Emilie Tindle, a Democratic candidate from Collinsville that is running for Oklahoma Congressional District 11, was a guest speaker during the Washington County Democratic Party's meeting at the Bartlesville Public Library on Thursday night.

The House District 11 seat that Democratic hopeful Tindle is running for is currently held by Republican Representative Derrel Fincher from Bartlesville. Representative Fincher currently serves on the Higher Education and Career Tech Committee as the Vice Chair. He also serves on the A&B Education Committee, the Utilities Committee, and the Children, Youth and Family Services Committee.

Prior to the meeting on Thursday night, Tindle said conversations only happen when there are multiple people talking. She said she is running as a Democrat, but went on to say that this is not partisan push; it is not about party lines. Rather, it is about all people in District 11 having there voices heard that have gone unrecognized in the last 10 years.

Tindle said those voices are the Democrats because the Republican Party has held control over District 11 since 1965. She said when we have uncontested elections like we have had, we lose energy, we lose competition, we lose the drive, and we lose democracy. She added that 16 years is too long to go without a working democracy.

The reason for her candidacy is because House District 11 has not seen a General Election since 2004. Tindle said the same district has not seen a female candidate since 1994, even though she cannot find records beyond that say there was a female candidate running for the district seat. 

Aside from that, Tindle believes the super majority in the Oklahoma State Legislature is not getting things done. She said the State of Oklahoma needs competition and different ideas in order to get better. The establishment is especially heavy in District 11, according to Tindle, who says it is time to have new insight and fresh energy.

Health care is a critical issue for Tindle, especially when it comes to mental health, and maternal and infant health care. She said Oklahoma's outcomes are really bad when it comes to maternal/infancy mortality and other health indicators. Those aspects are what Tindle wants to highlight/ She said part of that comes from institutional female knowledge, because women know what it is like to carry children (or know someone who did), and they also know that whatever comes after a child is born may be a complicated process that requires extra care.

Tindle also spoke on education. She said that we need to get back to the basics and listen to teachers because there are too many issues that have been floated around that have not gotten to the heart of the issue.

Then there is the economy. Tindle said the economy is good in some ways, for some people, but there are some Oklahomans that are not feeling that same impact. She said that Oklahoma needs common sense and practical solutions like restoring the Earned Income Tax Credit Refundability. She added that looking at predictable scheduling laws might make hourly wage earners have a regular, consistent schedule, which in turn would add regularity to their lives.

Tindle said hourly workers, who are the life blood of Oklahoma, have not necessarily seen wages rise in the last 10 years, especially with wage stagnation since the recession. She said the time has come to consider what can be done to assure that the middle class and bottom earners are making their fair share.

Tindle is a fifth generation Oklahoman with family ties to Collinsville and Bartlesville. She is running to bring better policies to the state house in order to make Oklahoma a vibrant state for families and businesses to thrive is her top priority for House District 11.

Tindle grew up in Tulsa and learned early on the values of faith and hard work from her tight-knit family and local community. She is a 2014 alumnus of Tulsa Technology Center's Vision Care Technologies program. This has led to her work in healthcare as an eye doctor's assistant in Oklahoma, Kansas and across the Midwest for four years. Changing career directions, she revamped a social media program for a small Oklahoma business.

Through each of her experiences, Tindle says she has learned the importance of advocacy for all people, experienced the necessity of regular access to preventative healthcare, and saw firsthand the structural problems of our current system.

Today, Tindle live in Collinsville. She had been married to James Tindle, who serves as a historian for the Air Force, since 2014. Tindle is a non-traditional student at Oklahoma State University pursuing a Bachelor's of Arts in History. Through university research and civic involvement, Tindle continues to exercise her skills of brining people together and advocating for diverse perspectives. Tindle is also active in her community, she is a member of the Collinsville Chamber of Commerce, and strives to help Oklahoma thrive.

Lastly, Tindle's dream for Oklahoma is best practices in business-employee relationships, a robust healthcare system that benefits all Oklahomans, and education funding with strategies that guarantee each student a chance of success.