Holt focuses on future
New OKC mayor wants to ‘double-down on unity’
The candidate who spoke of generational change is bringing a new look to the mayor’s office.
David Holt, 39, was sworn in Tuesday as Oklahoma City’s 36th mayor, succeeding Mick Cornett, who served 14 years and a record four terms.
Holt took the oath of office with his left hand resting on a family Bible held by his wife, Rachel, and with their children George, 8, and Maggie, 6, at their side.
In remarks to the crowd at City Hall, Holt said his choices in office decor would reflect his determination to focus government on building for the future.
Symbolizing his approach are 20 portraits of Oklahoma City children, newly placed on the walls of the mayor’s conference room.
“We all know that the decisions we’re making in this room and in this building and in many important rooms in this downtown are for George and Maggie and for all the kids of Oklahoma City,” he said.
The portraits represent
a new Oklahoma City, ethnically and economically diverse and, Holt said, at risk of being divided by forces from within the city and without.
“I wanted to double down on unity,” he said. “I wanted to double down on the idea that we could set aside our differences and find a common purpose.”
The children’s portraits replace portraits of former mayors and constitute, he said, “a different look perhaps than many of us are used to as we live in our own little bubbles.”
“I wanted those kids to look down on us as we sat in that conference room and we made the decisions we’re going to make in coming years,” Holt said.
Tuesday’s remarks echoed the OneOKC theme that won Holt the mayor’s office in the Feb. 13 primary election. He took 78.5 percent of the vote in a three-way race.
Holt is an attorney and managing director of investor relations at Hall Capital, a family-owned private investment company with offices in Oklahoma City, Chicago, Dallas, Tulsa and Nashville, Tennessee.
Until this week, he was a Republican state senator, representing northwest Oklahoma City’s District 30.
Before being elected to the state Senate in 2010, he served five years as Cornett’s chief of staff and before that he was a congressional aide in Washington, D.C.
A former college sports writer, he published “Big League City: Oklahoma City’s Rise to the NBA” in 2012.
The book chronicles the city’s economic revival and the arrival of the Thunder basketball team.
A couple of copies of the book were on the shelves Tuesday in his office.
Holt is acknowledging his Osage heritage by hanging on his office wall a striking depiction of a buffalo, by Native American artist D.G. Smalling.
The piece is on loan from the artist to the city.
Cornett left his successor a framed Russell Westbrook Thunder jersey,
and that hangs on the wall as well, along with a large map of the city and a Route 66 road sign.
Oklahoma County District 1 Commissioner Willa Johnson administered the oath of office. Johnson was a longtime Ward 7 city councilwoman before being elected county commissioner.
Holt’s pastor, the Rev. Joseph Alsay of St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, delivered the invocation.
Guests included
Osage Nation Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear; Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, a friend from when they worked together in Washington; and Ed Somers, chief of staff with the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Oklahoma City’s mayor is one of nine members of the council. Others represent the city’s eight wards. All seats are nonpartisan.
Terms are four years and the mayor earns $24,000 per year.