A memorable, historical first occurred during Oklahoma’s State Runoff Election on August 23, 2022. In eastern Oklahoma’s Second U.S. Congressional District, former State Senator Josh Brecheen defeated challenger State Representative Avery Frix by roughly 3,000 votes for the Republican nomination.
Josh has deep roots planted with Convention of States Action Oklahoma.
In an interview with our State Grassroots Coordinator Becky Wolfe, Josh recalled his history of involvement with the U.S. Constitution, Article V process and Convention of States:
“My first conversation with Dr. Tom Coburn about Article V was in 2014. That conversation was in front of about 75 people in Atoka at a Coburn town hall event. I was a state senator then and as Dr. Coburn shared about his decision to leave the U.S. Senate and work on the Article V concept, he then said publicly, ‘I’m looking for a Josh Brecheen to run this [the Article V Resolution] in Oklahoma’.”
“I responded in front of that crowd in Atoka, ‘Dr. Coburn, I have been running bills on it [Article V] and I can’t get any traction.’ He responded, ‘I bet that will change’.”
“Dr. Coburn was right, as he soon got involved supporting the Article V resolution concept at the Oklahoma State Capitol, and this changed the conversation given Dr. Coburn’s reputation as a stalwart conservative.”
“The bills I had run in the year or two prior were Article V resolution bills, but not the exact language as suggested by the Convention of States organization that had just originated. Representative Gary Banz and I were connected to a discussion group that Rob Natelson was influential in, and that’s where my Article V bill language originated in the year or two prior.”
“State Senator Rob Standridge took the lead, at my request and full agreement, in 2014/2015. I signed on as a co-author on the bill using the Convention of States template language. Success occurred legislatively within a short time frame in Oklahoma because of the work of Dr. Tom Coburn and Senator Rob Standridge.”
“In the last book that Dr. Coburn authored, Smashing the DC Monopoly, State Senator Rob Standridge writes in the first or second page of the Preface about my role early on, before 2014.”
Dr. Coburn is fondly remembered throughout Oklahoma as the first politician who mentioned the value of our U.S. Constitution’s Article V process and was a prime mover and Convention of States Action Board Member. In 2021, Oklahoma renamed our Article V resolution, “The United States Senator, Dr. Tom Coburn Resolution of 2021,” after our noble and faithful statesman who passed away in March 2020.
After his tour with Senator Dr. Coburn, Josh returned home to Oklahoma and was elected state senator. Introduced by Senator Standridge, our resolution enabled Oklahoma to become the seventh state to have their resolution adopted by its legislature. Oklahoma is now a “Passed State,” largely due to Josh’s never quit determination. It is this determination on behalf of the people of Oklahoma that Josh will carry to Washington, in full service to our Republic.
Josh will now face Democrat Naomi Andrews, and Independent Ben Robinson, in the upcoming general election on November 8.
Tommy Jensen is a retired U.S. Navy Cryptologist, Classicist Historian, and currently serves as State Content Writer and Legislative Liaison member for Convention of States Action Oklahoma.
