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Oklahoma
Posted: Jan 16, 2026 9:29 AMUpdated: Jan 16, 2026 9:42 AM
Charles McCall for Governor
Tom Davis
Appearing on COMMUNITY CONNECTION on Friday, Oklahoma State Rep. John B. Kane (R) introduced former Speaker of the House and GOP Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate Charles McCall to the audience.
McCall is a fifth generation Oklahoman. He said, "Our families always lived in the southern part of the state. I lived near about 30, 40 miles north of the Red River in a small town called Atoka where the most famous person from Atoka is Reba McIntrre, and not Charles McCall."
McCall graduated from the University of Oklahoma and went back to his family's business which is banking. His first ran for Atoka city council, where he was a councilman for one year, and then mayor for seven years after that. He then ran for state rep. and easily won.
"I was coming into the speaker's office at a time where we got that turned around," said McCall adding, "When I left a year, year and a half ago, we were in the best of times. We had $5 billion in reserves and lower taxation on people."
Said McCall, "We cut the personal income tax, the corporate income tax, eliminated grocery tax, franchise tax, and the marriage tax. And we had Oklahoma, because of great men and women that I got to serve with, like John Kane, we took the Oklahoma legislature from the 11th most conservative in the country to the second most conservative legislature in the country. And we grew the largest supermajority in state history to 82."
McCall said that he is running for governor because he spent so much of the time as Speaker of the House and with John B. Kane and other men and women in the legislature catching up on things. McCall said, "Oklahoma is the 10th fastest growing state in the nation. We have billions of dollars that want to come here and be invested in Oklahoma."
McCall said that he got to witness and be a part of our economy doubling its output and while cutting taxes and giving money back to people of the state and also while protecting our freedoms and liberties.
The number one topic for McCall when people approach him is education. Oklahoma is ranked at 50th in education outcomes. McCall said, "That's appalling to Oklahomans." He added, "I tell them, we made education a priority while I was the Speaker of the House. We passed reforms where parents get to choose whether children can go to school. And of course, if you live in the rural parts of the state where I come from and live, that's our public schools. We also gave them the biggest investment that they've ever seen. It's the executive branch that needs to get its act together. And that's the branch of government that the governor of the state oversees. When I am governor, we will get those education rankings up."
McCall addressed the economy saying, "We're 6% above state revenue estimates already. Another good year, another positive year. Our economy's doing well, why? Because we cut the personal income tax.
McCall responds to those who say that 'if you cut the tax, you lose money, you can't fund the schools, you can't fund healthcare, roads and bridges' with, "No, income tax works completely differently. You leave more money in people's pocket, they spend it, and it comes back to the state, the counties and the cities on the consumption side. Every time we cut the personal income tax, we saw more money come into the state. It's called the velocity of money."
McCall plans to take on the foreign cartels others operating marijuana grows in Oklahoma that are trafficking in drugs and those involved with human trafficking because of it as well. He said, "We stood up laws in the last part of my legislative years with the help of John to give law enforcement a framework and some teeth to go out and shut this stuff down. Grow licenses are down from 9,000. They're down below 1,700 now, on their way down below 700 in the next year. As governor, I'm gonna find all this foreign-owned land, we're gonna seize it, and we're gonna auction it back off to Oklahomans on the county courthouse steps."
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