NEWS
The race for House District 88 ON EACH CANDIDATE’S JOURNEY TO POLITICS AND THEIR LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES. By KM Bramlett
Ok la homa House of Representatives District 88 contains many well-known OKC landmarks: Oklahoma City University, the Paseo and the Plaza District. In the primary election on June 28, Democrats and registered independent voters will choose who advances to the general election. The winner will face independent candidate Jed Green on Nov. 8. I nc u mb ent Rep. Mauree Turner (they/ them) faces Joe Lewis (he/him). Both recently shared their stories and ambitions for making HD 88 and Oklahoma, a better place.
Lewis: Two of Lewis’s greatest inspirations have been his mother and his experience in the Marine Corps. “My mother is the hardest working person I know. She had me at 15 years old and faced tremendous adversity as a single mom. I have seen her struggle throughout my life, but she
down” the message is not always productive. Some fellow legislators “already don’t like the package” that is delivering the message, so it’s best to aim for the fully-realized vision of the policy changes that Oklahomans need. The policy issues that Turner has dedicated their energy to include
The candidates on what led them to advocacy and the issues that matter most to them. Turner: Though they never imagined themself becoming a politician, when they look back, they see the path to public office was inevitable. “Growing up as a Black Muslim-American Queer Womxn, in Oklahoma of At the table, Representative Turner speaking with community members. Photo, Anna Sokolosky all places, I shared the collective experience of not being seen always managed to pull through. advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights, crimior heard by the folks that make laws That’s why women’s issues are very nal justice reform, equity issues, about our lives, like many important to me, including equal pay, voter rights, issues regarding bodily Oklahomans that share House maternity leave, and a woman’s rightautonomy, and creating better access District 88 with me,” Turner said. to-choose,” Lewis said. to services, resources, and housing. “My mother and my grand“My time in the Marine Corps “Ultimately to create more access mother instilled in me the imporshaped me and made me the man I to resources like night shelters, sheltance of community organizing am today by serving on the biggest ters for unhoused families, transiearly on in life, and a key compostage. It showed me that a group of tional housing, healthcare, quality nent of that is bridge-building. young people from all walks of life education, guidance counselors and One of the key things that I hear can come together and achieve a safe space to talk about mental about what’s going on within our greater things as a whole, than by health issues and get release from district, and even more so within themselves—we are a brotherhood difficult emotions, support to Oklahoma as a whole, is that and that can never be taken away,” prevent and end dangerous selfpeople don’t know what resourche said. medication, access to Narcan and es are available to them. They clean needles...Even when you’re don’t know who provides what The candidates on their legnot doing well you still deserve to services and even more so we have islative priorities be here and be alive. Imagine a world so many people that fall through where we had [sufficient] resources the cracks where services fall Turner: and didn’t have to rely on prisons to short,” they said on their website. Turner explained that “toning fill in the gap,” Turner said. 10 J U N E 1 5 , 2 0 2 2 | OKGA Z ET TE .COM NEWS
Turner also advocates for better access to voting, having already penned a bill that calls for automatic voter registration when people turn 18 years of age and another that would require county election boards to deliver absentee ballots to people in holding facilities or jails before their trials, while they’re still eligible to vote but unable to physically get to the polls. Ultimately, Turner believes that all people should retain the right to vote, even after a conviction, since encouraging people to stay engaged in civic matters could be an integral component toward rehabilitation. Turner believes that our criminal justice system should be focused on rehabilitation, not revenge. A big part of that, according to Turner, is helping people get services they need: shelters for unhoused families to stay together, transitional housing, better access to healthcare, better teacher compensation for the highestquality education, more guidance counselors in schools to give students a safe space for mental health conversations, and other support that prevents dangerous forms of self-medication when people have nowhere else to turn. Lewis: In his door-knocking conversations, Lewis learned that the following issues are very important to HD 88 constituents: “Modernizing our school system, working on the homeless situation in House District 88, defending women’s rights, eliminating sales tax and property tax on the elderly and retired,” he said. His long-term legislative goals include school reform, police reform, and better services and support for veterans. “One of the issues I plan to focus