Voters in Oklahoma’s 5th congressional district vote Tuesday in deciding the Republican runoff between State Rep. Stephanie Bice and Oklahoma City businesswoman Terry Neese.
While their campaign has become an example of how dirty politics can become, due to dark money and exaggerated claims from each camp, one thing missing from their campaigns is any mention of the energy industry.
A check of their campaign websites showed a list of what they said were campaign issues. Energy was omitted on both sites.
Click here for Bice for Congress website.
Click here for Neese for Congress website.
Stephanie Bice, the state legislator who wants to jump to the U.S. House listed “Improving Infrastructure” as one of her issues, stating that Oklahoma is the crossroads of America, “making our infrastructure an important part of our local economy.” She said nationwide, the infrastructure is in need of repair.
“Yet Washington politicians have failed to secure the funds to fix it,” she stated on her campaign website. The site said that if Bice is elected to Congress, “she will work with both parties to continue building our nation’s roads and bridges and support infrastructure funding.”
Terry Neese, hoping to win the GOP primary to take on incumbent Democrat Rep. Kendra Horn, also did not mention energy as an issue but said one issue important to her was “Unleash our Economy.”
“Recognizing the challenges facing job creators and workers here in Oklahoma and across the nation, Neese will put her experience to work to help President Trump unleash our economy’s true potential,” stated her campaign website.
Neese has spent 31 years with an employment agency she founded 31 years ago. The site said she believes the U.S. must continue to pass long-overdue reforms to simplify the country’s outdated tax code.
” It is also critical that the federal government continues to cut burdensome, job-killing regulations so business owners can focus on what they do best – creating jobs, growing their business, and strengthening our economy,” added the site.
Otherwise, even though both are attempting to represent the state with the third highest production of oil in the U.S., neither included any mention of energy or the oil and gas industry in the issues they believe are important in the runoff campaign.