Fifth Congressional District: For Stephanie Bice

While flipping through the flurry of laudatory mailers and television advertisements, in the midst of  enduring the stream of harsh attack messages coming to the mailbox and transmitted via cable and in unsolicited telephone calls, and in the course of passing the yard signs and billboards that reflect – in a most traditional way – the preferences of residents across central Oklahoma, it might be easy to miss the heart of the question that must be answered in the mind of each dutiful voter: 
Which woman is the one most suited to represent Oklahoma’s Fifth Congressional District in the halls of power, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.? 

In 2018, The City Sentinel remained neutral in the general election for this seat in Congress. A hard-working Democrat, Kendra Horn, unseated a not-so-hard-working Republican, Steve Russell. In a close race, he was defeated and she was elected, taking the oath of office as the first member of her party to win the seat since the 1970s. 

The City Sentinel endorsed Rep. Horn for the Democratic nomination during this year’s summer primary season. 
The newspaper endorsed state Senator Stephanie Bice in both the primary and the runoff for the Republican nomination. Bice ran second in the primary, but won the nomination with a strong six percent edge in the run-off.

The resulting general election campaign presents a choice between the best-possible Democrat and the best-possible Republican. 

Horn has not ignored her Republican colleagues in the state congressional delegation, working with them for the most part on issues of common ground, while establishing a moderately liberal record in office. She has supported some measures which sponsors crafted to damage the oil and gas – but insists those votes have not impacted Oklahoma jobs. In her own way, she has tried to be a team-player for her party, without explicitly sneering at the things that make Oklahoma a place people are moving into, and not leaving. 

Bice is a defender of Oklahoma’s essential heritage industries – energy and agriculture – an advocate for education, a defender of the state’s best traditional values, and a passionate defender of life and the pursuit of happiness for all our people. 
Sen. Bice understands economics, and knows that successful business operations flow from mutually free choices among consumers and producers in an as-free-as-rationally-possible market. 
If re-elected, Horn will support national Democratic leaders and committee members who reject the beliefs of most Oklahomans. That is a statement of fact, not a smear. 

Bice was subjected to brutal and often false accusations from non-Oklahomans during the early stages of this election cycle. Horn has endured her share of bumps and bruises, as well. 
Now, in a year like any other in modern American history, it is time for the majority – those who have voted absentee (or will soon), those who vote early at county election boards, and those who go to the polls on November 3 – to choose. 

The City Sentinel endorses Stephanie Bice for the Fifth District Congressional seat.