Karen Keith running for Tulsa mayor

Now she wants to be mayor of Tulsa. Keith, 69, will announce her candidacy Sunday.

“I love Tulsa, and we have made monumental strides to become a more dynamic city, but we must keep the momentum. The next mayor will craft the vision beyond 2025,” Keith said, a reference to the Vision 2025 sales tax package that is credited with helping spark Tulsa’s revival. “I have demonstrated that I am an independent thinker and the most experienced and proven leader to do just that.”

Keith said she’s heard Tulsans’ concerns about infrastructure, public safety, parks and education and that as mayor she would continue the work of tackling those challenges.

“But we need a vision for people — to inspire youth, to keep seniors safe and engaged, to keep our workers employed and absolutely address homelessness,” she said. “We need to partner with our schools, tribes, law enforcement, business community, nonprofits, churches and neighborhoods to create a vision and implement a plan that unifies our community for our future.”

Keith joins another Democrat, state Rep. Monroe Nichols, as the only declared candidates in the race to succeed Mayor G.T. Bynum, who is not seeking a third term. City Councilor Jayme Fowler, a Republican, is expected to announce his intention to run soon.

Tulsa’s nonpartisan election for mayor isn’t until August 2024. A runoff election, if necessary, would be held that November.

Keith said two of her top priorities would be homelessness and education.

Tulsans last week approved $75 million for housing to assist homelessness as part of the city’s $814 million Improve Our Tulsa 3 capital improvements package — an investment Keith applauds. And a task force created by Bynum has issued nine short-term recommendations to help address the problem.

As mayor, Keith said she would work with businesses, churches and other community stakeholders to create solutions that would put Tulsa “ahead of the curve” in addressing the problem.

“We have to have more low- to moderate-income housing available for people to go into,” Keith said. “We just don’t have enough. And we’ve got to work with our City Council, the police, the DA. It’s also going to require mental health providers. … There is nothing easy about solving this issue.”

Education is “super important” to the city’s future, Keith said, and the mayor and city government have to be “involved, care and support our public schools as best they can.”

“Oklahoma City provides funding for some-after school programming in some of the poorest parts of their community,” Keith said. “So there are things that a city can do. And so we really need to be looking at all of it.”

When it comes to reparations for those harmed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and their descendants, as well as Police Department oversight — topics that have surfaced repeatedly during Bynum’s nearly seven years in office — Keith is open to having the discussions but acknowledges that she doesn’t have all the answers.

“I think police oversight should prioritize accountability and transparency,” she said. “That’s how you build trust in your community.”

Keith, like Bynum, talks investment first when talking about reparations.

“I think there’s no question we should be investing more into north Tulsa, concentrating on issues on housing, streets and public safety,” she said. “Any actions taken must involve thorough community engagement and consultation to find a fair and just solution.

“I personally have a lot of sympathy and compassion for all those impacted by the race massacre, and it’s important that we never forget.”

Keith was born in Miami, Oklahoma, and raised in Muskogee, where she was a long-time 4-H member.

She graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1976 with a degree in radio, TV, news and public affairs, but not before spending a semester at sea studying in Kenya, Morocco, India, Hong Kong and other far-off countries.

“It changed my life in every way, shape and form,” Keith said.

For 26 years, Keith was a local television reporter; she traveled to Israel, Russia, Germany and communities across the state telling stories.

It’s a chapter in her life she believes paid off down the road.

“I’ve met so many different people, and it’s allowed me to be comfortable around people of different cultures and backgrounds,” she said. “I love finding out what they think about things, and I think that has served me well as a public servant.”

She caught the bug for government service in the early 2000s when she went to work for Mayor Bill LaFortune, where she played a key role in formulating and implementing the countywide Vision 2025 sales tax package.

“It was a fantastic experience. I loved it,” Keith said. “And that’s when I knew I wanted to run for County Commission.” She was elected in 2008 to represent Tulsa County District 2.

Her biggest and most celebrated achievements as county commissioner are passage of the 2014 jail tax that funded construction of the Family Center for Juvenile Justice and, after years of arm-twisting and pleading, securing federal funding to repair the levee system that stretches from Sand Springs into Tulsa.

Keith takes pride in the fact that each required collaborating and compromising with elected officials across the political spectrum.

It’s one reason she thinks she would be an effective mayor.

“You have to work across party lines or nothing happens. We never could have fixed the levees without working across partisan lines,” Keith said. “I mean, Sen. (Jim) Inhofe collaborated with me from Day 1.

“If you really want to get things done, leave that stuff aside — especially in local government.”