Editor's note: This story was updated at 10:05 a.m. Nov. 8 to clarify language describing the reallocation of a portion of the Norman Police Department's proposed budget increase in 2020 and 2021.
Elizabeth Foreman and Lisa Standridge will face off for the state Senate District 15 seat, which covers a portion of west Norman and Moore, in the Tuesday election.
Elizabeth Foreman, Democrat
Democratic candidate Elizabeth Foreman is a Noble native who now lives in Norman. She holds a bachelor’s in chemistry and a master’s in public administration from OU and a doctorate in education from Southern Nazarene University.
Foreman is the director of finance and accounting for the Oklahoma Primary Care Association, which partners with community health centers to provide health care to low-income communities. She previously served as the finance director at OU Health Sciences Center's police department.
From 2020 to 2024, Foreman served as the Norman Ward 6 council member. There, she said she learned to have compassion and listen to her constituents.
“From day one on city council, I knew I was job interviewing for Senate and eventually wanted to pivot,” Foreman said in an interview with OU Daily.
Foreman said Oklahomans need a senator who understands local politics and municipalities' needs.
“Who I am as an elected official, I want to be a bridge builder,” Foreman said. “I want to bring people together.”
Abortion
Foreman said the government should not be involved in regulating abortion. Instead, she said those decisions should be between a woman, her doctor and God.
“I'm Catholic. So, by virtue, I think everybody should be alive. But I’m not anti-choice,” Foreman said. “I'm not a fan of abortion as the means of birth control, not a fan of that.”
According to Foreman, the health of the mother and child should be the top priority.
“I've never experienced (abortion), but far be it from me as some legislator to tell you what you need to do in probably the worst hour of your life,” she said.
Spending
Foreman said she is concerned about the recent grocery tax cut because it hurts municipality funding. Oklahoma is the only state where municipalities are completely dependent on sales tax income and receive no property tax money, she said in a forum hosted by the Norman’s League of Women Voters on Oct. 17.
“That’s precious money that’s being taken out of city budgets,” Foreman said in the forum. “That’s public safety, that’s safe roads, that’s clean water. We need to change that (property tax) law. Why we’re the only state that does that, I do not understand.”
Foreman told OU Daily there won’t be enough revenue to support municipalities.
“Maybe people will see like $2,000 more at the end of the year not paying tax on groceries, but this is millions of dollars that municipal budgets will lose out on,” Foreman said.
Supporting the community
Foreman believes public libraries are essential for literacy and beneficial for low-income community members.
The Norman Public Library Central closed indefinitely in November 2023 after mold was discovered in the building.
“Public libraries touch the lives of so many people, and we need to protect this resource at all costs,” Foreman said in the forum.
Although funding libraries is the responsibility of a municipality or county, Foreman said she would ensure they are supported by the Legislature.
Education and tax credits
Foreman said education funding gets cut too often for the state to increase teacher pay and classroom funding.
“In the last 20 years, the state of Oklahoma has had nine budget revenue failures, and each time, the first thing that gets cut is education,” Foreman said. “Why would we do that? A solid education is the foundation in which children can grow up and have the possibility of a good job and raise a family.”
Foreman also said one of her top policy priorities would be undoing Oklahoma’s tax credit program, which promotes parental school choice, and reallocate that money back to public schools.
“Sixty-five percent of the people that applied for that (tax credit), their household income is over $150,000,” Foreman said. “They don’t need it. Give it back to public schools.”
During the forum, Foreman said teachers take on many additional roles to support their students, and they need better health care to manage that stress. Schools also need trained counselors to help students and improve behavioral issues, she said.
“We need to start funding education properly,” Foreman said.
Foreman also believes in alternative higher education options, like vocational-technology programs, which she said need to be promoted better because “college is not meant for everyone.”
“We need to be funneling all education opportunities that we can to our high schoolers so that they can become very effective citizens,” Foreman said.
Law enforcement
In the forum, Foreman spoke about her time on city council in 2020, describing a contentious decision about police funding that she voted on, where the council voted to reallocate a portion of over $800,000 of the Norman Police Department’s proposed budget increase to other areas of the city. In 2021, council reapproved the reallocation from NPD’s proposed budget. In 2022, city council voted to fund nine additional officer positions and provide extra funds for existing salary increases.
“When it came to refunding the police, I refunded the police,” Foreman said. “We had to readopt that budget that defunded them, and I voted against it, knowing that my party would not like it, but listening to my constituents and what they wanted.”
Foreman also said she was the swing vote that gave the NPD a BearCat, an armored vehicle used by military and law enforcement, because she knew her ward needed it.
“I listened to my constituents, and I know that within my own party it was not popular, but public safety and protecting the residents was doing the right thing,” Foreman said.
Foreman said she also requested funding for a public safety study which was approved and conducted. According to Foreman, city council is currently deciding how to move forward with those findings.
ACCESS Oklahoma Turnpike
Foreman said she supports Pike Off OTA, an organization fighting the ACCESS Oklahoma turnpike expansion plan.
ACCESS Oklahoma is a 15-year, $5 billion plan to construct new turnpikes and expand existing highways statewide. It was approved by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in August 2023.
Pike Off OTA protesters wearing red, including Foreman, filled city hall the night city council unanimously voted to reject the plan. Protesters cited concerns about people being displaced from their homes by turnpike construction and destruction of green spaces.
“You cannot deceive me, I know what this resolution is,” Foreman said when she addressed the council. “It is handing over these people and all the residents in our community and our neighboring communities on the altar of the OTA.”
“We’re not going to let that happen,” Foreman said.
According to Foreman, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority shouldn’t have the right to eminent domain, which is the power to take private property for public use, because it has been unfair to property owners in the past.
“The Republican Party has been the majority party and is yet to really move on any legislation to help with that,” Foreman said.
Foreman said the OTA is obsolete because taxpayer money already goes to road maintenance. She said the city of Norman needs to pass ordinances against toll roads, restrict highway construction and restrict eminent domain, which the state must support.
Division in politics
Foreman said District 15 residents don’t want partisan politics and hateful rhetoric, but a balanced leader.
“Oklahoma's on fire right now,” Foreman said. “There are a lot of things that we have to put out before we can even get to anything else. That has nothing to do with being a Democrat or Republican, that has everything to do with being sensible and reasonable.”
According to Foreman, voters need to look to character instead of straight-party voting, which she said has elected inflammatory leaders like Gov. Kevin Stitt and state Superintendent Ryan Walters.
“I’m able to point to four years of public service where I have not toed a party line but listened to my constituents,” Foreman said in the forum.
Foreman said that while Standridge often says she won’t work with a RINO — a “Republican in name only” — Foreman has no such reservations.
“I'll work with a RINO, a dino, E-I-E-I-O, I don't care who you are, if you want to bring forward sane policy that helps Oklahomans, I will work with you,” Foreman said.
Serving constituents
Foreman said she has held to her and her constituents’ values despite the backlash she has received.
“I am a failure as a representative if I do not protect my residents,” Foreman said, referring to the BearCat decision in 2022.
Foreman said members of her ward told her she always did the right thing for her constituents and didn’t conform to partisan expectations.
“I educated myself, I’ve put in the work and I’ve done all the things necessary to be the best representative that I can,” Foreman said in the forum.
Lisa Standridge, Republican
Republican candidate Lisa Standridge is a native of Noble, a health care professional and graduate of the OU College of Pharmacy.
Standridge is the wife of incumbent Rob Standridge (R-Norman), who reached his term limit after serving 12 years as state senator.
The couple opened Drug & Gift, a pharmacy in Blanchard, and Standridge helps manage their second pharmacy in Norman, according to her campaign website.
According to her website, her business experience taught her to manage large budgets and lead others. Their pharmacies have created “dozens” of jobs and served the Oklahoma City area for the past 29 years.
Previously, Standridge was president of the Helen Cole Republican Women's Club, according to her website.
In the forum, Standridge said Oklahoma is a wonderful place with great potential.
“What happens here, it matters to me,” Standridge said. “And that’s why I want to go and represent you in our state Senate.”
Standridge said she got involved in politics to bring a graceful solution to divisive politics by being responsible and trustworthy.
“You earn trust by doing the right things,” Standridge said. “Respect is a two-way street.”
Standridge won the Republican nomination for the seat against Robert Keyes in the August runoff election.
Standridge did not respond to OU Daily’s requests for an interview.
Abortion
According to Standridge’s website, she is anti-abortion.
Spending
During the forum, Standridge said her first priority in entering the Legislature would be decreasing taxes by cutting spending on “unchecked” state programs.
“I would love to see the state of Oklahoma get on a path to zero income tax,” Standridge said. “Will that come overnight? No, it will come in small bites.”
Supporting the community
Standridge wants to increase city safety by strengthening laws to fix the “homeless problem,” according to her website.
“Many parents are no longer comfortable letting their children roam a city park, and unsanitary and unsafe homeless encampments are popping up all over Norman,” Standridge’s website reads.
Although Norman’s Public Library Central location is closed, the east and west locations remain open.
While libraries are beneficial for cities, Standridge is doubtful that Norman needs more than one. It’s likely that those taxpayer dollars could be spent more efficiently somewhere else, she said.
“Some libraries have drag queens coming in, talking to children,” Standridge said. “I think that’s absolutely insane, it’s not appropriate and that’s not something that I like my tax dollars paying for.”
Education and tax credits
In the forum, Standridge said payment based on merit is needed to keep teachers from “burning out” and quitting.
“I believe that if we can pay teachers based on their merit, based on their job performance — that’s what’s done in the private sector — I think we can see an improvement in our schools,” Standridge said.
Standridge said students with behavioral issues may need to switch schools or be expelled, so they don’t disrupt other students’ learning.
“Perhaps that’s where school choice comes in,” Standridge said in the forum. “Perhaps the Legislature can step in there and back those schools up when some corrective measures are needed.”
Standridge also supports vocational-technical schools and high school programs that get students ahead on higher education.
“I would like to see even more programs added to the career techs,” Standridge said in the forum. “The aviation academy that Norman North (High School) has is absolutely second to none, and I would like to see things like that continue.”
According to her campaign website, she wants to increase “local control” in education. Standridge is also a proponent of school tax credits because she believes they benefit students.
Law enforcement
According to her website, Standridge and her family helped with petition efforts to recall former Norman Mayor Breea Clark and four city council members who voted to reallocate over $800,000 of proposed police funding to other facets of the city in 2020.
“Lisa Standridge believes in standing up for the victims of crime, and not coddling perpetrators of crime as many in politics do today,” her website reads. “Lisa stands with our police and all those involved in keeping our families safe.”
Ultimately, petition efforts failed to recall all but one of the city leaders: then-Ward 5 Councilmember Sereta Wilson. Wilson resigned before her recall was brought to a public vote.
Division in politics
In the forum, Standridge said she will represent her constituents well because her background in pharmacy taught her to listen to others.
“I’m a good listener, inherently,” Standridge said in the forum. “I’m approachable. I am not somebody that is going to say, ‘It’s my way or the highway.’”
Standridge said she considers both sides of an argument before making a decision, which makes her a trustworthy legislator.
“I am a Republican, but I am running for the state of Oklahoma,” Standridge said in the forum. “Before I cast a vote or make a decision on any kind of issue, I want you to know that I am going to ask myself, ‘Is this what’s best for the state?’”
In a debate against fellow nominee Keyes during the Republican runoff election in August, Standridge said she would not negotiate with Senate Republicans who do not vote conservative, called RINOs.
“When you say you don’t want to pick a side, you probably want to back that up because there are two sides up there,” Standridge said to Keyes during the debate. “There’s a side that is RINO infested and then there’s the side that are true conservatives.”
In the forum, Standridge also said that to get something done in the state, “you should probably be a Republican.”
ACCESS Oklahoma Turnpike
Standridge said she wants to either overhaul or put limits on the OTA, which continues to charge tolls on roads it said it wouldn’t by now.
“I am always going to stand with the taxpayer, and there are absolutely no guardrails right now on the OTA,” Standridge said in the forum.
Standridge believes Pike Off OTA is a group of “patriots” who have been doing great work protecting Oklahomans’ property from the proposed turnpike expansion.
Serving constituents
Standridge believes that legislators must work to benefit the state and their constituents.
“Legislators should open themselves up to the community — phone, internet, websites, things like that,” Standridge said in the forum. “Town halls like this are fantastic to find out where your legislator stands.”
Standridge said she is unafraid to do what is right and represent taxpayers without being deceived by “money and power.”
“I will always vote for what is best for the state of Oklahoma,” Standridge said in the forum. “And I full well understand that the people that vote for me expect me to do that, and they’re trusting me to do that.”
The general election is Tuesday. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Early voting will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday.
This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure, Ismael Lele and Ana Barboza. Riley McDaniel, Avery Avery and Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
