Rep. Regina Goodwin launches run for Oklahoma Senate seat

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GREENWOOD Dist.–After eight years fighting for her community in the state House, Oklahoma State Rep. Regina Goodwin (D-Tulsa) seeks to represent Historic Greenwood District in the Oklahoma state Senate.

“My grandmother used to say service is the rent we pay for our room and board on Earth. So, I grew up with that motto, and it’s very dear to me,” Goodwin told KTUL during a lively campaign kickoff at the Greenwood Cultural Center on Saturday.

Currently representing District 73 in the Oklahoma state House, Goodwill is running to represent Senate District 11, currently held by Kevin Matthews. The district encompasses downtown Tulsa, Historic Greenwood District/ Black Wall Street, much of north Tulsa and parts of Osage County.

Greenwood community leaders push Goodwin for Oklahoma Senate

Supporters who attended Saturday’s campaign kickoff filled the room with praise songs, expressions of gratitude and prayers of hope, according to the Oklahoma Eagle, the oldest surviving Black-owned newspaper in Oklahoma and the 10th oldest-surviving Black-owned newspaper in the nation.

Goodwin is running to expand investments in education and public services, implement reforms in the state’s embattled criminal legal system, and provide justice for survivors and descendants of the 1921 Massacre.

“When you don’t show up, your voice will not be heard,” Oklahoma Democratic Party Chairwoman Alicia Andrews said on Saturday.

Goodwin’s supporters include current and former state lawmakers, Tulsa City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper, former Tulsa Mayor Roger Randle and members of the community.

A legacy of unapologetic service

In the heavily Democratic stronghold of Senate District 11, whoever wins the Democratic primary is heavily favored to win the general election.

Rep. Goodwin hasn’t had a Republican challenger since 2016, when Leland Cole took home just 11 percent of the vote, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board. It’s unclear whether she will receive a primary challenger.

Oklahoma Republicans have held supermajority control in the state House and Senate for years, but that hasn’t stopped Rep. Goodwin from unapologetically fighting for marginalized communities.

She pushed for expanding support for caregivers, paid leave for state employees, and protections for renters. Despite vocal Republican opposition, she also unapologetically pushed for reparations for survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

A bill she filed in 2023 would’ve established a $300 million fund to “implement a program of reparations for damages to persons and property during the events of approximately May 31 through June 1, 1921, in the City of Tulsa.”

The bill never made it to the House floor.

“A voice that’s going to be strong”

In October, Rep. Goodwin convened an interim study at the Oklahoma state Capitol focused on the decades-old recommendations for reparations from a 2001 state report.

After the hearing, this reporter asked Republican Rep. Kevin West, chair of the committee holding the hearing, if he would be open to pushing forward the reparations recommendations in the legislature in 2024.

“I would be open to it,” he said in response.

Pointing out the current climate of fear, hate and a distrust of facts, Rep. Goodwin told KTUL she’s the kind of person voters need in the Oklahoma state Senate.

“And I care about humanity that seems to be eroding with the climate that we’re in now. So, I think we need a voice that’s going to be strong as I have been,” she said.