In State Senate District 47, an open metro-area seat that each remaining Republican candidate has likened to a microcosm of Oklahoma, veteran Kelly Hines and health care professional Jenny Schmitt are looking to distinguish themselves ahead of this month’s GOP runoff election.
Hines, a retired U.S. Army colonel, and Schmitt, an advanced practice nurse anesthetist, finished atop a close three-way Republican primary. Schmitt has championed her deep ties to the district and ability to understand health issues affecting constituents, while Hines has advocated for tax reform and touted his broad leadership experience from the military.
The SD 47 runoff election, scheduled for Aug. 27, will decide who challenges Democrat Erin Brewer to succeed term-limited Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat (R-OKC). In the June primary, Hines placed first with 37.5 percent of the votes. Schmitt was the runner-up with 31.4 percent, narrowly beating out Aaron Curry, who did not advance after earning 31.1 percent support.
The two remaining Republicans are now competing to face off with Brewer, the owner of Oklahoma City’s RedPin Bowling Lounge and a public education advocate, in the Nov. 5 general election.
Both Hines and Schmitt spoke with NonDoc about what makes SD 47 special and how they are making their pitch to voters ahead of Aug. 27.
‘Get the right stakeholders in the room’
In Oklahoma, where voters rarely lack conservative candidates, Hines acknowledged that he and Schmitt share similar opinions on multiple policy points. However, he said his overall approach to legislative office distinguishes him.
“Looking at all the flyers that came out, you could probably put both of our pictures on each other’s flyers and send them out, because we’re very similar,” Hines said. “I would say for her, she’s kind of attacking this from a health care point of view. I’m more of, I’d almost say, a generalist. I’m attacking this from a leadership point of view that we don’t always get the right people in office — less on one policy and more on an overall individual that can bring people together and actually get stuff done.”
Schmitt emphasized her health care background not only to distinguish her from Hines, but also from other current lawmakers at the Oklahoma State Capitol where she has advocated for years to expand practice opportunities for certified registered nurse anesthetists, or CRNAs.
“What I think sets me apart — not just from Kelly Hines, but a lot of everyone else in the Senate — is that we do not have someone in Oklahoma City that can lead the policy discussions in a meaningful way over health care,” Schmitt said. “And there are going to be a lot of major health care conversations over the next few years.”
While the State Senate features lawmakers with backgrounds in aerospace, education and business, Schmitt said the Legislature will “drop the ball” on health care issues until someone with experience like hers is at the table.
To Schmitt’s point, the 12-member Senate Health and Human Services Committee has a real estate broker as its chairman, a home furnishings professional as its vice chairman and only one member with health care experience: Sen. Rob Standridge (R-Norman), a pharmacist leaving office owing to term limits.
While her advocacy has clashed with the Oklahoma State Medical Association at times, Schmitt specifically mentioned reducing the costs of health care as one of her primary concerns.
“I think I’m able to get the right stakeholders in the room to help facilitate those health care conversations,” said Schmitt, whose master’s degree is from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse/Mayo Clinic Health System. “That is the core of almost everything, because if you’re not healthy, you can’t learn, you can’t work.”
Hines, meanwhile, said his aerospace background could help bolster Oklahoma’s already strong ties to the aviation industry.
At a candidate forum before the June primary, Hines said Oklahoma is facing a “brain drain” problem where qualified, skilled workers are leaving the state to take careers elsewhere. That makes Oklahoma less attractive for companies large and small, he said.
“It’s not only about getting new [companies] to come, it’s retaining the most we have. It’s not just about trying to buy the big companies, get them to come here. It’s also about getting even the small companies to move here,” Hines said. “That’s not by just giving away tax incentives, which is a large part of how we’ve tried to attack that. We’ve got to make Oklahoma more viable for people who want to move here that have kids.”
Schmitt, Hines question mandate for Bibles in schools
Asked about State Superintendent for Public Instruction Ryan Walters’ push to incorporate Bibles into classrooms across the state, which several metro school districts have derided, Schmitt said she does not think such a directive from state government is necessary or would improve classroom outcomes.
“My thought is, isn’t [using the Bible as a document in classrooms] already legal?” Schmitt said. “I don’t support the idea of the government mandating things, like how the COVID vaccine was mandated, whether the intention behind it is good or not.”
As a candidate with school-age children in public schools, Schmitt said she is well aware of how many other curriculum requirements teachers must meet throughout the school year. She said religious instruction should not also fall on public school educators.
“I teach my kids religion at home,” Schmitt said.
If elected, Hines said his primary focus would be improving educational outcomes, and he said he would be curious how Walters’ mandate could affect that. He also acknowledged that Walters’ directive would likely require inclusion of other religious texts in public schools.
“I think it’s always been available to use it in historical context. I think that’s what Superintendent Walters was trying to do, but if you listen to him, that’s not what it sounds like,” Hines said. “I look at everything from this point of view: If we’re doing something, is it getting to the root of the problem? We’re talking about our kids’ education, how Oklahoma is ranking toward the bottom in the United States. So how is putting a Bible in every classroom going to improve our kids’ education and test performance? That’s what I would like to see.”
Hines said he would push for more focus on merit-based pay raises and bonuses for teachers performing well, as well as programs incentivizing high school students with an interest in education to remain in Oklahoma for college. Such a program should also incentivize students to stay after graduation to teach in Oklahoma schools, he said.
‘The different parts of the Republican Party’
Both Republican candidates argue that SD 47 stands out among other Oklahoma districts as a place where rural and urban divides blur, meaning voters’ priorities between and within parties can be less distinct.
Hines likened the district to a “cross-section of Oklahoma” in its entirety.
“The different parts of the Republican Party are represented pretty well. You’ve got urban area [Republicans], you’ve got what I would call ‘Republican soccer moms,’ you’ve got the grassroots movement, you’ve got what they call ‘establishment,'” Hines said. “I don’t like any of the names the Republican Party calls itself. It’s really kind of three different parties, which is a whole other problem. I don’t like the schism, the fracture we have within the Republican Party.”
Combined with his experience commanding diverse groups of people in the Army, Hines said the fact he can transcend those Republican Party subsections makes him a good candidate to represent SD 47’s different voter blocs.
“I think I can actually bridge some of these gaps and bring some unity in the Republican Party,” Hines said.
While Hines knows his goals as a candidate, at least one thing has left him puzzled: why he appears in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections’ database from 1985 to 1987.
Hines said the vague DOC entry has come up already during his campaign and that the timeframe aligns with his freshman year at Ada’s East Central University. At some point, he said, he attended a party that was shut down by police for underage drinking.
“If there was any type of serious criminal history in my background, I wouldn’t have the security clearance that I still do,” Hines said, noting he passed the necessary background checks to attain his officer rank and acquire a hand gun permit.
Hines said he was not arrested at the college party, and he said he does not know why the DOC database lists “probation/supervision movements” for him from Dec. 6, 1985, to Dec. 18, 1987, under DOC No. 152002.
Neither does the state corrections agency.
“There’s not much information in our systems,” Kay Thompson, DOC’s chief communications officer, said in an email.
Schmitt, meanwhile, saw a 2017 lawsuit filed against her and her husband for alleged automobile negligence. It was dismissed with prejudice in 2020 after multiple amendments to the petition. Schmitt called it “frivolous” and said there was no settlement with the plaintiffs.
“After picking my daughter up from school, there was a small scratch on her bumper, so I gave her my insurance card, and that was May 2016,” Schmitt said. “[They] did not even file a lawsuit until October 2017, and the investigators found out she had existing injuries. [The couple] was trying to get our insurance to cover it.”
Schmitt said she knows that appealing to moderate and independent voters outside of Republican Party lines will be important in SD 47.
“We have a lot of educated voters in our district that don’t just straight-party vote on their ballots,” Schmitt said. “People forget before (U.S. Rep. and Republican) Stephanie Bice was our representative, it was (former U.S. Rep and Democrat) Kendra Horn. (…) It’s kind of a transition between OKC and the more red districts to the north.”
Election Day for the SD 47 runoff is set for Tuesday, Aug. 27. A forum for the SD 47 runoff and other area Republican races is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 12, at the Will Rogers Garden Exhibition Center. Hosted by multiple local Republican groups — including the Edmond Republican Women’s Club and Republican Women of Central Oklahoma — the forum is scheduled to be moderated by Oklahoma County Assessor Larry Stein.
Schmitt confirmed that she plans to attend the Aug. 12 forum, while Hines cited other campaign efforts in saying he would not attend.
(Update: This article was updated at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6, to include additional information.)
