Oklahoma's New GOP Caucus Picks Next Speaker

The Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Members of the new 70-strong Republican majority in the Oklahoma House are meeting to elect a minister from Shawnee as their new speaker-elect.

The House Republican caucus met Thursday to select state Rep. Kris Steele for the top post in the House. Steele already had been elected the speaker-designate, but Thursday's meeting will be the first with freshly elected lawmakers.

After Tuesday's election in which Republicans picked up eight new seats, the GOP now has a 70-31 advantage in the 101-member House. The record majority is a political reversal from the makeup of the Legislature just 12 years ago.

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Steele still must be formally elected speaker by the entire House early next year before the start of the 2011 session.