How A Retired Teacher Won A Seat In Oklahoma’s Legislature — And Flipped A Red District Blue In The Process

How a Retired Teacher Won a Seat in Oklahoma’s Legislature — and Flipped a Red District Blue in the Process

In the midst of a shortage of teachers and a crisis in education funding, the people of Oklahoma have elected a retired public school teacher to serve in the state legislature, causing a historically Republican district to turn blue.

Karen Gaddis, a Democrat and 68 years old, secured victory in a special election held on Tuesday, winning 52 percent of the votes in an eastern Tulsa County house seat. The district had been under Republican control since the early 1990s, as reported by Tulsa World.

Gaddis expressed her belief that the public is frustrated with the lack of leadership in the Oklahoma legislature. She highlighted broken promises of pay raises for teachers, stating that the leadership had assured such increases, especially at the start of the recent session, but failed to deliver.

Gaddis’s win is particularly significant, following a surge of 26 educators who ran for office in Oklahoma last year. Out of those 26, only five managed to secure a seat. Many viewed these campaigns as a response to the state’s education funding crisis.

School districts in Oklahoma have been resorting to school closures and implementing four-day school weeks in order to cut costs. Teacher salaries have remained stagnant, and efforts to raise them have been unsuccessful, resulting in Oklahoma having one of the lowest pay rates for teachers across the nation. As a result, many teachers are leaving Oklahoma to seek higher salaries in neighboring states. The 2016 Teacher of the Year in Oklahoma, for instance, relocated to Texas this year after earning a meager $35,000.

Education is Gaddis’s top priority, and she aims to increase teacher pay by $10,000 rather than the proposed $1,000. In order to fund this increase, she plans to tax the wealthy. She also intends to address emergency teacher hiring practices that compensate for low pay by employing unqualified teachers and advocate for smaller class sizes, updated textbooks and equipment, and affordable higher education.

Gaddis, who hails from Tulsa, has spent 40 years as an educator, primarily teaching high school math in Tulsa Public Schools.

Gaddis had previously run for the House seat in November against Rep. Dan Kirby, the then-incumbent, who resigned in February following allegations of sexual harassment raised by a staff member.

Campaign donations for Gaddis came from across the country, with her first donation originating from Hawaii. While she is unsure if her victory in a historically Republican district will have an impact on other elections in the traditionally red state, she believes that her win can raise awareness. Additionally, Gaddis hopes that her success will inspire other teachers to run for office, as former students have expressed their intentions to do so, stating, "’If Mrs. Gaddis can do it, I can too.’"

Gaddis believes that her four decades of teaching have prepared her for working in a bipartisan manner, emphasizing the importance of getting the job done, regardless of the individuals she has to collaborate with.