Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said Monday that he considers some “extreme” members of the Republican Party “fascist,” speaking at a Tulsa candidate forum his runoff opponent skipped.
Drummond, who faces former state Sen. Mike Mazzei in the Aug. 25 Republican gubernatorial runoff, made the remark at an Aug. 11 forum at the University of Tulsa’s Lorton Performance Center, where he fielded questions from Tulsa Press Club members, according to KJRH. Mazzei did not attend.
The attorney general framed the comment as part of his disagreements with other Republicans.
“I aspire to be the governor of all. That sometimes draws me in sharp contrast with the extreme members of the Republican Party. But I don’t think they are real Republicans,” Drummond said. “I consider them more fascist.”
Drummond added that his view of the political spectrum had shifted.
“I used to think politics was linear,” he said. “But frankly folks, it’s circular. So the further right you get, at some point you tip over the top and you come down on the other side.”
At the forum, Drummond also defended positions that break with Gov. Kevin Stitt and President Donald Trump, including his lawsuit against poultry corporations, suits against Allstate and State Farm, and his opposition to the Inola aluminum smelter project.
Mazzei’s campaign tied the “fascist” label to Drummond’s donation record.
“Gentner Drummond’s decision to label some Republicans as fascists follows his liberal pattern of donating to Joe Biden, donating to 11 Oklahoma Democrats, and offering amnesty to illegal immigrants,” she said. “Drummond calling Republicans fascists sounds exactly like Hillary Clinton calling Trump voters ‘deplorables.’”
Federal Election Commission records show Drummond, listed at Drummond Law in Tulsa, gave $1,000 to Biden for President in August 2020. Mazzei, a financial adviser who has described Drummond as a “liberal trial lawyer,” has lent his campaign roughly $11 million.
Trump has repeatedly backed Mazzei and attacked Drummond. Trump wrote on Truth Social that Mazzei is a “MAGA Warrior” while calling Drummond a “FAKE Republican,” pointing to donations he said the Drummond family made to Biden and the Lincoln Project.
“The Drummonds donated to SLEEPY Joe Biden, and the totally corrupt Lincoln Project, at levels that are shameful,” Trump wrote. “Frankly, that makes him a Radical Left Dumocrat.”
