Scott Pruitt

Scott Pruitt (born May 9, 1968) is a United States lawyer and Republican politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. He is the current Oklahoma Attorney General.

Pruitt was a State Senator, representing Tulsa and Wagoner counties from 1998 until 2006. When former NFL Hall of Famer and Congressman Steve Largent retired from the United States House of Representatives representing Oklahoma's First Congressional District, Pruitt ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination to succeed Largent against the First Lady of Oklahoma, Cathy Keating and the eventual nominee and winner, John A. Sullivan. In the 2002 election cycle, Pruitt was re-elected without opposition by his home district. Rather than seek re-election in 2006, Pruitt launched a failed campaign to receive the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma.

Biography

Pruitt was born in Danville, Kentucky in 1968. He attended Georgetown College and graduated in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and Communications. He then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma when he attended the University of Tulsa to earn a Juris Doctor in 1993. He passed the bar examination that same year.

He entered into private practice in Tulsa where he specialized in Constitutional Law, Contracts, Insurance Law, Labor Law, and Litigation & Appeals. After five years as an attorney, Pruitt ran for, and was elect to, the Oklahoma Senate in 1998, representing Tulsa and Wagoner counties. After only two years in the Senate, Pruitt was selected to serve as the Republican Whip from 2001 to 2003. He was then selected to serve as the Republican Assistant Floor Leader, a position he held until he left the Senate in 2006.

In 2004, Pruitt became the General Managing Partner of the Oklahoma RedHawks, Oklahoma City's Triple-A baseball club. Under his first season of leadership, the RedHawks saw a 25% increase in attendance. After two years, the team broke the all-time attendance record for minor league baseball in Oklahoma and saw a 45% increase in revenue.

2001 Congressional campaign

Pruitt, while still a freshman legislator, sought his party's nomination to succeed Steve Largent as the Member of Congress for the First Congressional District of Oklahoma in 2001. Largent, who had resigned to spend his focus running for Governor of Oklahoma, would be replaced by special election rather than by gubernatorial appointment. Two other main candidates emerged for the job, including sitting State Representative John A. Sullivan, the eventual winner, and Cathy Keating, the wife of then Governor Frank Keating. Pruitt came in a distant third behind a surprisingly successful first place finisher in Sullivan and Keating in second place. The Keating loss prompted then Governor Frank Keating to say the voters in his hometown of Tulsa were "dumb," a remark he later recanted as being emotionally supportive of his wife. [1]

2006 Lieutenant Governor campaign

Pruitt sought the Republican nomination to replace outgoing Republican Mary Fallin as Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma in the 2006 Lt. Gubernatorial election. In the primary election, Pruitt faced Nacy Riley and Speaker of the House Todd Hiett. Following the primaries on July 25, 2006, Pruitt received 34% of the vote, Riley receive 23%, and Hiett received 43%. Pruitt, according to Oklahoma state law, had to face Hiett in a runoff election in order to receive the party's nomination. Following the run-off election on August 22, 2006, Pruitt received 63,812 votes and 49.08% as opposed to Hiett's 66,217 votes and 50.92%. Pruitt failed to receive the nomination, with Hiett to face Democratic House Minority Leader Jari Askins in the November general election.

Election results

References

• Senate biography
• Scott Pruitt campaign website
• Journal Record Article on First Congressional District Race