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GREENWOOD DIST. — As Tulsa voters prepare to head to the polls for the Tulsa Mayoral Election on Tuesday, August 27, the well-being of the city’s future remains at stake.
Supporting students amid political attacks from far-right State Superintendent Ryan Walters, ensuring all students have a roof over their heads at night, and addressing the sexual abuse under investigation at the Family Center for Juvenil Justice remain among the most pressing issues facing Tulsa’s youth.
As the leading candidates in a crowded field, moderate Karen Keith, progressive Monroe Nichols and conservative Brent VanNorman continue to make their case for why they should take over the reins from outgoing Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum.
Child-wellbeing at stake in Tulsa Mayoral Race
At a July Tulsa Mayoral Accountability Session, hosted by ACTION Tulsa in collaboration with the Terence Crutcher Foundation, the three leading candidates appeared to have more in common than opposed. Keith, Nichols and VanNorman each pledged to support issues in the areas of community safety, school support, public transportation, mental health, and institutional ID’s for undocumented residents.
Meanwhile, Karen Keith, a Tulsa County Commissioner, appeared to be leading the race, according to an internal poll conducted by the Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police in May. Yet, that was before she became a named defendant in a federal lawsuit alleging county officials failed to protect youth from sexual and physical abuse by staff at the Juvenile Center. Now, her status as the frontrunner remains unclear.
“Whether somebody had direct authority or not, they were all responsible. And the fact that none of them have expressed any concern for the kids in that facility kills me,” Monroe Nichols told The Black Wall Street Times.
As an outgoing state representative and chair of the Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus, Nichols has taken a more direct approach at pushing back against divisive rhetoric, creating plans to address education and housing, and expressing outrage at the lack of accountability among county officials overseeing the Juvenile Center.
Abuse at Family Center for Juvenile Justice
On May 1st, the public learned of alleged abuses over a months-long period involving sexual battery, assault, trafficking and contraband between staff and youth housed in the Family Center for Juvenile Center. A lawsuit filed in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma on behalf of 20 victims accuses local officials of knowing about the abuse and failing to intervene.
A timeline of events produced from an Open Records Request filed by Oklahoma Appleseed shows county officials, including Commissioner Karen Keith, were informed about multiple violations at the facility months for months. Even so, the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs approved a license renewal for the facility in February, a month before former FCJJ officer Johnathan Hines was charged with soliciting a minor and human trafficking.
In an interview with The Black Wall Street Times, Tulsa mayoral candidate Brent VanNorman, a businessman and former pastor with ties to top Republican elected officials, appeared to echo Nichols’ concerns about accountability.
“I mean, there’s documentation of some letters that she was receiving, and the place was on probation, and there were all those things happening. It seems to me like you ought to do more than just file that report away, that you ought to dig into it, and that there should be transparency, there should be accountability,” VanNorman told The Black Wall Street Times.
The Black Wall Street Times reached out to Karen Keith for comment on three separate occasions. She did not respond.
Approaches to leadership in Tulsa mayoral election
Notably, the candidates do diverge on their positions when pressed on particular issues. For instance, after a recent mayoral forum hosted by Tulsa World, Nichols highlighted his direct response when asked whether the mayor should support using local police to arrest undocumented immigrants should Donald Trump become president.
Keith and VanNorman stressed working with local law enforcement to follow the law. Meanwhile, Nichols explicitly said the Tulsa Police Department shouldnt’ be involved in federal immigration issues, a stance shared by Police Chiefs in Oklahoma.
When it comes to addressing the issue of homelessness in the city, Nichols has proposed a target of functional zero by 2030, a term referring to homelessness that is rare, brief and infrequent. Citywide, 1,427 people, including 146 people under the age of 18, experienced homelessness in Tulsa, according to Housing Solutions’ 2024 Point-in-Time survey.
It’s difficult to get a clear picture of Keith’s plan to address the issue. Her campaign website focuses more on her past accomplishments and positions on boards than her plan for mayor, though one of her goals includes “reducing homelessness.”
Meanwhile, VanNorman’s website stresses that he “will empower Tulsa Police and our nonprofits to achieve a turnaround that reduces crime and offers holistic rehabilitation for our homeless.
While his opponents appear more warm to the idea of raising city funds to tackle Tulsa’s challenges, VanNorman prefers more use of public-private partnerships with local foundations to address socio-economic issues.
“I want to have a great relationship with all those groups to say, if there is something that we feel like we just can’t fund from the city, we don’t want to raise taxes, but this is a need, and we really want to address the need,” VanNorman told The Black Wall Street Times.
After last year’s traumatic episode of multiple bomb threats directed at schools in Tulsa, many blamed the radical far-right rhetoric coming from State Superintendent Ryan Walters. After a Libs of TikTok video accusing a teacher of spreading a “liberal agenda” led to bomb threats, Walters shared the video and continued to post it on his official government X account despite the threats directed at students and faculty.
Walters has also referred to teachers as terrorists and indoctrinators as he seeks to bring religion into schools in defiance of state and federal law.
Keith has compared Walters to Lord Voldemort, the villain in Harry Potter, while VanNorman has publicly expressed support for Walters’ authoritarian approach.
Meanwhile, Nichols has remained the most vocally opposed to Walters’ intrusion into local district decisions.
“When you attack a school district and threaten to strip away their accreditation without giving them any of the resources they’ve probably been asking for for a long time, I got a problem with that,” Nichols told theBWSTimes.
A Mayor who will hold themself accountable
Both Nichols and VanNorman believe that Keith should hold herself at least partly responsible for the failure to protect kids at Tulsa’s Family Center for Juvenile Justice.
“If you’re having reports there, you ought to be asking questions, you ought to be finding out information,” VanNorman said.
Monroe said he recognizes that his unapologetic approach to advocating for Tulsans could turn away some voters, even as it fires up others who’ve been waiting for a more bold leader. Determined to break barriers as the city’s next mayor, Monroe said voters should want leaders who are willing to hold themselves accountable.
“Being mayor is not just about one or two issues. What it really is about is how you’re holding yourself accountable to make sure the challenges today are fundamentally different for the next generation,” Nichols said.
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