The Big Challenge of Common Ground Politics: Tulsa, Oklahoma Mayor G.T. Bynum

Let's Find Common Ground

USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future

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5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Working across party divides is the best way to bring people together and make progress, says our guest, Tulsa Mayor, G.T. Bynum. But he also points out that common ground is “the least valued political real estate in America today”. Overwhelmingly reelected to office as a nonpartisan in a deep-red state, Mayor Bynum calls himself a moderate and tells us that his administration is a test case for “the belief that people of diverse beliefs can still work together to solve great challenges.” Two years ago, Mayor Bynum issued a statement apologizing on behalf of the city for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, exactly 100 years after the racist attack. We discuss his support for long-delayed excavations of victims, and Tulsa's need for diversity, and how new immigrants add to prosperity and community building. Mayor Bynum acknowledges that in our divided times “the easy sugar high for candidates and elected officials is to hate ‘them’ and get one of the extremes on your side.” Our discussion looks at the need for common ground politics and respect for different communities.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Oklahoma is a deep-red state with twice as many registered Republican voters compared with Democrats,
0:06.8	nearly all of its leading officials are from the GOP, and that includes the mayor of Tulsa GT
0:13.5	Binem. But Mayor Binem calls himself a common grounder. He was elected to office with support from
0:19.3	Republicans and Democrats. He ran a non-partisan campaign and says he governs that way.
0:25.6	Our purpose in this is to show people that you can still work with people of different
0:31.7	political views and fine common ground and address the great challenges that are facing your
0:37.6	city and move it forward together.
0:45.2	This is Let's Find Common Ground. I'm Ashley Miltite. And I'm Richard Davies. Tulsa is one of the
0:51.5	50 largest cities in the United States and it's growing fast. Many of its newest residents are
0:57.6	immigrants, some are refugees. The mayor says they're welcome in his city. And as well here,
1:04.1	GT Binem is also working with communities of color in Tulsa as well as more conservative
1:09.2	photos. We learn how he's pushing back against extremes. He says local communities are where
1:15.5	common ground can be found. But Tulsa's mayor also says it isn't easy, and he knows he's going
1:22.0	up against the deep partisan divides of American politics. GT Binem, thanks so much for joining us on
1:29.2	Let's Find Common Ground. Wonderful to be with you. Thank you for having me on.
1:34.0	Now you've said that common ground is the least valued real estate in American politics today,
1:39.9	and it's time for a change, which definitely attracted our attention as host of this show.
1:45.3	Make your case. The first I'll say that is mutual. I've tried to use the time that I've been in
1:52.9	this job as kind of a working test case as to whether or not you can still use a public office
2:01.2	in a nonpartisan way to find common ground and develop consensus. And when I found out about
2:06.9	your podcast, it was like, wow, there are still people out there that think like this and value
2:12.8	this approach. And so when I had the opportunity to lead in this job as the mayor of one of the 50
	...

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