{"id":2336268,"date":"2024-09-03T17:04:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T21:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oklahoma-republicans-launch-states-first-freedom-caucus\/"},"modified":"2024-09-03T17:11:19","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T21:11:19","slug":"oklahoma-republicans-launch-states-first-freedom-caucus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oklahoma-republicans-launch-states-first-freedom-caucus\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma Republicans Launch State&#8217;s First Freedom Caucus"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Foklahoma-republicans-launch-states-first-freedom-caucus%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2336268&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A coalition of Oklahoma Republicans has formed the state&#8217;s first Freedom Caucus, marking \u200dit as the 12th state to establish such a\u200c group aimed at promoting conservative priorities within the legislature. Led by GOP Senator Shane Jett, the Oklahoma Freedom \u200bCaucus (OKFC) intends to ensure that the interests of taxpayers are prioritized and \u2063that\u2063 conservative \u200bvalues are represented in a legislature controlled by Republicans. Jett emphasized the group\u2019s mission to \u2062enhance taxpayer returns while advocating for \u2064less government influence. The caucus is part of \u200dthe larger State Freedom Caucus Network,\u200b which aims to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/poll-majority-of-americans-unhappy-with-bidens-immigration-approach\/\" title=\"Poll: Majority of Americans unhappy with Biden\u2019s immigration approach\">hold lawmakers accountable<\/a> to their constituents. <\/p>\n<p>Senator Dusty Deevers, \u2064the vice chair of OKFC, \u2064criticized the perceived lack of true conservative governance in what are deemed &#8220;red states,&#8221; echoing sentiments\u200c that many Republican legislators are\u2064 not as conservative \u200bas their voters\u2063 demand. Upcoming legislative sessions are expected\u200d to focus \u2062on\u200b reducing taxes and state \u2064spending, as well \u200bas \u2064advancing medical freedom\u2063 policies to protect citizens\u200d from federal mandates, specifically in healthcare.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A coalition of Oklahoma Republicans launched the state&rsquo;s first freedom caucus on Tuesday, making it the 12th state where conservatives have launched such a group.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is our job to make sure that no one who has been given the direction to represent &lsquo;We the People&rsquo; ever use that power or money to run over or erode the freedom of the people who consented to be governed,&rdquo; GOP Sen. Shane Jett <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VoteJETT\/videos\/441191705623025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> during a press conference held in front of the state capitol.<\/p>\n<p>According to Jett, who will serve as chairman of the group, the Oklahoma Freedom Caucus (OKFC) will work to ensure conservative priorities aren&rsquo;t falling through the cracks in Oklahoma&rsquo;s Republican-controlled legislature. Operating as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/02\/05\/thanks-to-the-state-freedom-caucus-network-gop-legislatures-are-getting-more-conservative\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">State Freedom Caucus Network (SFCN)<\/a>, the coalition&rsquo;s main mission is to focus on getting Oklahoma taxpayers &ldquo;more of their money back, getting [a] better bang for their buck, and making sure that government serves them and doesn&rsquo;t rule over them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Conservatives are &ldquo;tired of woke values being shoved down our throats, even in a red state. They&rsquo;re tired of Republican establishment politicians who campaign like they&rsquo;re Tom Coburn, but govern like they&rsquo;re Mitt Romney, &rdquo; GOP Sen. Dusty Deevers, vice chair of OKFC, said.<\/p>\n<p>The SFCN was launched in December 2021 to ensure state GOP lawmakers are fulfilling the legislative interests of their voters. <\/p>\n<p>Despite Republicans controlling <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/State_government_trifectas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">23 state trifectas<\/a>, an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/why-did-wyoming-kill-school-choice-deep-red-states-often-dont-act-like-it-data-shows\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in-depth analysis<\/a>&nbsp;published by The Daily Wire in April 2023 revealed that many so-called &ldquo;red states&rdquo; are run by GOP-dominated legislatures that are not as conservative as they should be. The report indicated Oklahoma Republicans have a more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/poll-one-in-six-biden-voters-would-have-changed-their-vote-if-they-had-known-about-scandals-suppressed-by-media\/\" title=\"Poll: One In Six Biden Voters Would Have Changed Their Vote If They Had Known About Scandals Suppressed By Media\">liberal voting record<\/a> than their GOP counterparts in &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/after-walz-pick-kamala-can-no-longer-deny-shes-a-radical\/\" title=\"After Walz Pick, Kamala Can No Longer Deny She&#039;s A Radical\">blue states&#038;rdquo<\/a>; such as Colorado and Minnesota.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Oklahoma is yet another brick red state that needs to be more conservative because its voters are demanding it,&rdquo; SFCN President Andy Roth told The Federalist. &ldquo;So, the new OKFC will work with GOP leaders to make that happen or hold them accountable if they don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In a statement provided to The Federalist, Jett said he expects the OKFC to make a &ldquo;significant push&rdquo; for measures designed to lessen the &ldquo;inflationary pressure&rdquo; on Oklahomans during its next legislative session. This includes legislation aimed at slashing income taxes and &ldquo;a reduction in state spending.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Oklahoma Freedom Caucus&rsquo; focus will be putting the interest of the taxpayers front and center,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We will be focusing on policy &mdash; not personality or politics &mdash; that reflects the respect we have for Oklahoma families.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>The GOP senator also signaled during Tuesday&rsquo;s presser that advancing medical freedom policies that protect Oklahomans from authoritarian federal mandates will be a major focus of the OKFC in future sessions. Months after the emergency approval of the Covid shots, the Biden administration attempted to mandate that private businesses with more than 100 employees force their workers to get the experimental jab.<\/p>\n<p>The overreaching edict on private businesses was <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/01\/14\/the-supreme-courts-ruling-on-vaccine-mandates-is-frighteningly-weak\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ultimately struck down<\/a> by the U.S. Supreme Court. As noted by Federalist Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland, however, the high court separately upheld the &ldquo;Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services&rsquo; rule requiring vaccines for medical facility workers to take effect.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There is still an unrealized mandate from the people of Oklahoma in health care; people who have lost their jobs because they declined to take an experimental vaccine,&rdquo; Jett said. &ldquo;Those requests to provide us protection from the federal government, who imposed the will of the federal government and the pharmaceutical industrial complex &hellip; [call for policies] I will continue to push for.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Since the SFCN&rsquo;s launch, freedom caucuses in other states have faced immense pushback from the GOP establishment. <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/02\/05\/thanks-to-the-state-freedom-caucus-network-gop-legislatures-are-getting-more-conservative\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Republican leadership<\/a> in so-called &ldquo;red states&rdquo; such as <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/02\/22\/wyoming-is-the-epicenter-of-americas-fake-red-state-problem\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wyoming<\/a>, Idaho, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/30\/how-senate-republicans-tanked-efforts-to-keep-abortion-out-of-missouris-constitution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Missouri<\/a>, and South Carolina have all but gone to war against these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-freedom-caucus-holds-press-conference-on-infrastructure-budget-resolution\/\" title=\"House Freedom Caucus holds press conference on infrastructure, budget resolution\">freedom caucus members<\/a> for pushing common-sense conservative priorities.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this fierce opposition, the SFCN is seemingly growing its ranks. According to Roth, 101 of the organization&rsquo;s 106 lawmakers running for reelection won their primary races this past year. He also claimed more than &ldquo;two dozen liberal Republicans&rdquo; were defeated in their respective primary races and SFCN-supported candidates won more than 30 open seats in which there was no GOP incumbent.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-american-freedom-convoy-set-to-launch-on-march-1\/\" title=\"Exclusive: \u2018American Freedom Convoy\u2019 Set To Launch On March 1\">state content writer<\/a> for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A group of Oklahoma Republicans established the state&#8217;s inaugural freedom caucus on Tuesday, marking it as the 12th state to form such a coalition for conservatives. GOP Senator Shane Jett emphasized at a press conference outside the state capitol that their mission is to ensure that elected representatives do not misuse their authority or resources to undermine the freedoms of those they represent. Jett, who will chair the Oklahoma Freedom Caucus (OKFC), stated that the caucus aims to prevent conservative priorities from being overlooked in Oklahoma&#8217;s Republican-led legislature. As part of the State Freedom Caucus Network (SFCN), their primary goal is to advocate for taxpayers by ensuring they receive more value for their money and that government serves them rather than controls them.<\/p>\n<p>Senator Dusty Deevers, vice chair of OKFC, expressed frustration with &#8220;woke values&#8221; being imposed even in a predominantly red state and criticized establishment Republicans who campaign conservatively but govern differently. The SFCN was created in December 2021 to hold state GOP lawmakers accountable for representing their constituents&#8217; legislative interests.<\/p>\n<p>Despite having control over 23 state trifectas, an analysis by The Daily Wire revealed that many Republican-dominated legislatures are not as conservative as expected; notably, Oklahoma Republicans have been found to have a more liberal voting record compared to some Democrats in states like Colorado and Minnesota. Andy Roth, president of SFCN, remarked that there is a demand from voters in Oklahoma for greater conservatism and indicated that OKFC would work with GOP leaders towards this goal or hold them accountable if they fail.<\/p>\n<p>In statements made during Tuesday&#8217;s press conference, Jett anticipated significant efforts from OKFC aimed at reducing &#8220;inflationary pressure&#8221; on Oklahomans during upcoming legislative sessions through tax cuts and decreased state spending. He stressed prioritizing taxpayer interests over political personalities while also highlighting plans to advance medical freedom policies against federal mandates related to healthcare.<\/p>\n<p>Jett pointed out ongoing issues stemming from federal vaccine mandates affecting employment after emergency COVID-19 vaccine approvals were issued; although one mandate was struck down by the Supreme Court, another requiring vaccinations for medical facility workers was upheld. He noted there remains an unmet demand among Oklahomans seeking protection against federal overreach regarding health care decisions.<\/p>\n<p>Since its inception, freedom caucuses across various states have encountered significant resistance from GOP leadership in traditionally conservative areas like Wyoming and South Carolina due to conflicts over core conservative principles. Nevertheless, Roth reported growth within SFCN ranks; most incumbents supported by SFCN won re-election bids this year while several liberal Republicans were defeated in primaries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2336269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/unnamed-1.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32976,12474,5894,3756],"class_list":["post-2336268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-freedom-caucus","tag-oklahoma","tag-politics","tag-republicans"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/unnamed-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2336268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2336269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2336268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2336268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2336268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}