Outgoing Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, who for years has served as the state’s chief marketer, urged Oklahoma on Thursday to continue to play to its strengths.
“It’s something I’ve told my staff from day one; we don’t expect enough (of ourselves) as a state,” he said. “We’ve played little brother far too long as a state, and we have historically. We had ‘Oklahoma is OK’ on the license plate for far too long.
“Let’s demand a little bit more… ‘What are you good at? Don’t try to turn yourself into something you are not.’”
Pinnell, along with Oklahoma Congressman-elect Mark Tedford, was a guest speaker at the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s OneVoice Regional Legislative Summit, which took place before about 160 attendees at Tulsa Tech’s Lemley Campus.
As it has annually for nearly 20 years, OneVoice selected its priorities through the collaboration of more than 500 people representing hundreds of businesses and more than 75 chambers of commerce, municipalities, counties and economic development organizations.
Task forces met virtually seven times during roughly a two-month period to develop policy positions on key issues, choosing seven to target at both the state and federal levels.
At Thursday’s Summit, attendees added 16 new priorities to the 14 already on the OneVoice Agenda, which will guide Chamber advocacy throughout 2027.
Pinnell, who in December will begin his job as vice president of development and alumni relations at Oral Roberts University, reflected on his eight-year tenure as lieutenant governor, highlighting primarily his work in state tourism.
Oklahoma, which has about 400 miles of Route 66 in the state, is holding a Route 66 Centennial party Wednesday in Tulsa, offering a full day of activities.
In May of this year, Tulsa set a Guinness World Record for a classic car parade, with 3,596 vehicles participating.
“We knew we had to own this, and we absolutely have,” Pinnell said of the Mother Road’s 100th year commemoration.
The lieutenant governor also talked about the successes of the Oklahoma Golf Trail, launched in 2025, and the Route 66 Revitalization Grant, which has resulted in about $25 million of Oklahoma investment along the Mother Road.
“That 25 million dollars has not just revitalized communities, but it’s gotten entrepreneurs to step up,” he said. “...This small grant has made a huge, huge impact.”
Elected Tuesday to the U.S. House of Representatives in Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, Tedford, a Republican, alluded to this week’s “blue wave” that will place Democrats in control of both chambers of Congress.
“What I’ve heard from people is that they are tired of government not listening to them,” said Tedford, whose term as a state legislator ends Nov. 18. “They will not tolerate us getting into partisan things and ignoring the everyday issues. So, that’s what we need to do, and that’s what I’ll do.
“Anybody who has worked with me in the state knows that I have a reputation of talking to everyone. I’m more of a policy-driven person. A lot of the bills I passed had a lot of bipartisan support.”
Finalized Thursday, state priorities on the 2027 OneVoice Agenda are: implement policies to expedite deployment of critical energy infrastructure; continue to foster a healthy partnership among the 38 federally recognized tribes and the state of Oklahoma; support an all-of-the-above energy strategy, consumer fuel choice and expanded energy; address Oklahoma’s mental health treatment needs; expand healthcare workforce opportunities; invest in Oklahoma’s economic competitiveness; strengthen Oklahoma’s aerospace, defense and space economy; expand supports for working families; strengthen accessible and workforce housing; ensure adequate funding for municipalities and counties; protect Oklahoma Medicaid expansion; create a dedicated funding stream for economic development; increase the Oklahoma Department of Tourism’s promotional fund; support critically needed transportation funding; and strengthen public education and early literacy.
Federal priorities on the 2027 OneVoice Agenda are: accelerate permitting of energy and infrastructure projects; pursue Congressionally directed spending requests; support a balanced approach to artificial intelligence; protect funding for hospitals and healthcare entities; delay implementation of the SNAP state cost share; protect and strengthen healthcare workforce; support downtown rehabilitation efforts to help address the housing shortage; advance U.S. aerospace and space innovation; support the Tulsa Space Test Center; reform federal financial aid; position Oklahoma for federal industrial investment; increase accessible and workforce housing supply; create federal film incentives to ensure the United States remains globally competitive; support timely implementation of improvements to U.S. 412 to bring the corridor up to interstate standards; and expand access to quality, affordable childcare.
Both state and federal priorities are pending approval by the Chamber’s Board of Directors.
