Sen. David Bullard
Have you ever been shopping for a used car online and everything in you is screaming, “This is a scam”? The salesman — a very gifted liar — is telling you this is a great buy and how it will solve all your problems, yet you know deep down it’s a lie. They promise greatness but deliver an already broken product.
Let me introduce you to the used junker known as the “open” or “jungle primary.” This has been done before — and it’s always been a disaster for conservative, traditional values and for real Republicans who believe in the platform. It will be no different for Oklahoma. This is the Democrats’ playbook for flipping Oklahoma “blue,” and the policies that follow will be everything you stand against. This used-car tactic of selling you a bill of goods is nothing new — just don’t fall for it. Tell them no!
When I turned eighteen, my grandfather reminded me, “You have to register Democrat.” Most people in Oklahoma were told that. Why? Because all elected officials were Democrats. Republicans, at the time, were like bald eagles — you might see one once in a while, but they were rare. During that time, you never heard a Republican demanding that Democrats allow us to vote on who we thought their nominee should be.
Now, reverse those roles. Republicans have a supermajority, and Democrats are demanding to have a say in who the Republican nominee is in our primary. Why? So they can pick the weakest candidate. They aren’t even trying to hide it. They want to pick the most moderate or liberal “Republican” they can find. Go look at the comments on the pages promoting this state question — they’re saying the quiet part out loud.
They admit they want to stop Republicans from picking “conservatives” and these so-called “bad candidates.” There’s a reason Oklahoma is becoming increasingly conservative: people are demanding and electing more conservative leaders at a rapid pace. The people behind SQ836 are working to achieve one goal: to ensure that candidates will advance who run on a Republican platform but will write policy like Democrats once elected.
A recent Gallup poll showed Americans are identifying as the most conservative we’ve ever been. Thirty-eight percent of Americans identified as “very socially conservative,” compared to 30% in 2021 — an 8% increase in five years among those who checked the most conservative box available. That’s a massive and telling shift. If that’s true of America, what do you think is happening in the most conservative state in the union? Oklahoma isn’t becoming more moderate, and certainly not more liberal. We are a conservative state — and we’re moving further that way.
Open or jungle primaries are designed to push that trend back to the left by rigging elections the left could not otherwise win. They’re meant to silence conservatives, our ideas, and our voices. Democrats should not be picking Republican nominees.
This is where we must be ready to be sold another bill of goods. The left will tell you that this system will “increase voter turnout” — just like the used-car salesman who says, “This thing runs like a top.” They won’t tell you how often you’ll need to add oil just to keep it running.
The jalopy of election systems — “jungle” or “open” primaries — will not increase voter turnout. It will only produce more liberal candidates who ignore Oklahoma conservatives.
According to an article written by OCPA, “Turnout trends appear far more linked to the time of an election and its competitiveness.” Even in Oklahoma City, “records show that far fewer voters participated in Holt’s most recent election than participated in state and federal elections run through the traditional system.”
Look at the recent debacle in Tulsa’s mayoral race, where Republicans had no one to vote for in the final election — two Democrats ran against each other, while Republicans lost their voice because of the jungle primary system. And that’s exactly the goal: to disenfranchise conservative Republicans. These systems are not designed to increase participation — they’re designed to remove the conservative option so you can’t vote the way you want.
You’ll hear claims that many voters are “disenfranchised” because they don’t get to vote for who they want. There’s only one reason that would be true: you chose not to be a Republican. In other words, you’re a Democrat or an Independent. There’s an easy solution — if you want to vote for Republicans in their primary, join the Republican Party.
These are Democrats who want to force Republicans to let them pick our candidate. Perhaps if Democrats stopped nominating far-left socialists, they’d have a better chance at winning votes. Instead, they want to force you to let them pick your nominee for you.
To put it another way — that’s like a divorced man demanding that his ex-wife let him choose who she dates. A very bad idea.
The only people being disenfranchised are conservatives. A jungle primary system will leave us without anyone to vote for in our own primary. And as I mentioned earlier, voter turnout will drop — as it did in OKC and Tulsa — because conservatives will have no real voice or choice. That doesn’t bother the left, because the only turnout they care about is their own. If conservative Republicans are left out, to them that’s “a just war.”
One last point, I promise (for now): the radio in this jalopy is very loud — probably the only thing that still works. So was the German propaganda machine as the Allies invaded Berlin. Led by Joseph Goebbels and the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, it convinced people that Jews were the problem and Americans were evil.
You’re going to hear plenty of false, sensationalized propaganda from the left about how “evil” our current primary system is — that it produces “bad candidates,” otherwise known as conservatives. Notice they never define what a “bad candidate” is. Press them, and they’ll describe real Republicans. To them, you are the problem.
I’ve been in the room with people who call conservatives in their districts “crazy.” They are coming for your right to vote. Rest assured, if they succeed, you will never have a voice again. The objective of the left has always been to silence those who speak truth.
A jungle primary is the tool by which they remove truth. And the longer this goes, the louder they’ll crank the radio.
Stay true to the principles of a Republic. We must maintain our voice to elect conservatives to the Oklahoma Legislature, to statewide office, and to our federal delegation. This movement has grown over the last decade into something the left cannot stand. They hate it — and they want you to go away.
Don’t.
For the sake of your conservative grandchildren — born and unborn — fight this with everything you have. Tell them no. Decline to sign. Vote no. Don’t sit quietly.
Jefferson said it best in a letter to William Smith in 1787:
“The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to public liberty.”
Those screaming the loudest that we must surrender a little freedom to solve problems that do not exist are the same ones who believe that to be free, they must first control you. The former is a trial of bad ideas leading to the permanent loss of freedom; the latter is the hallmark of socialist manipulation.
Don’t fall for either.
~ David Bullard