Centrist Independent Voter endorses Jim Priest in Oklahoma’s August 25 Democratic runoff for the United States Senate.
Priest is not a conventional politician. He practiced law for more than three decades, principally in employment and civil-rights matters, and later led nonprofit organizations providing family services, workforce development and employment training. He has also served as an ordained minister.
He is not entirely new to electoral politics. Priest was the Democratic nominee for Oklahoma attorney general in 2010, losing the general election to Scott Pruitt. But most of his career has been spent outside government.
That varied experience does not substitute for legislative service, but it gives him a substantial record of resolving disputes, managing organizations and helping people navigate difficult circumstances.
More importantly, Priest is running as the kind of Democrat who understands that winning office and governing in Oklahoma require reaching beyond the Democratic base.
He says he would enter the Senate as a Democrat but work with practical problem-solvers in either party, specifically naming Republican Senator James Lankford as someone with whom he could collaborate. His campaign stresses listening, compromise, institutional integrity and useful results rather than ideological performance.
Tariffs and Congressional Authority
Priest’s position on tariffs is particularly welcome. He correctly identifies tariffs as taxes that are largely paid by American consumers and businesses, not by foreign governments. He connects unpredictable tariffs to the higher costs Oklahoma farmers face for fertilizer, machinery and replacement parts, and argues that Congress should reclaim its constitutional authority over trade policy.
That combination of economic realism and concern about congressional authority is badly needed in both parties.
Foreign Policy
Priest’s foreign-policy program remains incomplete, but its general direction is encouraging. He says America is strongest when it stands with its allies, leads steadily and restores its reputation as a reliable democratic partner.
Centrist Independent Voter would like clearer positions from him on Ukraine, NATO, Israel, China and defense policy. Nevertheless, his internationalist instincts appear preferable to the isolationism and hostility toward alliances now common in parts of the Republican Party.
Domestic Policy and Fiscal Questions
Priest’s domestic agenda includes protecting rural hospitals, improving mental-health and addiction treatment, supporting public schools and teacher pay, expanding broadband, banning congressional stock trading and increasing governmental accountability.
These are serious concerns, although his campaign has said too little about their cost or about the taxes, spending reductions and broader fiscal choices required to carry them out.
A willingness to propose worthwhile programs must eventually be accompanied by a willingness to explain how the country will pay for them.
The Alternative
Priest’s opponent, N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, led the first primary by a substantial margin, and her campaign speaks convincingly about people who often feel unseen by government.
But Thomas has made removing President Trump from office a defining priority. She has said she would work during her first 100 days to “impeach, remove and convict” him.
There are two problems with that approach.
Centrist Independent Voter has substantial objections to Trump and could support impeachment if justified by the evidence and properly brought before Congress. But impeachment is a constitutional process, not a campaign slogan. A senator cannot impeach a president; the House of Representatives must first approve articles of impeachment. The Senate can then remove a president only by a two-thirds vote to convict.
Building a Senate campaign around accomplishing that result within 100 days is neither a realistic governing program nor a plausible strategy for representing Oklahoma.
Priest also opposes Trump’s conduct and policies, but he distinguishes opposition from political theater. He says he would work with the president where cooperation served the public and oppose him where it did not.
That is a more practical understanding of a senator’s responsibilities.
A Difficult General Election
The winner of the runoff will face Republican nominee Kevin Hern. Either Democrat will be a substantial underdog.
Oklahoma has not elected a Democratic senator since 1990, and Hern enters the campaign with enormous partisan and financial advantages. But long odds do not make the choice of nominee unimportant. Political parties should put forward candidates capable of speaking to voters outside their most committed constituencies and of governing constructively if elected.
Priest’s policy program needs greater fiscal detail, and his positions on major foreign-policy issues remain insufficiently developed. Those are meaningful reservations. They do not outweigh the contrast in experience, temperament and approach to public service.
Jim Priest offers Oklahoma Democrats a candidate with a record of professional and nonprofit leadership, a belief in working with America’s allies and in constitutional government, an understanding of the consequences of tariffs, and an explicit willingness to work across party lines.
Centrist Independent Voter endorses Jim Priest in Oklahoma’s Democratic runoff for the United States Senate.