Agricultural News
Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt Makes it Five GOP Contenders to Replace Senator Jim Inhofe Early in 2023
Fri, 15 Apr 2022 20:14:42 EDT
Former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt has filed to run for U.S. Senate on the final day of filing to run for office in Oklahoma. Pruitt will seek the seat being vacated early in 2023 by Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe.
Pruitt's move to make it official on Friday came after it was reported last month that he was weighing a run, making calls to gauge support in a crowded Republican primary. Already, Rep. Markwayne Mullin, former Oklahoma Speaker of the House T.W Shannon, Inhofe's former chief of staff Luke Holland and state Sen. Nathan Dahm are set to battle it out for the Senate seat. Former Congresswoman Kendra Horn is the lone Democrat to enter the race.
Shortly after Pruitt filed for the office- Oklahoma Farm Report's Ron Hays spent a few minutes on the phone with the former EPA Chief- and asked why the interest in running. "Ron, I tell you as I contemplated this decision- as you indicated I left the administration back in 2018 after serving the President for a couple of years and led on some consequential things like the Waters of the US and getting out of the Paris Treaty" and he adds that four years later- things are going the wrong way on those issues and more and so "I could not stand by idly and not respond- I care too much about these things- I care too much how we as a country are a light to the world and we need to do things differently and how dependent the world is on us for energy and geopolitical issues- so "I make the decision to get in today- I'm excited about the race and I'm excited about being a voice for Oklahoma- people know when I was Attorney General I was a fighter- I was a fighter when I was in Washington, DC- we got things done but I didn't make it personal either and we need that kind of leadership in the US Senate."
Pruitt was well liked by much of the Oklahoma Ag Community for his work at both the state level and in Washington on the Waters of the US- and his opening up EPA to welcome ag groups from our state and across the US to actually meet with EPA officials- something ag leaders told Pruitt was a first for many of them.
Watchers of this special Senate Race say Pruitt entering the race late compared to the other GOP candidates puts him at a disadvantage- but Pruitt is the only one of those running who has won a statewide election as Attorney General, which gives him needed name recognition. One unknown is how the charges of scandals while at the EPA could hurt his chances of winning the primary outright or being one of the top two finishers to force a runoff in August.
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear the complete conversation that Hays and Pruitt had Friday afternoon.
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