By Tim Bakamjian

I recently have had the privilege of hearing speeches from various candidates for statewide office. What follows is a summary and analysis of two such presentations.

JAKE MERRICK

Gubernatorial candidate Jake Merrick served in the Oklahoma State Senate, representing the 22nd District, from 2021 to 2022. He won the special election to finish the term of Stephanie Bice, who resigned to launch her successful run for the U.S. House of Representative’s seat from Oklahoma’s 5th District. Merrick, who lives in Tuttle with his wife and two daughters, has been a pastor, theology professor, fitness trainer, radio talk show host and co-owner of a construction company. His grassroots campaign is one which champions conservative values and emphasizes principles over politics.

Restoring the nuclear family is one such principle. Without that, he says, you can’t have a healthy state or in turn, a healthy nation. “You have to ask, what’s driving the breakdown of the nuclear family in Oklahoma? What’s government role in fixing that, and where does government need to get out of the way? We have to be asking these questions.”

Merrick adds that it’s not just about absentee fathers, but about absentee mothers as well, as partly evidenced by Oklahoma’s high female incarceration rate (fourth highest in the country by last count).

Poor family life partly explains Oklahoma’s low education rankings. Too many children go to school unmotivated and unprepared to learn. The 2025 Oklahoma test results show that – with almost three out of four students not proficient in reading, well below the national average. That, despite a huge 51% increase in per capita student spending since 2017. “We need to get back to the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic,” he says, “and spend less time on peripheral issues.” Children who become good at the fundamentals become critical thinkers, good workers, and perhaps most importantly, good employers. “We need more of that,” he adds.

Merrick was critical of the state legislature. “Year after year, conservative bills are being shut down by the state legislature. The House and Senate are controlled from the top down, but should be from the bottom up. We have to know that the people in charge have our best interests at heart.”

Expansion of green energy projects in the state of Oklahoma, especially in the Panhandle and rural areas, is another concern of Merrick’s. Calling it a property rights issue, he wonders how much damage wind and solar projects are doing to the environment they’re supposed to protect. “I would propose,” he says, “a moratorium on all these projects, until these questions are answered and proper regulations are put in place.”

In addition, solar and wind are much less reliable and more expensive sources of energy than fossil fuels, according to energy expert and author Alex Epstein. As an example, he said the price of electricity in Germany doubled in 20 years after that country increased its reliance on wind and solar power. Their rates are now three times those of the U.S.

Merrick says protecting our individual data is another emerging problem, and not enough people are talking about it. The push from some quarters for a government-backed Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) must be stopped, he says, as that system could enable government to track, regulate and perhaps control your financial transactions, and make each of us a prime target for cyberattacks.

A few quick takes on other issues:

Abortion: “I’m going to stand for life every time. Even though surgical abortions have stopped in Oklahoma, there’s still chemical abortions happening every day. We need to end that, because a life in the womb is still being taken.”

State Constitution: “I believe our state constitution needs massive reform and I would be in favor of looking at that.”

Taxes: “We should move to a Fair Tax (consumption based) model and away from income, property and corporate taxes. It’s the fairest system because rich people pay more because they buy more things than poorer people. Plus it’s completely voluntary – you choose to implement how much taxes you pay.”

DARRELL WEAVER

“My family has always been about faith, family and service,” says State Senator Darrell Weaver (R-Moore) who is running for lieutenant governor. “We would always ask, what will you leave behind?”

Born the middle of five children, Weaver’s mom was an LPN nurse and his dad was a hard-working oil field pumper. Despite earning a BA in Accounting from Cameron University in 1986 and later an MBA from Oklahoma Christian University (OCU), he already knew that his calling was in law enforcement. The motivating event was the famous Geronimo bank murders of 1984, when one man walked into this Lawton-area bank and killed four people. One was a coach’s wife, who was pregnant at the time. “It shocked the conscience of not just Oklahoma, but the entire nation,” he said.

So In 1987, he started what turned out to be a 28-year career with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN). At first, he says he didn’t know the difference between alfalfa and marijuana. Now, he says, “if you walk across the parking lot of a Walmart, you can smell the difference.”

Weaver climbed the ranks until 2006, when he was appointed director of OBN, a position he held until he

decided it was time to retire in 2015. In 2014, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Hall of Fame. During his tenure, he combated human trafficking and the Mexican drug cartels, who were bringing deadly illegal drugs into Oklahoma. He remembers spending many a night out in the fields with a machine gun in hand, waiting for the drug dealers to come out of the patches.

From 2015 to 2018, he served as the CEO of Big Brothers and Sisters of Oklahoma, a statewide non-profit organization that provides mentoring relationships between adults and children facing adversity. The aim is to provide our youth with a stable, consistent role model to help improve their self-esteem, decision making, educational achievement and overall well-being. Weaver mentioned that if you’re a child of an incarcerated parent, you’re seven times more likely to be incarcerated yourself. “That statistic should alarm everyone,” he says.

Weaver was elected to the State Senate in 2018 and reelected without opposition in 2022 – “either because I’m doing a great job or no one else wanted the job,” he says. He’s chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee, which covers firearms legislation, law enforcement training, crime and punishment and motor vehicles. His committee got 16 bills out this year, a Senate record. Perhaps the highlight was Senate Bill 2818, which became law earlier this year. Calling it “the most important Second Amendment legislation since constitutional carry,” it allows a person to defensively display a weapon or firearm when a reasonable person believes it is necessary for self defense or defense of their property.

Weaver has also advocated for our growing aerospace industry, enhancing economic development opportunities and workforce development. Aerospace produced $44 billion worth of revenue last year, second only to oil and gas, which produced $55 billion.

Feeling a strong desire to improve the quality of life of all Oklahomans, and to effectively address the state’s most pressing problems, Weaver decided now is the right time to run for lieutenant governor.

He seeks to expand on the great job current lieutenant governor Matt Pinnell has done in tourism by promoting the attractiveness of our large lakes, such as Texoma and Eufaula, and by promoting the nation’s interest in our Native American tribes. He also wants to build on his senate work by enhancing workforce development (especially in our rural areas), by promoting small business, public safety and by using his office as a bully pulpit to improve the health outcomes of Oklahomans. “We’re not a very healthy state,” he said, echoing the remarks made by Jake Merrick.

Weaver concluded with this: “You’re going to hear from all kinds of candidates – and there are some wonderful people running. But some will tell you what you want to hear. Everything I did at the Bureau and in the Senate, for the last 16 years, has been recorded. So what I tell people is drill down… vet me hard. I won’t disappoint you.

And I’ll always tell you the truth.”