The Oklahoman

Political unknown who spent nothing ousts state House Democratic leader

- BY DALE DENWALT Capitol Bureau ddenwalt@oklahoman.com

Logan Phillips sat inside Mamadou’s Restaurant south of Tulsa watching election returns Tuesday, fully expecting he would lose his race against Democratic state Rep. Steve Kouplen.

He was shocked to see he won by 344 votes.

The Tulsa Community College assistant professor hadn’t run a traditiona­l campaign against the leader of House Democrats. It was hardly a campaign at all.

“I was sort of going against Goliath, so I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. But somehow, I won,” said Phillips, a Republican from Mounds. “I did not raise a single dollar or spend a single dollar. I did it all by word of mouth.”

Kouplen reported last month that he spent nearly $30,000 this year campaignin­g and had about $57,000 on hand.

Phillips is relatively unknown; several local officials in Mounds and Beggs hadn’t heard of him and Kouplen, a 10-year veteran of the House, said he never met Phillips on the campaign trail. He won by a vote of 5,101 (52 percent) to 4,757 (48 percent).

His victory helped boost the Republican majority in the House from 73 to 76 members compared to 25 Democrats.

Democrats had a net gain in the state Senate of one seat, and will have 9 members when session convenes in February. Republican­s will have 39 senators.

There was no evidence that outside campaigns spent money to oust Kouplen, 67, who seemed baffled Wednesday about the election results.

“I assume it was just a function of either straightpa­rty voting and some of the national politics maybe crept in,” said Kouplen, D-Beggs. “We’re no different than the rest of the country. Rural parts of the country are turning more and more red. It’s more the ‘R’ or ‘D’ by the (person’s name) than the person.”

Despite the loss, Kouplen wished Phillips luck.

“He’ll have at least two years and maybe 12 to figure it out. I’m sure he’ll do a fine job,” Kouplen said.

Phillips, 35, teaches business and informatio­n technology at TCC. He’s an Oklahoma National Guard infantry veteran. His teaching experience includes time at Tulsa Boys’ Home and in Taiwan, where he taught math.

As a lawmaker, Phillips said he wants to refocus and restructur­e the education system while creating more opportunit­ies for students to focus on vocational education. For example, a student could come out of high school and learn practices that could help them revitalize their hometown, he said.

“Creating business creators is kind of my bread and butter all day long,” said Phillips.

He also supports individual and state rights over federal rights.

“I’m extremely happy that I won, but it absolutely came as a surprise how big of the change that the population was willing to go for,” he said.

 ??  ?? State Rep.-elect Logan Phillips, R-Mounds
State Rep.-elect Logan Phillips, R-Mounds
 ??  ?? State Rep. Steve Kouplen, D-Beggs
State Rep. Steve Kouplen, D-Beggs

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