On May 14, 1967, passenger rail service between Tulsa and Oklahoma City ended. By 1971, all passenger rail service ended in Tulsa. By 1979, all passenger rail service had ended in Oklahoma. Oklahoma City got it back in 1999. Tulsa has never recovered. I’m running for Congress in Oklahoma’s First District to make high-speed rail a reality for Tulsa.
During our campaign kickoff last Thursday, I outlined a platform focused on building economic growth in Tulsa and Oklahoma by developing, building, and sustaining new technologies and critical industries. To do this we must rebuild our infrastructure – our roads, our bridges, our levees. But we must do more than just rebuild. We must grow our infrastructure. Our vision is to make high-speed rail between Tulsa and Oklahoma City a reality. I pledged to work with the next Tulsa Democratic Mayor to make it happen.
Now is the time, with this election – because it will never happen with MAGA Rep. Kevin Hern in Congress. Right now, Oklahoma is being left behind. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill passed by Democrats will invest $66 billion in new funding for high-speed passenger rail projects – the largest investment in our country’s history. We can’t let history pass us by. With Hern – it will.
Because Hern voted NO to this historic bill. Hern voted NO to high-speed rail for Tulsa. He voted NO to fixing Tulsa’s broken levee system. He voted NO to moving Tulsa towards a stronger economic future.
That’s no surprise because it wasn’t hyper-partisan politicians like Hern who built Oklahoma. It was Oklahoma leaders who built Oklahoma – leaders like Democratic Governor and U.S. Senator Robert S. Kerr – born and raised in Indian Territory. It was Kerr who relentlessly fought for the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. It’s why we have the Tulsa Ports – a navigable waterway from Tulsa to the Mississippi River.
Our campaign is about ending MAGA politics in Oklahoma.
Hern is using this office to implement cuts to Social Security, eliminate our National School Lunch program, and plan the next government shutdown.
I believe this office should be about planning our future. That’s why our sights are set – not on the next election, but 5 years, 10 years and 15 years into the future. We see high-speed rail from Tulsa to Oklahoma City, to Kansas City, to Little Rock. We want to create and sustain a regional economic hub that brings jobs and economic security to all Oklahomans. We want the First District right in the middle of that hub.
Our campaign is working day and night to tell Oklahomans the truth about Kevin Hern. When they hear that story there won’t be a place in the First District for MAGA extremism. To tell that story I need your help. Our campaign needs funding to get that message out.
