Spencer Grace, Jeremy Sacket square off in open HD 37 race

In a north-central Oklahoma race that will be decided in the June 16 Republican primary, a nationally recognized game warden and a software entrepreneur are seeking election to House District 37, with each candidate hoping to bring their differing public and private sector experiences to the state Capitol.

Spencer Grace, a game warden of 18 years who also runs a small business, and Jeremy Sacket, a technology entrepreneur and longtime civic volunteer from Ponca City, are vying for the seat that spans parts of Osage and Kay counties. HD 37 covers communities such as Ponca City, Pawhuska and Fairfax, with Rep. Ken Luttrell (R-Ponca City) ineligible to run again owing to term limits. Luttrell first represented HD 37 as a Democrat before losing to former Rep. Steve Vaughn in 2010, changing his party registration and defeating Vaughn in 2018.

No other candidate filed to succeed Luttrell, meaning the winner of the GOP primary will be the next representative for HD 37. In interviews, both candidates discussed their priorities ahead of the June 16 election.

Grace, 42, is a lifelong Oklahoman and a game warden who has worked across the district for nearly two decades. He and his wife founded a nonprofit inspired by their daughter, raising more than $140,000 for rare disease research and special needs families. Grace has received national recognition for his work, including National Wildlife Officer of the Year, Oklahoma State Game Warden of the Year and a lifesaving honor after rescuing two men from drowning. He also sells real estate and owns an Airbnb.

He said he decided to run because of his deep familiarity with the district and a desire to continue his public service in a new capacity.

"I just want to be the ears and the voice," Grace said. "I want to be an asset to the people of this district."

Sacket, 46, grew up in the small northwest Oklahoma town of Aline and has spent more than 20 years as a software engineer developing education-focused technology, including school testing analytics and lesson plan tools. He earned a computer science degree from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and has served on the Ponca City Chamber of Commerce board, the city's planning commission, its tourism board and its park and recreation board. A member of Rotary International, Sacket and his family also spent two years in Thailand teaching at an international Christian school.

Sacket said his deep roots in the community and his experience across multiple sectors make him the right fit for the job.

"I have always had a desire to be available to my community," Sacket said. "I just feel like I am making myself available."

Early voting will be available at the Kay County Election Board and the Osage County Election Board from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 11 and June 12, along with from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 13. Polls are open on Election Day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Grace: 'Remove politics from the education system'

Both candidates said improving education is a top priority, though they come at it from different angles.

Grace said the biggest obstacle is the politicization of teaching itself, pointing to controversies surrounding former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters as evidence that political battles have damaged teacher morale and distracted from classroom outcomes.

"We need to remove politics from the education system, because it's been a deterrent for teachers doing their jobs," Grace said. "My mother's a retired teacher. The morale of teachers is down, and I feel like it's because we've turned it into a political event."

Sacket, who comes from a family of educators and has spent two decades building testing and lesson plan software for Oklahoma schools, said the problem goes deeper than politics. He called for a return to pencil-and-paper instruction, citing research on knowledge retention, and he said he wants to see highly qualified teachers recruited and retained.

"Education shouldn't be where we're at now," Sacket said. "I want to go down there and make sure that we're always taking education every year a foot closer to the best system -- to be No. 1 in the country."

On curriculum questions, Sacket said decisions about what to teach should rest primarily with local school boards and superintendents, with statewide standards setting a baseline but not dictating method.

"How those standards may be applied, I think, is local control," Sacket said.

Grace agreed that politics should not be driving curriculum decisions, saying teachers should be left to do their jobs without the distraction of political controversy.

Both candidates said Career Tech is one of the district's strongest assets and needs to be better connected to local employers. Grace, who works closely with Pioneer Tech Center staff in Ponca City, said fostering internships with local manufacturers and contractors is a direct pipeline from training to employment -- and that the program's reach needs to expand to more communities.

"We need to bolster that relationship," Grace said. "And make sure that it's available not just to the Ponca City area."

Sacket pushed the idea further, calling for Career Tech programs to be formally linked with nearby university programs so students can earn both a trade certification and an associate's degree simultaneously.

"If someone wants to become a cosmetologist at Pioneer Tech, she should also be able to take business classes at [Northern Oklahoma College] and graduate with an associate's in business as well," Sacket said. "Getting her trade and also getting a degree to help her survive and grow."

Sacket: 'One place to go' for small businesses

Both candidates said cutting red tape for small businesses is a priority, and both spoke from personal experience.

Sacket said his focus would be on streamlining the startup process itself, which currently requires new business owners to navigate the Secretary of State's office, the Oklahoma Tax Commission, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission and -- sometimes -- the ABLE Commission -- as separate stops.

"It'd be nice to have technology so that you can have one place to go, and all the information is distributed to all the different agencies that you need," Sacket said.

Grace, who owns an Airbnb and sells real estate, said the number of fees, certifications and insurance requirements facing small business owners has become prohibitive.

"I just want to make things easier for people to be in business for themselves and to thrive in our state," Grace said. "Every fee or certification required costs them money and time."

Regarding tourism, both said HD 37 is underselling itself. Grace said communities should more aggressively advertise outdoor recreation opportunities -- from waterfowl hunting at Kaw Lake to fishing and camping across Osage County -- and work more closely with tribal nations to draw visitors to various cultural events.

"We need to promote ourselves in District 37," Grace said. "Beat our own drum, so to speak."

Sacket pointed to Pawhuska as a model for what tourism development can look like, while also flagging that the state's overall tourism budget lags behind neighboring states.

"Maybe that's something we could look at -- moving money around to increase the tourism budget," Sacket said.

Regarding water and land, both candidates said water is among the most pressing concerns facing the district.

"Water rights are going to be the hottest topic," Grace said. "It sure seems like we go longer periods of extreme dry weather, and the demand for water is never going to go away."

Grace, who owns 275 acres with his wife, said he would work with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to make well-drilling permits easier to obtain during drought conditions. He also said he wants to do a better job alerting rural landowners to state and federal assistance programs they may not know exist.

"A lot of times there's a program available to drill a well or to have a pond that dries up re-dug, but a lot of times the landowners don't know," Grace said. "Maybe we make it easier for people to be notified when those things come around."

Sacket noted that, in much of the district, aging water infrastructure -- particularly in smaller communities with limited sales tax revenue -- is the more immediate concern. He said those towns will likely need to rely heavily on state and federal grant programs to address failing systems.

Both candidates said the departing Luttrell served the district well, but each drew a different contrast when asked what voters might not have been getting.

Grace said his 20 years of working the full geographic breadth of the district means he has built relationships in corners of HD 37 that have not always had a strong voice at the Capitol.

"There are areas of the district that probably haven't had a voice," Grace said. "That's not a knock on anybody -- it's a huge area -- but I have worked with those people, and I have relationships all across the district."

Sacket said his focus would be on accessibility and responsiveness.

"If somebody is willing to call me and they're actually participating in the government and the creation of laws, they deserve a response back," Sacekt said.

Sacket also offered a candid acknowledgement of the tension between personal beliefs and constituent wishes. On property taxes -- an issue where he said many voters want full elimination -- Sacket said he would follow his constituents' lead even if he privately believed property taxes were the most efficient funding mechanism available to counties and schools.

"If there's a huge overwhelming (push) that they say get rid of property taxes, that's not my go-to thing to do," Sacket said. "Our counties rely upon it."

Grace, meanwhile, said the experience of working as a game warden has prepared him to stand firm on issues important to the district even if it means standing apart from other legislators.

"If that means me standing alone on an issue because it best represents the people from our district, that's what I'm going to do," Grace said. "But I'm also very good at working with people that normally wouldn't work together to solve an issue."