Dems must find a voice reflecting the times. Jena Nelson already has.
If Jena Nelson could put herself in front of every voter in the 5th District, and if straight party voting were not a thing, I have no doubt she’d unseat Stephanie Bice, again making Oklahoma’s congressional contingent, however slightly, bi-partisan.
It will be difficult, because she’s bound to be outspent, bound to be lied about again and again and because straight party voting’s a thing and she probably can’t actually put herself in front of every potential voter.
But she has a real chance because, near as I can tell, she knows what she believes, knows what she stands for and, perhaps most of all, knows what her opponent stands for, which is nothing good and she’s not afraid to say it.
July 23, for instance, after Speaker of the House Mike Johnson dismissed the House for summer recess early, hoping to keep any vote demanding production of the Epstein files from occurring, Nelson quote-retweeted Forbes’ story on Johnson’s dismissal with this note.
“Looks like Stephanie Bice and her fellow Trump cronies get an extra-long paid vacation on the taxpayers’ dime. Hopefully, she’ll spend some time looking for those Epstein files … or at least her missing moral compass.”
You’ve got to love it.
It’s visceral and authentic, probably because she wrote it herself without running it by any advisers because she has no interest in offering tepid watered-down messages, because, as mentioned, she knows what she stands for and what her opponent does, too, and any in-the-can vote for the Trump agenda is indeed moral-compass challenged, so why pretend it isn’t?
It may not get her elected, but it’s that kind of message, communicated with that kind of tone — visceral, authentic, true, righteous — that has the best chance of reaching the most voters.
Only the day before, Nelson quote-retweeted a graphic from a recent poll showing Trump “underwater on all issues except border security,” with this attached note.
“Guess what folks … people don’t like paying more for groceries, insurance and health care to subsidize tax breaks for billionaires. The tide is turning FAST! #BlueWave.”
Perhaps she didn’t kneecap anybody the way she kneecapped Bice the very next day. Still, she related something entirely true about the vast majority of Oklahomans who’ve not broken the bank and something entirely true about Republican policy voted upon by Bice and every other Oklahoman in Washington, embracing her very own Democratic Party with the hashtag.
Perhaps she’ll get around to how Democrats built Oklahoma in the first place and it’s Republicans who’ve been tearing it down the last 20 years. Whatever, it’s the right kind of message and a good start.
If that’s the tone, not merely on social media but every time she takes the stump, never missing an opportunity to go after her opponent with authenticity and attitude, not only will she give herself the best chance of winning, she’ll have finally run the unapologetic race for which Oklahoma Democrats have been longing.
Just maybe, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cyndi Munson will take note and give her a call, seeking to find her own urgent voice.
As I wrote on April 18, though the substance of Munson’s campaign rollout was terrific, the tone was lacking.
Of course, the job was to introduce herself, make herself palatable, believable, reasonable and relatable, so maybe the intro was never going to be that exciting.
Since?
The rhetoric remains lacking.
Perhaps Munson’s best social media post has been a visual of the July 25 Oklahoman front page in which three headlines were highlighted:
• Students’ scores expected to drop: Reading and math tests to be released.
• Board discord: Walters defends his agency’s deal with embattled online school.
* A ‘woke’ test for arriving teachers to be ready soon: Certification developed with conservative group.
Above the graphic, Munson wrote:
“Front page of today’s @TheOklahoman_. We deserve better. This is the result of 15+ years of Republican-controlled state government. It’s time for change in 2026 & if we want it? We have to work for it. Investment & accountability is what you’ll get from me as your next Governor.”
The message is good but, “It’s time for a change in 2026” sounds like every other politician since the beginning of time and “Investment and accountability is what you’ll get from me as your next governor” sounds like it was written by a PR flack trapped in old and tired political-speak that that grabs no attention. What if, instead, these words has been used instead:
“This is Oklahoma brought to you by a single-party system. Education’s in the toilet, the clowns in charge can’t even get along with each other and they’ll do anything to keep your children from thinking for themselves. They claim to represent you as they steal our future.”
Yes, yes, that’s my message and I’m coming in hot and perhaps it’s a little much for Munson. Still, she’s got to find a message she can righteously deliver in her own voice that’s urgent, visceral, authentic and true.
She can’t be running for governor to offer Oklahomans a mere alternative path, she must be running for governor because the state’s on fire and what chance to do we have when our education system’s broken and we’re led by governors who value corporations over people, business interests over quality of life, personal battles over problem-solving?
She must get to she’s right, they’re wrong, here’s why and it %$^&!@# matters.
On Aug. 4, Munson authored two linked tweets reading this:
“Other candidates have bragged about the millions of dollars they’ve raised from wealthy donors and have loaned millions to their campaigns. Our grassroots campaign is truly fueled by small donations from a record amount of individual donors, and we’re not stopping here.
“This is the type of campaign that will bring YOUR voice back to the Governor’s office, not the political elite, partisan pandering, or out-of-touch billionaires.
“Thank you for all of your support! We have a long way to go, but we are on our way! Let’s do this and keep up the momentum! http://cyndimunson.com/donate.”
It’s good people know her campaign funds are coming from folks just like them, but “… not the political elite, partisan pandering, or out-of-touch billionaires” is so 2008. You might as well mention “career politicians,” too.
Because nobody’s at their kitchen table decrying the “political elite,” “out-of-touch billionaires” (or career politicians), but they might be decrying a system keeping them down, vultures making their lives more difficult and expensive and empty leaders more responsive to a madman in the White House than you, your neighbors and everybody you know right here in Oklahoma and it’s got to %$^&!@# stop.
Don’t be angry because it sells, be angry because how can you not be given the state of our state and the clown car of self-serving politicians who made it this way.
Munson’s said she’ll tour the state and listen. If she takes notes and pays attention that may work on the edges and in the details. It might produce precise language, preventing unintended consequences within well-meaning bills she hopes to pass
The broad strokes, though, must be her own, telling voters not just what she’ll do for them, but how she’ll dismantle what’s been done to them.
It’s early.
So, so early.
But it’s never too early to find your voice, to communicate with authority, gravity and viscerally because these are visceral times.
Don’t ask for permission.
Run through the gates, unafraid.
Dems must find their voice.
At least one of them has.
You’re right on the money, as usual Clay. Nelson’s straight ahead no bull approach is the path to success. She’s not pulling punches and that’s what we need. Munson on the other hand sounds like the same tired Democrat with the same tired message. She’ll go nowhere. Nelson’s path is the way and I hope she stays on it.