Brewer And Hines Debate The Most Important Topics For District 47 Ahead Of Election

Kelly Hines and Erin Brewer went head-to-head in a debate Wednesday night for Oklahoma State Senate District 47 ahead of the November election.

The seat was held for 13 years by Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat but now is open due to term limits. After an August runoff, the race is between retired U.S. Army Colonel Kelly Hines, the Republican candidate, and business owner Erin Brewer, the Democratic candidate.

Senate District 47 is considered a purple area and encompasses rural, urban, and suburban communities across Edmond and northwest Oklahoma City.

Here are key topics being discussed Wednesday evening. All answers are paraphrased and will be replaced with full answers later.

When asked about qualifications:

Erin Brewer: Well, like I told you, I'm the only candidate in this race that owns a business. My husband and I together have built not one but two businesses here in Oklahoma. We know what it takes to create jobs, to contribute to the economy, and we know what businesses need in order to succeed and grow. Here in Oklahoma, I'm the only candidate with kids in public school in this district, public education tends to be a top priority for voters. I know the way Ryan Walters is failing our kids in schools right now because my children are experiencing at school. And like I said, I've been advocating at our state capitol. I have relationships with legislators on both sides of the aisle, and I think that's extremely important as we build bipartisan solutions to the challenges that we face.

Kelly Hines: So I talked about a little bit when I started there. You know, we've got to get the right people here that are actually selfless service. And know a little bit about what selfless service looks like. Service looks like. You've also got to get people that are born leaders, that know how to lead folks from all different backgrounds. I've led the most diverse workforce, or in the most work diverse workforce that's out there, the US Army. So I know how to get people from all walks of life to come together and go toward a common goal, not just because I told them to do it, because I got their buy in, and I earned their trust. And you know, we're going to start making it about somebody who backs me, which is going to be interesting. We're talking about Ryan Walters a lot tonight, and I'm looking forward to that. And hopefully we're not going to turn this into some about somebody that's not even on the ballot, but we'll see how that goes.

What do the candidates think is the biggest issue to tackle if they are voted into the state Capitol?

Kelly Hines: Okay, so it's education. You know, I am a big public education supporter. I'm obviously a product of it. Both my kids graduated from it. They're not in school now, but they did graduate from public education, and I think that's the cornerstone of the entire thing we want Oklahoma to be. We've got to have the great education out there where parents have a choice, but we've also got to make sure that it's not one size fits all. You know, the people that go to deer. Need something different than where I went in Whitesboro, Oklahoma. And if we don't start fixing that, we're not going to get Oklahoma out of the bottom. We didn't get to the bottom of the barrel overnight. We're not going to get out of it. And we've got to bring people from all wash of life together to do that, the finger point and everything else, there's enough blame to go around for where we are on education that, and I think that's the main thing that's our problem.

Erin Brewer: I've knocked on 33,000 doors talking to voters here in Senate District 47 and across party lines. Ryan Walters is what voters here tell me is the biggest problem in our district. It's really personal to us. He lives in Senate District 47 and he has attacked our schools that are here in this district. But that's not only the biggest problem in Senate District 47 I believe it's the biggest problem in our state. I believe he's an economic deterrent. I think he is causing businesses to struggle to find the right kinds of employees. He has not done a single thing to ensure that children are graduating and improving our educational outcomes, and he is the top priority for me as a senator, to hold him accountable.

What did you like about how Pro Tem Treat ran things, and what might you want to do a little bit different?

Erin Brewer: I have been really privileged to get to have many meetings with Senator treat over the years, and there are times we've agreed and times we've disagreed, but what I've really appreciated about him is he has always taken the meeting with me. The last time I saw him was actually in his front yard. I was knocking doors in his neighborhood, and I got to tell him to his face how much I appreciated his commitment and dedication to his role, and I appreciated the meetings that we'd had over the years, and I'm looking forward to having coffee with him sometime soon.

Kelly Hines: I like that he actually provided leadership, and he attempted to bring the entire party together. He did that over a long time, which is something that's the selfless service he had to go through. And everybody knows what happened with his son recently. So, you know, kudos to him for keeping his head in the game and be able to do that. There's a few things I would have liked to see him do a little bit better. You know, when the governor calls for him to look at taxes, I thought that we should have actually sat down and talked about it instead of adjourning like we did, or the Senate did without discussing it. But overall, I think he did an admirable job. Back to admirable for Ryan Walters, I said he was admirable because I think he's got a spine that doesn't make me his biggest ally. Doesn't make me Greg tree's biggest ally either.

How do we address workforce development in a way that helps urban and rural communities?

Kelly Hines: I think I've got the advantage on that one. Like I said, I grew up in rural Oklahoma. You couldn't have got a much smaller school than where I went. I walk in both lanes fairly well, so I was a poor kid in the woods in southeast Oklahoma. I'm now vice president of a company in Edmond, Oklahoma, and I've done everything in between. So I think I understand that part of it, we're already a long ways toward improving the schools in the rural areas and the main areas. We've got aviation in all this, in 88 schools right now. I would like to see that actually extended into some of the rural areas by distance learning. It's very hard to do. They don't have a high speed internet down in a lot of those areas, which makes learning more difficult. But I think again, it goes back to it takes somebody that can talk both languages, if you will, to bring this together and actually bridge the gap between the rural and the urban senators.

Erin Brewer: So I have a lot of relationships with rural legislators. That's that's been so important as we have worked on public education policy that benefits every student in the state understanding that every school district does look a little bit different, and you're right. Rural communities face some different challenges when they're looking at workforce development. I've actually been in meetings with rural bankers and other places across the state talking about some of the challenges they face, like housing. It's really hard to recruit new businesses when you can't house new employees, that is a number one issue that they are facing, and they're trying to figure out how they finance development in their areas. We can work on that, but it takes listening to those rural leaders and meeting their needs.

Would you vote for a quarter-point income tax reduction?

Erin Brewer: I would not vote for an income tax reduction in this upcoming session. I'm all for looking strategically at our revenue, but we are way too close to multiple revenue failures in our state to begin just slashing income tax with no plan for revenue. It does take funds to provide schools and infrastructure and broadband and workforce development, and we've got to take a hard look at where we're not able to meet needs in our state right now.

Kelly Hines: I would vote yes I am for lowering, if not eliminating, state income tax completely. We've got to be good stewards of Oklahoma's money. And I'm also for taking a little bit further and looking at our senior citizens and eliminating property tax on those folks that are taking or that are receiving Social Security they never really own their home. And I think we've really got to look at that one as well.

Do you believe Oklahoma should have a statewide vote on making abortion services legal?

Kelly Hines: So abortion is a hard topic for everybody to get their head wrapped around. You know? What I really encourage is we need to teach people more about preventing unwanted pregnancies, of what we need to do, you know? And I like that we support families to in vitro fertilization. But where do I stand on abortion? And I get this question quite a bit, and I've seen some accusations and recent ads that I'm completely against abortion. I agree that you've got to make exceptions for the life of the mother, and I have a hard time if somebody's been brutalized telling them that they have to have a baby. And that's come from me having a daughter. I'm a father, and that's that's the one thing that I think is between their God, their clergy, and their family to decide that.

Erin Brewer: Kelly. I just want to remind you that you signed this pledge with the Oklahoma Values Coalition that says you 100% uphold our current anti-abortion law that makes no exceptions except for the life of the mother. I'm not sure what to believe tonight, but what I can tell you is I will stand with women. I know that abortion is health care. I have a daughter. If something terrible sexual assault were to happen to her, she deserves the right to make the best decision for her future with her doctor. So I can assure you tonight that I will stand with women. I will protect them when they've been victimized or when their health is in danger.

Kelly Hines: I am going to enforce any law that's on the book. So yeah, I signed a document that says, Well, I support the law, just like I support the Constitution United States, no matter what it says. And I'll fall on that sort as well. So there you go.

MODERATOR: Brewer, I want to follow up with you. Mr. Hines, said that he supported expanding for an exception for in the case of sexual assault, where are you? Should there be more abortion access than just in the instances of life in the mother and in the instance of pregnancy by rape.

Erin Brewer: I think we should also have exceptions for the health of the mother, sometimes a fatal diagnosis in pregnancy can cause great harm to women, but maybe not kill her, and I think she deserves to be able to make difficult healthcare decisions with her physician.

What do you like about how Ryan Walters has handled education?

Kelly Hines: Like I said earlier, you know, I like that. He's got a spine. You know, that's admirable, that a politician will actually stand and say what he thinks. That doesn't mean I always agree with him, but, but I do agree with him when he says he doesn't want porn in school Pornography now, you got to define what that is. I also don't want DEI taught, and I also don't want boys in girls' bathrooms. So I agree with him there. There's a couple of things I don't agree with him on. Most recently was the decision to, you know, I'm going to fund a million or $3 million for Bibles in the classrooms and then have teachers teaching the Bible. What he originally said was he wanted the Bible there for historical reference purposes, which I am totally for. I want my clergy, my church, and the parents to actually be teaching my kids about religion and leave the school to reading, writing, arithmetic, and history, maybe civics and a little bit of computer science, and keep those two separated

Erin Brewer: I don't think there's a single thing that's admirable about Ryan Walters, and I do not think he's getting the job done. In fact, I think he's failing us in every way. He has mismanaged millions of tax sellers. He's accruing $20,000 a month in legal fees alone for the multiple lawsuits that have been filed against him. He's spending $50,000 a month on a personal PR campaign that is purely self-serving. He hasn't done a single thing to advance students' achievement in Oklahoma in his two years in office. And there's on not a thing about Ryan Walters that I think has been done.

What's the most important thing we can do to improve reading scores across Oklahoma?

Erin Brewer: The number one challenge that will solve so many problems for our students is keeping great teachers in our classrooms. Y'all, we're losing 5000 certified teachers a year, and we've lost that many over the last three years alone. We have got to do a better job of resourcing and equipping our teachers so that they are successful in their classrooms with their students, and that is the number one challenge for reading math history all the subjects is we've got to have quality, quality educators working with our kids. How do we do that? There's several ways we can do it. We begin by ensuring that we're retaining our experienced educators now. So one of those is resources at their school. It's really hard to feel successful as a teacher when you're dealing with behavior challenges that are new and different than they've ever been before, when your resources are limited, and when you are in the political environment that we live in, where teachers are often, frankly, under attack. The second thing is, we've got to start incentivizing young people to pursue education as a career, and there's multiple ways we can do that. Some schools are already allowing students to pursue college courses while they're in high school, so when they graduate with a two year associate's degree, they only have two years left of their education degree. That saves them quite a bit of college debt, potentially, and makes the role of a teacher much more appealing. But also, we can incentivize students, if we could scholarship them to go to school here as an educator and then commit to stay in Oklahoma for five years following their graduation, that would be a huge difference. Right off the bat.

Kelly Hines: Well, I think it begins with parental involvement. I'm not sure what's happened since when I grew up and the parents were reading to you, I think that's where it starts. But we do have to recruit and retain the best possible teachers we we've got to get past the like I said earlier about finger-pointing, so we didn't get bottom to the barrel overnight. And what we've got to do is get all the stakeholders together in the same room, the teachers, the parents, administrators, ... the school union, the superintendent, I like to say I'd put them in a room and throw pizza under the door until they come out with a plan to actually improve our educational outcomes in the state. Because we're not doing it. We've been attacking it one year at a time. You know, our infrastructure, the way we do in Oklahoma, has an eight-year plan. We've got to do something like that with education, where we have a five to eight-year plan with goals and benchmarks to where we can actually improve the educational outcomes if we want Oklahoma to remain a state where people want to live, grow, and build families, and that's only where we're going to interest other companies into coming here, people to move into Oklahoma, and what's worse is get kids to stay here. We've got a brain drain where our kids can't find decent jobs here because they just don't have the educational outcomes that they need, and they end up going somewhere else with it's a wicked problem. We've got to get after it, and we owe our kids better than that.

What can Oklahoma do to help college graduates find jobs in the state?

Kelly Hines: Well, we've got to attract the businesses here for the jobs when they graduate. That's what we can do. First and foremost, we've got to make Oklahoma a place where the businesses, small and large, want to come and move their businesses here, so our workforce has a place to go and earn money and make a decent living as soon as they graduate.

Erin Brewer: I told you, I'm the only business owner in this race, and what I can tell you is that companies are desperate for great employees, and so we've got to make sure that our career techs and our trade programs and our colleges and universities are aligned with the needs of our business community, and that they're turning out the graduates to fulfill the workforce needs that they're finding. But in addition, as a state, we've got to be making investments in the kinds of things that allow our Oklahoma-based businesses to grow, from infrastructure and broadband to great schools, these things, and access to health care. Odaad, these are the things that create a great quality of life where people want to live here and businesses can also grow.

What role should the legislature have in addressing the housing needs of SD 47 and the State Housing?

Erin Brewer: It is truly a challenge. I mentioned what a problem it is in rural communities. I think the state has a role to support municipalities in the way they're overseeing development, to ensure that multiple price point types of housing is being built in our in our areas we we need to understand as citizens that it takes apartments and rentals and homes of various sizes or to support the kinds of communities that we love to live in

Kelly Hines: I don't like government involvement when it doesn't need to be there. I don't like the federal government involved in state government. I don't like state government involved in local governments when it's not needed. I like the market to decide what we need, and that's how the American Way is supposed to be and how housing should be as well. So I don't advocate for the Senate trying to put in apartments where they shouldn't be are not going to be the best place for them, etc. So that's where I'm at on that.

What is the most pressing issue for public safety in Oklahoma?

Kelly Hines: So on the doorsteps, we're probably not going to talk about it, but what the large question I got for most of the year I've been running was with, what are we going to do about the southern border and the increase in fentanyl come across, in the criminality coming across with human traffickers and drug traffickers? That's what I got so, and my answer was always. I think we need to enforce the laws we've got on the books. And as the only candidate up here that's been endorsed by three external order police is in the Attorney General's office, they all agree with me that we've got to get crime under control and we've got to stop the southern border stuff, and enforce the Oklahoma laws here to make sure that Oklahoma stays the safest place to live.

Erin Brewer: also have not heard a ton about concerns on public safety, as I've been knocking on doors and we've talked to thousands of voters in the district, but what I can assure you is that we must continue to support law enforcement because safety does have to be a top priority. We are seeing criminals and criminality here in our district around drug trafficking and even human trafficking, and so we must ensure that law enforcement is fully equipped to meet those actions and put a stop to them, not just in the moment, but at the source. We've got to put a stop to those kinds of activities. Yeah,

What about Fentanyl?

Kelly Hines: I don't think incarcerating more people, you know, of course, large drug runners. Yes, I think it's, we've got to educate people about the dangers of it. You know, we do a lot of education about it, but people still do it. They don't realize they're doing it or they're in such a bad place in their lives that they think that's a better option. So we got to do more education, maybe not as much incarceration on that one.

Erin Brewer: The truth is, American citizens tend to be who brings fentanyl across the border, and we've got to put a stop to it. It is, tragic when it is accidentally ingested by our kids. So we do have education to do to ensure that we're avoiding it, and I do think sometimes incarceration is the answer. Although I am all for justice reform, I am also all for public safety.

How do you approach conversations with people in the opposite party?

Erin Brewer: Well, we have been knocking bipartisan doors from the beginning. That's one of the campaign promises that I made when we launched a year ago, was that we would gather a coalition of voters across party lines, who shared values, who were willing to talk to each other as Oklahomans and as neighbors first. And what I've been hearing on doors over and over again, Independents, Democrats, Republicans, is that they are so weary of extremism and political division, and they are so ready to do politics differently. And what we have found is so much common ground around the issues that we share. Ryan Walters, great schools, keeping teachers in our classrooms, growing our economy. These are bipartisan issues, and they are the things that I am so eager to work on. I will just tell you, though, since I have a couple more seconds, my Republican father-in-law is in the room tonight. He has knocked more than 4000 doors himself, and he's been talking to exclusive Republicans over the last several weeks. I've been talking exclusively to Republicans since about April or May. The conversations are so encouraging, and in fact, they're casting ballots, their absentee ballots with us at the door. So I'm really hopeful, and this is very much a purple District.

Kelly Hines: It's been overall, it's been very learning experience knocking on doors, Republican, Democrat, Independent. Doesn't matter. We're all Oklahomans, but it's been a joy. What I find interesting, though, you know, when I talk somebody to door, I tell them who I tell them what party I am. I don't try to mislead the voters by not telling them I'm a Democrat, and then having all my push guard nowhere that says, No, I'm a Democrat, or not having it on my yard signs that say I'm a Democrat, or even on my website. So, you know, I've knocked on a few doors. There was a couple of doors that had my opponent sign in a yard when I proceeded to tell him I was Republican in the race, they said, Well, I always vote Republican, and I'm like, well, that's a Democrat sign, and I got the answer back. Well, I didn't know that, so you're doing very well misleading the voters on who you really are.

Brewer: In no way have I ever misled a voter. We have conversations about issues and the things that are important to. Them. I don't lead with party. You know why? Because it's not the most important thing about any of us. But I am proud to be a Democrat. I'm a Democrat married to a Republican, and I know bipartisanship works.

Oklahoma has SQ833 on the ballot. What do voters need to know about the proposal and do you support it?

Kelly Hines: I don't like any new taxes, but I like when the voters get to choose. So if the voters choose to vote for it they want to pay our taxes, then that's the way that the democratic process works. I don't like it personally, but I'm going to, I'm going to be watching that to see what Oklahoma's do with it.

Erin Brewer: I've had to do some research on State Question 833, I was not familiar with public infrastructure districts. I'll be totally honest. Maybe some of you all were in the same boat. What I've learned is that the city of Oklahoma City and the city of Edmond as municipalities, really like this option. So I will continue to research. I can see pros and cons around allowing a group of property owners to raise a tax in their area. I think that has some pitfalls, but I agree that we will abide by what the voters decide, and I'm always happy for voters to be able to make decisions about laws in our state.

Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. Which candidate aligns best with the district?

Erin Brewer: I think the residents of SD 47 are pretty independent thinkers, and I'm seeing all kinds of political signs in the district, but I will say this, if yard signs are any indicator, there is significant support for the Harris walls ticket in our district, even in places that are really surprising, and I see far more Kamala signs than I do any others.

Kelly Hines: I'm going to tell a little bit of a story here, so you know, we've had the failure in Afghanistan when we were through there after we've lost 20 or 25,000 casualties, over 2500 dead, followed by Hamas coming into Israel and killing people indiscriminately, taking them back out. And now Hezbollah is launching rockets at 11 on Iran's launching rockets at Israel. Our southern border is wide open. We've got fentanyl. We've got drug traffickers. We've got terrorists coming across the border, giving them a card to come back five years later, 10 years later, hopefully they actually show back up. So I would have to go with Trump is the one we've got to vote for there, and I think the rest of the district is going to do that. I don't always agree with everything President Trump does, but we were safer and we were better off. Inflation wasn't out of control. Gas wasn't killing us on prices. So yeah, he says and does some things that I'd rather he did and sometimes, but I think the district's going to go with Trump.

Questions About Hines Corrections Record Accuracy

Kelly Hines: I never even heard about this, this number till about three months ago, when it came up in the campaign. So it's from 40 years ago. You're right. It's underage drinking type thing. But I've never been a felon. I've never been incarcerated. You know? I've never had a DUI. Whatever other rumors are out there, what I can tell you is what you already said. So I was honorably in the guard for six years. No way I could have been an inmate. I got commissioned as a second lieutenant. You can't do that without a background check. So obviously not being a felon, went on to get a secret security clearance followed by a top secret security clearance, followed by a secret compartmentalized information security clearance, and promoted a kernel which takes actual Senate confirmation and another security clearance. So I will gladly stand on my 34 years of honorable service in and out of combat the United States of America as a testament to my character. I don't know what that is. They haven't been able to tell me. I've spent a couple of hours on the phone. Yes, I've had to hire a lawyer. At least I have the capability of doing that and addressing the clerical error. I'd love to know how many other people have had something like that pop up that didn't get a job or were denied employment because of it, but didn't have the wherewithal or the money to deal with it.

So how do you respond when voters say they want a senator with a better chance to pass bills and any chance of developing leadership level influence?

Erin Brewer: I think this is such a great question. You know, politics in Oklahoma are so out of balance right now, and what I have heard on 1000s of doors from 1000s of voters is they are so frustrated with the status quo and politics as usual, they are frustrated by the lack of transparency and accountability that seems rampant in state government today. The truth is, the majority caucus at our state capitol tows a party line. The caucus demands the way that they vote, and if they don't, the Republicans actually run candidates against one another. If you want a senator who's actually going to be independent and there to listen to you and work for you and make votes based on what is in the best interest of Oklahomans. I'm a far better choice.

Kelly Hines: So Erin likes to talk a lot about holding people accountable. So if you're going to hold somebody accountable, I think we ought to hold all of our elected officials accountable, but you're only going to do so if you're elected as a Republican senator, she would have you to believe that she's going to be able to do anything about Ryan Walters or anybody else is misleading back to misleading voters. So you know, the house already said that if they were going to do anything, it would take 51 members of the caucus that they're not going to include Democrats in that decision, and they're not going to do it. But if they did and threw it at the Senate, it goes into the Senate and it goes into their caucus, and they're going to decide whether that's going to go forward or not. And if they decide it's going forward, it isn't going to need any of the Democrats, the eight of them, seven or eight of them out of the 48 to vote for it. So whether you like it or not, whether it's pretty or not, if you really want to voice an SD 47 or anybody that's going to get anything done besides argue on the floor it would be to elect me.

Erin Brewer: We have seen how individual senators have actually made a very significant difference in holding Ryan Walters accountable when they have gone to state board of education meetings and spoken up for their school districts where he's been attacking and that is not a vote on the Senate floor, but it has changed the behavior of Ryan Walters and the State Board of Education.

Kelly Hines: I haven't seen any change in behavior out of Ryan Walters since you've been in office ... Again, politicians actually will tell you the truth are fair, few and far between. So he'll actually say what he thinks and try to do what he thinks is right. I don't always agree with it, but it's admirable that he'll take on that fight versus a lot of our politicians, both at the national level, and state level, who will just hide behind things and not come out with an actual opinion on anything that might get them in trouble.

Would you support and vote for a ban on cell phones in classrooms?

Kelly Hines: I think they're distractors. You got parents calling kids in class and expecting their kids to get right back to them. We've got that kind of hovering mentality, and they are looking at things that are not to do with what the class is going on. I think having them pick them back up during the break great. But do they actually need them sitting there? Do they actually got to be that connected to everything on social media every minute of their lives? I don't think so.

Erin Brewer: I don't like cell phones in classrooms either, but what I do like is local control. I think our locally elected board members and school administrators need to be making decisions that are best for their communities. They know their kids and students and parents best, and they should be the ones making those kinds of choices.