OKC's Republican mayor says election wipeout is 'rejection of Trumpism'

Republicans took heavy losses in Tuesday's elections, and David Holt, the Republican mayor of Oklahoma City, says the cause runs deeper than campaign messaging. Speaking with Amna Nawaz of PBS NewsHour, Holt argued that the party gave up its role as an idea-driven coalition a decade ago and became a vehicle for one man, President Trump. In his view, voters rejected that approach so thoroughly that the MAGA movement no longer works as a functioning political force.

Holt acknowledged that Oklahoma stayed Republican, keeping the governorship, both Senate seats and all five House seats. Still, he said signs of a shift were visible there, and he expects his state to follow Texas, as it has in past decades. Anyone ignoring what happened in Texas, he said, is on borrowed time.

He called for a return to a party built on a platform and serious governing, focused on household finances rather than spectacle or what he described as reflecting pools and arches. Holt predicted the rethink would take several years but said it had finally begun, and he stressed that the country needs a center-right party that is competent and two functioning parties overall.

Summarized by PolitiKool from PBS NewsHour’s reporting. Read the full story at PBS NewsHour →