will move our education outcomes from 48th or 49th to in the twenties in two years. But tackling the problem… We just need to have some discipline on it and we need a good plan that addresses our weaknesses and deficiencies within education.'
INCOME TAX
In terms of finding success in economic development, McCall said he believes one of the keys is to bring down personal income tax. He said the state should follow the model Tennessee used, which decreases income tax over time as the economy grows.
' We've got to get down to zero because right now, people have a choice to move to Oklahoma or Texas… They are going to bypass Oklahoma because they get a 4.75% raise immediately just by living in Texas,' McCall said. 'They may drive over to Oklahoma for their job, but they want residency there just because they're saving money on the personal income tax.'
McCall added that every time income tax was lowered while he was Speaker, the states revenue increased because there was more money left in individuals pockets.
' They're gonna spend it but they get to spend it the way they want to,' McCall said. 'It comes back to the state after it bounces around here (in) Chickasha, at Norman. Both at the city and county level, it throws off consumption revenue to the state of Oklahoma. I think every time we bring that personal income tax rate down and we quit taxing productivity and just focus on consumption, that's a net positive for the state.'