OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, a Republican holding a nonpartisan post, said Tuesday night that his own party invited a sharp voter backlash after Democrats seized both chambers of Congress.
In a social post he argued that when a party goes morally and intellectually empty, the public has every right to punish it, then urged Americans to focus on making the country good again. He said the night had revived the American experiment.
On Wednesday he described the midterms as a once-in-a-generation vote that closed out a political era. He said the United States still needs a sober, capable center-right conservative option and that Republicans now have room to rebuild that brand after years of national messaging he tied to racism, conspiracy talk, incompetence and oddball priorities.
Holt said plenty of Republicans either sat out or crossed over to Democrats because they were fed up with the MAGA brand, and he expected some elected officials to scrub warrior language from their bios. He cast Oklahoma City’s day-to-day governing as older-school conservative management built around basic services and growth instead of national culture fights.
Closer to home, he pointed to voters rejecting a pair of Oklahoma property-tax state questions as proof residents still want dollars for classrooms and streets. He said Oklahomans should leave the night optimistic that elections worked and that people made unmistakable choices.
Holt has criticized President Donald Trump for years. In a 2021 essay he wrote that Trump lost the 2020 race and that clinging to power past Jan. 20 would mean toppling the constitutional order. His newest remarks again put the capital-city mayor at odds with the national party brand even as Oklahoma kept most statewide seats in Republican hands.
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