Jim Inhofe's first elections

Sen. Jim Inhofe, former Tulsa Mayor, congressman, and Oklahoma's longest serving US Senator, died Tuesday, July 9, 2024, after suffering a stroke on July 4. He was 89.

Some moving tributes have been published. The obituary on the Stanley's Funeral Home website speaks of Inhofe's devotion to his family, his love of flying, and his many years of work in and advocacy for African nations. The morning of July 4:

While Jim's accomplishments in Oklahoma, our country, and across the world speak for themselves, his favorite role was that of being Pop-I: husband of Mom-I, father to their four kids, and grandfather to twelve whom he loved beyond measure. Time spent with his grandkids focused solely on teaching, loving, and serving them. His countless acts to serve each of them were always followed with "That is what Pop-Is are for," a testament to the life he led. Our Pop-I loved cooking breakfast for everyone at the lake, teaching the kids to fish in the bay in South Texas and at the dock at Grand Lake, rides in the tractor and the Boston Whaler, bringing them on long morning walks, the Sunset Club, porpoise patrols, ice cream for breakfast, grandkids' sporting events, guitar playing throughout the year and guitar carols at Christmas, at the hangar watching planes take off and land, High Noon, chopping trees and splitting logs, and Pop-I's food traditions throughout. The morning of July 4, the day of his stroke, he read Day 186 of Bill Bright's Promises, walked Mutt, cooked breakfast for Mom-I, called his daughters and son, set up an umbrella at the dock for grandkids, visited with longtime neighbors, worked on several outdoor projects with his son Jimmy, and more. Indeed, for 89 years, he never stopped moving. In fact, we realize now that he was old for the first time during his last 4 ½ days. He instilled a love for Jesus, family, friends, and hard work in his family. He never asked anyone to do anything he would not do. He saw the best in people and always reminded us that you never know what someone else is going through. He cared about others more than himself and the world is a better place because of the love that he showed to everyone he met for more than 89 years.

The Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma wrote:

Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of Senator Jim Inhofe. A lifelong supporter of Oklahoma's oil and natural gas industry, Senator Inhofe worked tirelessly to improve America's energy security and national defense.

Petroleum Alliance President Brook A. Simmons reminisced on one of his favorite memories: "When climate activists printed wanted posters featuring his image for COP 21 in Paris, Senator Inhofe proudly autographed them and handed them back to protestors."

He embraced the detractors and wore their scorn as a badge of honor! America truly needs more like him.

The legacy mainstream media made sure to refer to him as a "climate denier" in their obituary headlines.

For my tribute, I thought it would be interesting to look back to his early years before politics and his first election efforts.

For the first half of the 1960s, you'd be more likely to see society-page mentions of Mrs. James Inhofe, nee Kay Kirkpatrick, than her news-page mentions of her husband. In the run up to their December 1959 wedding, there were numerous stories of receptions and showers for Inhofe's "widely feted bride-elect," the "center of a pre-nuptial social whirl." The engagement announcement mentions that she was the grandchild of pioneer Tulsans (Mr. & Mrs. J. N. Kirkpatrick and Mr. & Mrs. Linden Wallace Crosbie), that both graduated from Central High School and both started college at University of Colorado but finished in Oklahoma (she at OSU in mathematics, he at TU in economics). Kay was teaching at Edison High School, while Jim was working with his father at Mid-Continent Casualty Co. The two of them both grew up in the Bren-Rose neighborhood; a few years after they were married, they moved to the address in that same neighborhood where they spent the rest of their lives together. The wedding also got an elaborate write-up in the newspaper.

In 1966, Jim Inhofe filed to run against incumbent Republican state representative Warren Green. Green, who owned an auto repair service in Brookside and was president of Southtulsans Inc., a suburban chamber of commerce, was the first elected to represent House District 71, after the federal-court-ordered redistricting of 1964. It was a close race, but Green won, defeating Inhofe 1,396 to 1,162.

(Green was a primary target many years later. Running for re-election as District 35 State Senator in 1988, Green finished third of three in the GOP primary, which was won by attorney Don Rubottom. Green served 12 years in the State House and 12 years in the State Senate.)

Later in 1966, Inhofe shows up as Tulsa County chairman and campaign coordinator for J. Robert Wootten, GOP nominee for Lt. Governor.

Jim Inhofe got a second chance in 1966: District 39 State Sen. Dewey Bartlett was elected governor, the second Republican in state history, succeeding the first, Henry Bellmon, who was limited to a single term. Bartlett resigned his State Senate seat, triggering a special election. District 70 State Rep. Joe McGraw resigned his seat to run for Bartlett's State Senate seat, and Jim Inhofe filed to succeed McGraw. (This article states that Inhofe ran for Bartlett's seat in 1964, but reports from 1964 show Bartlett unopposed for the Republican nomination that year.) A pre-primary endorsement ad featured well over a hundred names, many of them prominent.

Inhofe won the special primary, receiving 668 votes to attorney Richard Hancock's 544 votes, and 10 votes for J. C. Gibson.

A reader posed a question to the Tulsa World's Action Line: How could Jim Inhofe run in two different districts without moving? The answer: You don't have to live in the district to run, but you have to live in the district if elected.

Ads in the run-up to the special general election featured Inhofe with Gov.-elect Bartlett and Joe McGraw. "Back Bartlett! Vote Republican Tuesday, December 20." Inhofe defeated Democrat Patricia Anderson by 1,917 votes to 440, and McGraw also won handily. Just 9 days later, Inhofe took the oath of office as an elected official for the first time.

Vanity license plates was the topic of one of Inhofe's first legislative proposals to receive press attention. A $10 additional annual fee would be collected, of which $9.50 would go into the state's general fund.

FROM THE BATESLINE ARCHIVES:

Ten years ago, Sen. Inhofe eulogized long-time Republican activist Art Rubin, who persuaded him to run for office:

Art never asked you to do anything. He told you. So we sat down on these little round stools that they had at the Beacon Grill, and he says, "I want you to run for the vacancy that's been created because Dewey Bartlett's now the governor." And I said, "Art, I'm not going to do it.... First of all, I've got all these kids at home," and Art said, "It's a part-time job." And he's right, it was. And I said, "I don't have any organization," and he said, "You need an organizer." And he looked up, and there was a lady walking across the Beacon Grill, her name was Millie Thompson.... he said, "Millie, come over here. I want you to head up the 'Volunteers for Inhofe' -- he's going to run for the state legislature."

Now I know that there are people -- 'cause I'm kind of extreme and you know that -- there are people in here who don't like me. You won't raise your hand, you won't acknowledge it now, but I know you don't. So -- but if you don't like me, don't blame me, blame Art.

POLITICAL CONTEXT:

In 1967, when Jim Inhofe became a member of the State House of Representatives, the State House had 74 Democrats and 25 Republicans, the State Senate had 39 Democrats and 9 Republicans, both U. S. Senators were Democrats, the U. S. House delegation consisted of four Democrats and two Republicans; the Republicans (Districts 1 and 6) represented Tulsa County, the old Cherokee Outlet, the Panhandle, and Oklahoma west of the OKC metro area.

At the beginning of 1966, Oklahoma had 949,211 registered Democrats, 231,744 Republicans, and 4,270 independents. 509,539 voted in the 1966 Democrat primary, while only 94,002 votes were cast in the Republican primary. Early in 1967, a group of Democrat legislators (including the infamous Gene Stipe) proposed banning GOP nominees from the general election ballot unless they could muster at least 30% of the primary votes received by the Democrats.

But things were beginning to shift: In 1964, Oklahoma had chosen Democrat presidential electors for the first time since 1948, but it would turn out to be for the last time ever, down to the present. And in 1966, Oklahoma had not only elected its second Republican governor but its first-ever GOP attorney general and labor commissioner.