Skip to content

Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024

Did members of the Oklahoma Republican Party condemn a Republican senator for working with Democrats on border security?


yes

The Oklahoma Republican Party issued a resolution condemning Republican Sen. James Lankford, who represents Oklahoma in the U.S. Senate, for his work on a bipartisan border security package. Party leadership retracted it two days later.

The resolution, passed during a Jan. 27, 2024 meeting, read in part, “The Oklahoma GOP strongly condemns Senator James Lankford … and calls upon him to cease and desist jeopardizing the security and liberty of the people of Oklahoma and these United States.”

On Jan. 29, the Oklahoma Republican Party issued a statement characterizing the meeting as illegitimate, as proper notice was not provided to all members, and advised the media not to report on any business conducted that day as official party actions.

Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has privately acknowledged that former president Donald Trump’s opposition to the deal presents a dilemma for the party, The Oklahoman reported.

See a full discussion of this at Oklahoma Watch

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) corporation that produces in-depth and investigative journalism as a public service for the benefit of all Oklahomans. Through investigative, fact-driven journalism, we dig deep and examine significant issues facing our state. Our work engages all Oklahomans, amplifies the discussion of important issues and leads to change. We help develop the journalists and journalism of the future.

Learn More

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.