Of the two candidates who advanced to the Republican runoff for the open Senate District 33 seat, one is in the midst of opening her own business and has Gov. Kevin Stitt’s endorsement, while the other declined to discuss her campaign for this article.
Businesswoman and Broken Arrow Vice Mayor Christi Gillespie, 55, and actor and businesswoman Shelley Gwartney, 38, both advanced June 18 from a field of four GOP candidates to the Aug. 27 runoff. Gillespie received 2,081 votes (44.3 percent), and Gwartney received 1,174 votes (24.99 percent).
The winner will face Democrat Bob Willis, 74, in the Nov. 5 general election.
Gillespie is currently opening Let’s Play BA, a children’s entertainment center.
“I’m the vice mayor of a city — the third-largest city in Oklahoma — and I’m in the middle of opening a new business,” Gillespie said. “There’s a lot going on.”
Centered around Broken Arrow and located entirely within the southeastern portion of Tulsa County, SD 33 is currently held by firebrand Sen. Nathan Dahm (R-Broken Arrow), who is currently the chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party and was ineligible to run for reelection owing to term limits.
Public safety, education define SD 33 runoff
In the SD 33 Republican primary, Gillespie and Gwartney participated in a lengthy Tulsa Republican Party primary debate moderated by Fox 23’s Rick Maranon. Asked to participate in a runoff debate, Gillespie agreed, but Gwartney declined.
At first, Gwartney told NonDoc she would answer questions for this article by email. Asked if she would conduct a phone interview, she withdrew the email offer.
In her own phone interview, Gillespie said her experience as a Broken Arrow City Council member since 2019 makes her the best candidate to hit the ground running at the Capitol.
“I’m a proven conservative Republican. I have a proven record, and that is what sets me apart,” Gillespie said. “Anybody can say what they would do, but I can actually say that I have done these things.”
For Gillespie, she said “these things” include voting in favor of “individual liberty” — such as against COVID-19-era mask mandates — and prioritizing public safety funding.
“Because I am a municipal leader, I’m the only person running that actually understands how public safety is funded and how it actually works,” Gillespie said. “Everyone can say, ‘We back the blue,’ and that’s easy. (…) But there’s a lot more to that.”
In his endorsement of her campaign, Stitt praised Gillespie’s leadership during the pandemic.
“Christi Gillespie is a proven, conservative leader with the courage to stand up and make tough choices,” Stitt said. “When Covid hit, Christi was a voice of reason as vice mayor of Broken Arrow. They didn’t shut the city down; they stayed open due to her leadership, and the city thrived.”
Gwartney, for her part, calls herself a “Christian conservative Republican” and says on her website that she has a record of improving organizations, such as a local flailing PTA. She is a state committee member for the Tulsa County Republican Party. According to the bio on her website, she is a board member of the Tulsa County Moms for Liberty chapter and is a Senate district captain for Oklahomans for Health and Parental Rights. Additionally, she says she formed a moms ministry at BattleCreek Church.
Gwartney does not list specific policy goals on her website or social media pages, but she has indicated support for parental rights in education, lowering inflation and stopping illegal immigration at the country’s southern border.
Gillespie lists economic development, public safety, education and individual liberty as the primary issues on her website.
Gillespie, a former PTA mom herself, said many of the concerns she hears when she knocks on doors in the district are about education and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters.
“People are concerned about the rhetoric, but when I get into more details, people are excited that there are some improvements happening in different districts across our state,” Gillespie said.
Gillespie declined to say if she felt Walters was helping or hurting public education in the state.
“Just because somebody says something differently than I would say it doesn’t mean it maybe doesn’t need to be said,” Gillespie said. “I hope that at the end of the day, that he and his administration are concentrating on reading scores and on building up our children into getting our kids actually graduating out of high school knowing all the things that they need to know to move on.”
Gillespie also said the “No. 1 issue” people bring up when she knocks on doors is public safety, and she said she supports establishing public safety districts to allow municipalities to use ad valorem taxes to fund police and fire departments.
“We need to send it to a vote of the people so that each city can have a vote for public safety districts,” Gillespie said.
While the Oklahoma Legislature created the Oklahoma Public Safety Protection District Act by passing SB 858 in 2021, a June 2023 opinion from Attorney General Gentner Drummond advised that any city and county creating a public safety district would likely violate Article 10, Section 7 regarding local taxation benefits.
Candidates signal Senate GOP Caucus alignment
While Gillespie seemed cautiously supportive of the way Dahm conducted himself in the Senate — where he was reprimanded by leadership and engaged in a filibuster this session — Gwartney has indicated on Facebook her full support of the right flank of the Senate Republican Caucus.
“I am the only SD 33 candidate who has affirmed that I will support conservative Senator Bullard to lead the state Senate,” Gwartney said.
Sen. David Bullard (R-Durant) is a caucus candidate to replace term-limited Sen. Greg Treat (R-OKC) as upper chamber’s next leader, called the president pro tempore. Drawing support from the most fervently conservative members in the Senate, Bullard lost on February’s first “designee” ballot to Sen. Greg McCortney (R-Ada).
But McCortney lost his reelection bid in June. In July, Senate Republicans again held a vote to designate their next leader and chose Sen. Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle). The formal vote to choose a Senate president pro tempore will not occur until early next year, at a fourth of the Senate Republican Caucus will be different by then.
Gillespie declined to say for whom she plans to vote for president pro tempore if elected.
“I will vote for the most conservative candidate once that time comes,” Gillespie said.
Asked about the controversial and ideologically rigid politician she is running to replace, Gillespie said she agrees with Dahm’s conservative views but is “my own person.”
“I am not Nathan Dahm 2.0. But at the same time, I am a strong constitutional conservative. Nathan Dahm and I probably agree on most important issues,” Gillespie said. “But just like what I [said] about Ryan Walters, I might have a different way that I go about getting to a result, because I’m a different person. I’m a woman. I have been in business for 30-plus years. I own my own business. I have been through a domestic violence situation many years ago. Because of that, I can’t say that I’m going to just go in and be the same person that Nathan Dahm was.”
Gillespie added that Dahm would likely be one of the people whose advice she would respect while in office.
“I want to be a true representation of the people of Senate District 33,” Gillespie said. “I believe I’m the best candidate for that — and the best person for that — because I’ve already done that.”
(Correction: This article was updated at 7:45 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 15, to correct attribution of a quote regarding the Senate president pro tempore race. NonDoc regrets the error.)
