'It’s Important To Have Turnover In These Jobs': Tulsa Mayor On Election Runoffs

The race for a new Tulsa mayor won't be decided until November.

With Tulsa’s mayoral race heading to a runoff this November, current Mayor G.T. Bynum weighed in on the tight contest and reflected on his time in office. Candidates Monroe Nichols and Karen Keith will face off following an extensive recount after over 50,000 Tulsans cast their votes. Bynum expressed admiration for the top contenders, noting the fairness of the recount process and applauding the professionalism of Tulsa County’s election team.

“Well, I just identify and sympathize with the candidates, I thought, especially those three; each of them ran a really smart campaign. I felt like each of them, it offered the citizens something different, and none of them were trying to be somebody else or somebody that they're not,” said Bynum.

Bynum touched on the potential for significant turnover in the City Council following the November election, where several council races are also heading to runoffs. He acknowledged the value of fresh perspectives, explaining his decision to step down after years of public service.

“It’s important to have turnover in these jobs. You get different viewpoints, new energy, and different ideas,” he said.

Bynum also provided an update on the ongoing investigation into the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre graves. The city recently exhumed several remains consistent with massacre victims and continues to analyze DNA to identify and properly bury them.

“We know that there are 18 race massacre victims buried in Oakland Cemetery because we have the invoice from Tulsa County paying for their burial, but they were buried in unmarked graves, and so much of what we've been doing is trying to find those individuals who were murdered and buried in unmarked graves in that cemetery so that we can reunite their remains with their family and then get a proper burial,” said Bynum. “And the process for doing that is first excavating, finding remains, and then if they are consistent with what we're looking for, which are men buried in plain wooden caskets. They are exhumed. Their remains are analyzed by some of the top forensic experts in America, and if they can recover DNA from any of those remains that is then sent to an independent DNA lab, and that's how we were able to, last month, positively identify the first. One of these, CL Daniel, a World War I veteran who was murdered in the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. Well, that still leaves at least 17 other folks that we're trying to find in there. And so we began this latest excavation right next to Mr. Daniel's remains and found, as you pointed out, a number of other remains that seem like they might be consistent, including several gunshot victims who had multiple different kinds of bullets that were involved in their death. And so all of that is now being analyzed, and we're eager for the forensic experts to give us their latest report on this."

Tulsa's political landscape is poised for change, and Bynum, who has served the city for 16 years, emphasized the importance of collaboration and growth during this transitional period.