Depending on whom you talk to, Oklahoma’s most significant Republican governor was either Henry Bellmon (1963-67, 198791) or Frank Keating (1995-2003). There’s no question which is gubernatorial candidate Chip Keating’s favorite, but he would undoubtedly appreciate being compared with either should he be elected the state’s 29th governor.
Hardly any voters will not make the connection between father and son, but the younger Keating is quick to point out that in the field of nine candidates for the Republican nomination, his background is as a non-career politician, having been a state trooper, former Secretary of Public Safety and, for the past 18 years, a small businessman.
“You get a lot more done when you don’t care who gets the credit. And I think that’s the mindset that our state desperately needs in its next leader,” Keating said recently during a meet-and-greet stop in eastern Oklahoma. “It’s the mindset, frankly, that I live my life by. It’s something I learned from my dad, and although my dad’s been a public servant his whole life, I have not.
