(The debate: You can now watch the full Oklahoma County DA debate and read NonDoc’s recap of it.)
Ahead of the Nov. 8 general election, Oklahoma County district attorney candidates Kevin Calvey and Vicki Behenna have agreed to participate in a debate co-hosted by NonDoc and News 9.
The one-hour debate — titled Discretion Discussion — is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11, at The Auditorium at The Douglass, 600 N. High Ave. in Oklahoma City. The debate is free and open to the public.
Questions will be written and asked exclusively by professional journalists. NonDoc’s Tres Savage and News 9’s Storme Jones will be the lead moderators of the debate, which will be live-streamed on News 9’s website and Facebook page, as well as on NonDoc’s Facebook page and the Facebook pages of other partners. The Frontier and The Oklahoman are also media partners for this debate, with The Frontier leading up fact checking efforts and The Oklahoman’s Clytie Bunyan assisting with moderation. (Other media outlets wishing to host the livestream on their pages are encouraged to contact NonDoc.)
NonDoc’s broader 2022 public debate series is supported by financial sponsors like the State Chamber of Oklahoma, AARP Oklahoma, McSpadden, Milner & Robinson, the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center, the Oklahoma Association of REALTORS and Overman Legal Group.
To be reminded of this Oklahoma County DA debate, you can RSVP to its event page on Facebook.
Background ahead of the Oklahoma County DA debate
In June, Calvey finished just shy of winning the Republican primary election outright and avoiding an August runoff. Nonetheless, Calvey received 60.71 percent of the vote in the August runoff, compared to 39.29 for opponent Gayland Gieger.
Prior to being elected to the Oklahoma County Board of Commissioners in November 2018, Calvey served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1998 to 2006 and again from 2014 to 2018. He also served in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of captain and being awarded the Bronze Star for his work prosecuting cases in Iraq from January 2007 to January 2008.
Behenna, a Democrat making her first run for office, worked for more than 25 years as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma. There, she assisted with the prosecution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in 1997.
Behenna currently works in a private practice with an emphasis on “white collar defense, government relations and health care.” She is also the executive director of the Oklahoma Innocence Project.
In the June primary, Behenna received 28,478 votes (64.45 percent), topping attorney Mark Myles, who received 15,708 votes (35.55 percent).
Oklahoma’s general election will be held Nov. 8. The deadline to register to vote for the general election is Friday, Oct. 14.
