Attorney general hopeful loans his campaign $405,000

In the increasingly tight race for attorney general, candidate Gentner Drummond this week loaned his campaign $405,000, records show.

Drummond acted after a national organization spent $417,215 on a TV ad in support of Attorney General Mike Hunter.

“Mike Hunter has sold the Attorney General’s Office to the lobbyists, special interests and dark money groups,” Drummond said Friday. “I’m trying to buy it back for the people of Oklahoma.”

The national organization, meanwhile, is upping how much it is spending on its independent effort in support of Hunter. The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) created and funded a new state PAC to buy first the TV ads and now digital and radio ads. The total spending by the RAGA PAC — Oklahomans for Constitutional Integrity — now exceeds $500,000, an official said.

Appearing on both the TV and radio ads is former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts, who employed Hunter as his chief of staff while in Congress. The 30-second TV ad began airing Tuesday in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. The 60-second radio ad will begin airing on talk radio channels statewide Monday.

In both the TV and radio ad, Watts praises Hunter as a proven conservative. “It’s an easy vote for me,” Watts said.

Each ad ends with a disclaimer that it is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Hunter and Drummond are expected to spend more than $1 million each on the primary election race.

The two Republicans are on the June 26 ballot with a third GOP candidate, Angela Bonilla. A runoff is possible. The GOP winner will face Democrat Mark Myles in the November general election. The candidates’ pre-primary campaign finance reports are due Monday at the Oklahoma

Ethics Commission.

Drummond loaned his campaign $375,000 Wednesday and another $30,000 Thursday, according to so-called

“last-minute” contribution reports filed with the Ethics Commission.

RAGA, formed in 1999, has had increased success in its mission to get Republicans elected in AG races.

Republicans now hold 27 AG seats across the country.

RAGA’s chairman, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, said, “Oklahomans need to know Mike Hunter will always fight for them. He will always put them first. RAGA is proud to stand with Mike Hunter and his campaign for attorney general.”