Oklahoma is among the top 10 states with the highest poverty rate. That's something you'll never hear MAGA Rep. Kevin Hern talk about. Because he doesn’t care. But I care deeply about this. I'm running for Congress in Oklahoma's 1st District to defeat Hern because it’s wrong for 193,524 Oklahoma children to be living in poverty.
Here’s the problem: 599,003 Oklahomans living in poverty, with 97,415 in Tulsa County alone. In Tulsa Public Schools, 61.9% of the 32,598 students are economically disadvantaged and on the federal free or reduced-price lunch program. More than one in five Oklahoma children live in poverty and one in three Oklahomans living in poverty are in single-mother households. The poverty rate is highest for those who did not complete high school and for those living in rural and small-town Oklahoma. The majority of the poor in Oklahoma are white.
It’s cold in Oklahoma and I worry about those children. I’m thankful Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan that allocated Oklahoma $70.3 million for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program to help families pay their gas and electric bills. But MAGA Rep. Kevin Hern voted NO to this bill.
I’m thankful Democrats passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law with its grant program to help public schools become energy efficient with cleaner, healthier classrooms where thousands of Oklahoma teachers teach, and thousands of Oklahoma students learn. But Hern voted NO to this bill.
The more you look at how Kevin Hern votes, the more you learn about who he is. Hern voted YES to the Paycheck Protection Program so he could receive $1.2 million for his McDonald’s franchises. Hern voted NO to helping Oklahomans but YES to helping himself.
Kevin Hern doesn’t talk about poverty, but he has a plan. It’s called the Republican Study Committee budget plan that will eliminate the federal free and reduced-price lunch program, allow states to funnel federal education funds to private schools, raise the age to receive Social Security benefits, and cut Medicare.
Our campaign is about securing our democracy by expanding our middle-class. We want laws and policy that move Americans out of poverty. That means supporting Unions and the rights of workers to organize and bargain for fair wages. That means supporting and fully funding public schools – because education is the best means to lift Oklahomans out of poverty. And it means protecting Social Security, protecting Medicare, and rebuilding our manufacturing base.
I'm running for Congress because I want Oklahoma moving forward. Oklahoma’s high poverty rate is a national embarrassment. We must talk about it, we must figure it out, and we must work to address it. If Oklahoma wants a better future, this is the direction we must go and with your support we will. Together we can stop Oklahoma's top MAGA politician, Kevin Hern, from implementing his MAGAnomics budget plan.
