Republican Attorney General Candidate Funneled Thousands To Democrats, Records Show

• Gentner Drummond, a Republican candidate for attorney general in Oklahoma, has contributed to nearly a dozen Democratic candidates since 2004, federal and state records show. 
• Drummond, who refunded a contribution to President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign shortly after it was issued, donated to a Democratic candidate in 2014 seeking to unseat Republican Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe.
• “Drummond has disqualified himself both by his denials and by failing to stand up for conservative values,” said Republican Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor. “Oklahomans cannot trust him. Trump supporters and conservatives cannot trust him.”

A Republican running for attorney general in Oklahoma has contributed roughly $10,000 to 11 Democratic candidates for state and federal office since 2004, including President Joe Biden, according to records reviewed by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Gentner Drummond, a Tulsa attorney and wealthy businessman facing Attorney General John O’Connor in the general election, has a history of financially backing Democrats, Federal Election Commission (FEC) and Oklahoma Ethics Commission records show.

Drummond, who also ran in 2018 for attorney general, refunded his $1,000 contribution to Biden’s presidential campaign in 2020 nine days after it was issued, according to FEC records. FEC records also show Drummond contributed $1,000 to candidate Matt Silverstein in his 2014 campaign to unseat Republican Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, and $1,450 to candidate John Olson in his 2012 race for Oklahoma’s 1st congressional district.

Drummond gave $2,500 combined to former Democratic Oklahoma Rep. Dan Boren in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010, according to FEC data, and $1,000 to former Democratic Oklahoma Rep. Brad Carson in 2004. His contributions to state Democrats, some of which are also from his wife, add up to roughly $3,500, according to state records.

Drummond’s campaign did not respond to TheDCNF’s requests for comment. The candidate claimed in May that his Biden contribution was “a big mix-up,” Tulsa World reported, and that his wife made it using their joint credit card, after saying he “did not donate to Biden” and that it was “unauthorized.”

John O’Connor, who has been attorney general since 2021, told TheDCNF Drummond has “continued to show his true colors” even though the candidate refunded his registered Biden contribution.

“Drummond has disqualified himself both by his denials and by failing to stand up for conservative values,” O’Connor said. “Oklahomans cannot trust him. Trump supporters and conservatives cannot trust him.”

Drummond has contributed roughly $41,000 total to political action committees (PAC) and both Democratic and Republican federal candidates since 1999, FEC records show.

Most have been to Republicans, such as $5,000 to former President Donald Trump’s Save America political action (PAC) committee in February 2022. He also contributed $2,750 combined to two committees for Republican Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe from 2005 to 2020 and $1,000 to a PAC tied to Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford in 2021

Still, Drummond’s past contributions to Democratic candidates are “extremely troubling,” Republican state Rep. Justin Humphrey told TheDCNF.

“That is one of the reasons that I will not vote for him,” said Humphrey. “That makes a person counterfeit when you donate to both sides. I don’t mean this negatively toward Democrats, there are Democrats that are good people, but Joe Biden ain’t one of them.”

Roughly three dozen people who are spending money to get Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joy Hofmeister elected are also funding Drummond’s campaign, according to a February report by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. This comes after the attorney general candidate and his wife contributed $3,251 to Hofmeister when she ran as a Republican for superintendent of public instruction in 2014, state records show.

Donors that overlap between Hofmeister and Drummond have given $72,000 in combined contributions to the Democrat’s campaign, according to the Council of Public Affairs, and roughly $74,000 to Drummond’s campaign. (RELATED: Rep. Jahana Hayes Still Using Campaign Funds To Pay Family — Now Paying Herself, FEC Records Show)

We were excited to hear candidate for Attorney General, Gentner Drummond, speak to our board of directors and Council of Advisors this week about ways he wants to help move Oklahoma forward! pic.twitter.com/g6ApoPSYp5

— State Chamber of Oklahoma (@okstatechamber) November 19, 2021

Oklahoma’s Republican Party Chairman Anthony Ferate declined a request for comment on Drummond’s contributions. The Tulsa County GOP, which covers the second most populous county in the state, told TheDCNF it is not taking sides in the attorney general race.

“As the party chairman, I choose to remain out of the primary process and allow the people to make a decision,” said chair Ronda Vuillemont-Smith.

But Shane Jett, a Republican Oklahoma state senator who served in the House for six years, thinks differently. He told TheDCNF that “real Republicans can see where his allegiances are,” speaking of Drummond.

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