Oklahoma City mayoral candidates use different avenues to get people to the polls

Candidates for Oklahoma City mayor took to the streets as well as the phone lines, TV screens and social media this weekend for one last chance to get out their campaign messages.

Voters will head to the polls Tuesday, choosing between incumbent Mayor David Holt, businesswoman Carol Hefner, attorney Frank Urbanic and Rose State professor Jimmy Lawson. Oklahoma County election officials said 343 people came out to vote early last Thursday and Friday, including for other municipal and school board elections in the county.

Lawson and campaign volunteers went door to door and placed yard signs Saturday. Urbanic held in-person meet and greets and did a live Q&A session on Facebook last week. Hefner had a myriad of volunteers getting the word out about her campaign. Holt used his Twitter, on which he has more than 45,000 followers, to encourage early voting if roads allowed and also shared campaign endorsements.

Hefner and Holt were also still raking in high-dollar donations through early last week, according to reports filed with the city clerk's office. The most recent contribution reporting period ended Jan. 24 but candidates are required to report any donation over $1,000 to the city clerk within 24 hours between the Jan. 24 and the election.

The Oklahoman has published candidate Q&A's, profiles, debate coverage and campaign finance information to help voters stay informed.

Oklahoma City mayor election central: All about the 2022 candidates and more

Efforts to get out the vote different for each candidate

Trudging through a mixture of melting ice and snow, Lawson, along with campaign volunteers Andre LaMont and Beth Hardwick, knocked doors Saturday on the northwest Oklahoma City street he grew up on.

There was a sense of eagerness to get the word out to anyone yet unreached by the grassroots campaign, as well as nostalgic awe for Lawson when walking up to his childhood home.

Lawson's late father, Bishop Lawson Sr., gave him the idea to run for mayor just days before he unexpectedly died in 2019. Now, days before the mayoral election, Lawson fondly recalled helping his father put the neighborhood's first basketball goal in their yard, the pole of which is still standing.

"We had like 25, 30 kids (here) every day," Lawson said.

More: Jimmy Lawson vies for mayor's office, prioritizing homelessness and empowerment of youth

While Holt told The Oklahoman he had nothing public planned in the days leading up to the election, his campaign distributed thousands of yard signs over the last month.

The local International Association of Firefighters union, which endorsed Holt in August along with the local Fraternal Order of Police union, is one of three pick-up locations for the campaigns yard signs. Union members put together 5,000 signs for Holt, said IAFF president Cameron Weems.

"Every day we have people coming in to pick up signs for their yards," Weems told The Oklahoman by text.

More: David Holt seeks second OKC mayoral term after turbulent first years of highs and lows

Holt's campaign also purchased, according to Federal Communications Commission records, $170,000 in television ads airing from early January until Election Day. Just over $80,000 of that was spent on ads running on News9, and $35,000 to run on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC.

"We're satisfied with the ability we have to bring our campaign to everyone's TV, radio, mailbox and phone," Holt said.

According to FCC records, Hefner's campaign spent nearly $69,000 in ad buys, a majority of that being used to buy airtime on ESPN and Fox News Channel starting in early January until Election Day. The campaign spent $11,000 for ads to run between Feb. 1-8 on local channels KOCO, KFOR, KWTV and WWLS radio affiliates.

More: Conservative businesswoman Carol Hefner running for mayor as government outsider

Hefner's campaign manager Vivienne Hasenbeck told The Oklahoman Wednesday that the campaign was still holding fundraisers and had volunteers making phone calls, going door to door and speaking at homeowner's association meetings in support of Hefner.

"If there's something you can do on a campaign, it's happening," Hasenbeck said.

Urbanic did not respond to questions about his efforts to get people to the polls, but has been active on his campaign Facebook site. Saturday, he participated in a diaper drive for dads in conjunction with gubernatorial candidate Natalie Bruno and State House district 88 candidate Joe Lewis.

More: How Frank Urbanic went from lockdown lawsuits to mayoral aspiration

Despite nonpartisan office, candidates bring party lines into race

Each of the candidates have touted similar priorities — such as ending homelessness, improving streets, funding public safety and supporting education — but all have different ideas about achieving their goals.

Holt's challengers have also taken different avenues to criticize the former state Senator's four years in OKC's nonpartisan mayoral office, where he is one of nine votes on the city council and makes $24,000 a year.

Urbanic, whose website promotes himself as a "longtime grassroots Republican," took issue with Holt's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, having filed a lawsuit in November of 2020 when Holt issued an emergency proclamation imposing Gov. Kevin Stitt's order for bars and restaurants to close at 11 p.m.

The proclamation came as part of a 10-day campaign asking residents to be more vigilant in stemming the surge of COVID-19 cases, and Holt updated the proclamation 11 days later, ending local police enforcement of the curfew. However, Holt's original proclamation said it would last as long as Stitt's executive order.

Urbanic, 41, ultimately dropped the suit in January but still questions whether local and state government have the legal authority to shut down businesses during states of emergency. Throughout his campaign he has talked about how his lawsuit "ended the shutdown" of businesses.

More: OKC mayoral candidate drops lockdown-era lawsuit against city

Lawson, the only registered Democrat in the race, has largely kept partisan politics, as well as criticizing Holt, out of his campaign.

However, Lawson did use Holt's absence from the race's only debate to remind listeners that Holt did not speak up when the state was waiting to hear Gov. Kevin Stitt's decision on whether to spare Julius Jones from execution.

Holt told a News9 reporter it hadn't occurred to him to cancel a Bricktown tree lighting the day of Jones scheduled execution.

More: 'We will never give up that fight.' Julius Jones is off death row, but will he ever be free?

Both Urbanic and Hefner, 60, have pinned the blame of the city's homelessness problem on the mayor, with Hefner claiming someone is busing unhoused folks from California to Oklahoma City. The two right-wing candidates have also criticized Holt, a moderate Republican, for his recent support of President Biden's infrastructure bill.

Oklahoma City municipal elections see low voter turnout

Voter turnout for Oklahoma City municipal elections is typically low. Only 25,997 voted in the 2018 mayoral election, or 8.4% of registered voters. In the 2019 MAPS 4 election, 44,461 voted, or 13.5% of registered voters.

Election officials said 357,789 voters are eligible to vote for mayor on Tuesday.

The race for mayor, like that of 2018, is the only municipal item on the ballot for Oklahoma City voters. Holt used Twitter to remind people that they may be Oklahoma City residents even if they get their mail from another municipality or don't live within the Oklahoma City school district.

To avoid a runoff election in April, a candidate for OKC mayor must receive 50% plus one vote. In 2018, Holt received 78.5% of the vote and his recent campaign polling showed a 55-point lead over his closest competitor.

When and how to vote

• General Election: Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Go to www.okvoterportal.okelections.us to find your polling place.

• Runoff Election: April 5, 2022, if necessary. In the event no candidate receives a majority of all the votes cast at the general election, a runoff election will be held between the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the general election.

Editor's note: This story was edited to correct the details of the proclamation issued by Mayor David Holt in November of 2020, allowing local police enforcement of Gov. Kevin Stitt's 11 p.m. curfew for bars and restaurants to slow the spread of COVID-19.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC mayor candidates Lawson, Urbanic Hefner, seek to unseat David Holt