Former Oklahoma House Speaker TW Shannon Expected To Announce US Senate Run

A fourth candidate is expected to enter the race for a soon-to-be open U.S. Senate seat.

T.W. Shannon, who served as the first Black speaker in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, will announce his candidacy, a source told News 9 and News On 6 Wednesday. The Senate seat will be open when Jim Inhofe retires from his position early next year.

In addition to his duties as house speaker, Shannon represented Oklahoma’s 62nd district from 2007-2015. After leaving public office, he became Chickasaw Community Bank’s chief executive officer.

This isn’t Shannon’s first foray into running for the U.S. Senate. He ran for Tom Coburn’s open seat back in 2014. Shannon lost in that Republican primary to current Senator James Lankford.

Shannon joins a growing pool of candidates that includes U.S. Representative Markwayne Mullin, State Senator Nathan Dahm and the Inhofe-endorsed Luke Holland.

Holland is Inhofe’s chief of staff.