About Tom
As a Tulsan born and raised, I am deeply rooted in and devoted to our community. My family has been here for four generations, contributing to our community’s health and well-being. My four children are being educated here, a couple of them attending the same school their great grandmother attended.
All the important experiences of my life—education, marriage, work, childrearing, the burial of those I have loved—have unfolded in the place I am proud to call home. Looking forward to the challenges ahead, I want to give back to the community that has given me everything I value.
As Oklahoma’s Secretary of Health, I proposed sweeping reforms to Oklahoma’s health care system to reduce skyrocketing insurance premiums and to provide health insurance for an additional 200,000 Oklahomans. My commitment to improving health access has continued through my work in the State Senate. Each year I have fought for and won expanding health services.
To me, public service is one of the highest callings, and I believe that effective leadership can make all the difference. That’s why I am serving in the state senate. I want to make a difference.
I bring to the state senate my experience as the Oklahoma Secretary of Health to reign in health insurance premium increases, to reduce the record level of uninsured, to make prescription drugs more affordable.
While I emphasize health issues in my campaign, I focus too on improving our public infrastructure. I want to increase education funding for local schools and show teachers that we support and value their contributions. Let’s honor their efforts by paying competitive wages to keep them here.
It's important that Tulsa receives its fair share of state transportation funding, for our roads and bridges and highways. I work to ensure that Tulsa remains the most liveable city in the country, with clean air and clean water and a healthy environment.
Ultimately, it is the quality of public infrastructure that drives a city’s economic health and civic well-being.
Community Work
- Tulsa Children’s Health Coalition, founding board member
- Elementary School Foundation, past president
- Head Start, volunteer operations manager
- Tulsa Community Hospital Authority, past board member
- Vista Volunteer, Income Tax Preparation
- Tulsa Mental Health Association, past president
- OU Health Care Task Force, member
Education
- Stanford University, BA
- Southern Methodist University, JD