Charles Bradford Henry (born July 10, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician who was the 26th

governor of Oklahoma The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The governor is the '' ex o ...

from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected governor in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. Henry won re-election for a second term on November 7, 2006 with 67% of the vote."Governor/Oklahoma."
American Votes 2006. CNN.com. Retrieved 10–13–09. Henry was the third governor and second Democrat in Oklahoma history to serve two consecutive terms, along with Democrat George Nigh and Republican Frank Keating. In 2010, Henry was ineligible to run for re-election even though he maintained high approval ratings, because of term limits set by the

Oklahoma Constitution The Constitution of the State of Oklahoma is the governing document of the U.S. State of Oklahoma. Adopted in 1907, Oklahoma ratified the United States Constitution on November 16, 1907, as the 46th U.S. state. At its ratification, the Oklaho ...

. His second term ended on January 10, 2011, and he was succeeded as governor by Republican Mary Fallin. As of 2022, he is the last Democrat to serve as Governor of Oklahoma. Henry had been mentioned as a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate, but declined to run in the 2014 special election to replace Tom Coburn.

Early life and education

Brad Henry was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, the son of Charles Henry, a prominent judge and former state representative. After graduating from Shawnee High School in 1981, Henry attended the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

as a President's Leadership Scholar and earned a bachelor's degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

in 1985. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. In 1988, he was awarded his J.D. degree from the

University of Oklahoma College of Law The University of Oklahoma College of Law is the professional graduate law school of the University of Oklahoma. It is located on the University's campus in Norman, Oklahoma. The College of Law was founded in 1909 by a resolution of the OU Bo ...

, where he served as managing editor of the

Law Review A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also p ...

. Henry practiced law in Shawnee, Oklahoma before running for the

Oklahoma State Senate The Oklahoma Senate is the upper house of the two houses of the Legislature of Oklahoma, the other being the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The total number of senators is set at 48 by the Oklahoma Constitution."Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry"
National Governor's Association . Retrieved February 19, 2010. He served as a state senator from 1992 until he became governor.

Gubernatorial campaigns

2002

In the 2002 election for governor, Henry defeated State Senator Enoch Kelly Haney and businessman Vince Orza in the primary election. In the general election, he defeated former Republican

Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

Steve Largent, an NFL Hall of Famer, by just over one-half of one percent of the vote, in a race that also included Independent candidate Gary Richardson, a retired federal prosecutor. Henry received 448,143 votes (43.27%) to Largent's 441,277 votes (42.61%). Richardson, a former Republican candidate, received 146,200 votes (14%). Henry ran a campaign of "barnstorming" rural areas, and stopping at Wal-Mart stores in an RV with supporters. Henry was endorsed by football coach Barry Switzer, who has widespread popularity in the Sooner State and accompanied Henry to many campaign events. On the policy side of the campaign, Henry branded himself as the "education governor." He argued for increasing teachers' salaries and funding for higher education in the state by approving a state lottery to raise money.

2006

In the Democratic Party primary election on July 25, 2006, Henry received 218,712 votes, 86% of the vote. In the November 7 general election, Henry faced Fifth District U.S. Congressman Republican

Ernest Istook Ernest James "Ernie" Istook Jr. (born February 11, 1950) is a retired American lawyer and politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma's 5th congressional district. He held his congress ...

and won with 66% of the vote. He won with a higher total than any gubernatorial candidate in almost fifty years. He only lost the three counties of the

Panhandle A salient (also known as a panhandle or bootheel) is an elongated protrusion of a geopolitical entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state. While similar to a peninsula in shape, a salient is most often not surrounded by water on ...

, and won by large margins in a number of counties that normally vote Republican.

Governor of Oklahoma

Henry was sworn in as Oklahoma's 26th governor on January 13, 2003, with the oath of office being administered by his cousin, federal appeals court judge

Robert Harlan Henry Robert Harlan Henry (born April 3, 1953) is a former United States Circuit Judge and politician from Oklahoma, and was the 17th President of Oklahoma City University. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Henry formerly served as the Attorne ...

. As governor, he was a member of the National Governors Association, the Southern Governors' Association, and the

Democratic Governors Association The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) is a Washington, D.C.-based 527 organization founded in 1983, consisting of U.S. state and territorial governors affiliated with the Democratic Party. The mission of the organization is to provide party ...

. He was the president of the

Council of State Governments The Council of State Governments (CSG) is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization in the United States that serves all three branches of state government. Founded in 1933 by Colorado state Sen. Henry W. Toll, CSG is a region-based forum that f ...

in 2007. Henry made national headlines by giving

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

from the controversial redistricting warrant to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Democrats in that state's legislature by allowing them to travel across state lines into Oklahoma en masse to deny a quorum for voting on a redistricting plan. "Our position is that, without a warrant signed by a judge, we have no authority. Even under those circumstances, we are hesitant to get pulled into a Texas political battle. If we're going to do battle with Texas, we prefer that it be on the football field," Henry said through his spokesman. As a tax-cutting governor, Henry has sought a stance of moderation on most political hot button issues and seemingly has appeal across party lines."Brad Henry."
OntheIssues.org. Retrieved 10–13–09. Henry is pro-choice and has vetoed legislation to mandate ultrasound viewings prior to abortion procedures. He has a mixed view of racial affirmative action, supporting it in college and graduate schools, but not in hiring for the bureaucracy. Henry supports expanding public healthcare and holding HMOs accountable for poor care; however, he also is in favor of upholding the death penalty and is against gun control. The governor supports tax cuts for the lower and middle classes and believes in keeping the income tax; he also supports using the "War on Drugs" strategy to combat methamphetamine use within his state. On May 27, 2004, Governor Brad Henry issued Executive Order 04-21, which created the Governor's Ethnic American Advisory Council. The Ethnic American Advisory Council then published an English translation of the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...

embossed with the Oklahoma State seal which was then distributed to 149 Oklahoma state legislators. There were 35 lawmakers who declined to accept the copy of the Quran that they were offered. After refusing the copy of the Quran, Republican State Representative Rex Duncan wrote a letter to his colleagues explaining, "Most Oklahomans do not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of ideology." Further, Duncan said during a TV interview "I think it was inappropriate that they used a state centennial seal on a religious item." In 2003, Henry signed bills into law that: made downloading child pornography a crime, strengthened the financial oversight of HMOs by the state, created a $300,000 cap on noneconomic damages for obstetric and emergency room cases except in wrongful death cases or if negligence is shown and made other changes to regulate medical liability actions, penalized predatory lending, authorized payday lending, and placed a moratorium on the sale of water from a sole source aquifer.2003 Session Highlights
, Oklahoma House of Representatives (accessed June 28, 2013) He also was a strong supporter of a ballot proposal to establish a statewide lottery to benefit schools. In 2004, he signed a bill into law that set out a total of $2,100 in across-the-board salary increases for state employees, public school teachers and state troopers.2004 Session Highlights
, Oklahoma House of Representatives (accessed June 4, 2013) He also signed legislation to limit the sale of pseudoephedrine used to make crystal meth. In 2008, he vetoed an anti-abortion measure which required, among other things, women to get an ultrasound before having an abortion. The veto was overridden and was the first override in Oklahoma since 1994, when Gov.

David Walters David Lee Walters (born November 20, 1951) is an American politician who was the 24th governor of Oklahoma from 1991 to 1995. Born in Canute, Oklahoma, Walters was a project manager for Governor David Boren and the youngest executive officer w ...

was in office. That law was struck down by a state district court, but passed again in April 2010, whereupon Henry again vetoed it. His veto was again overridden. Despite high job approval ratings and avoidance of controversy, Oklahoma voters approved a term limit holding the governor to a total length of time of eight years in office. The law already provided for a term limit of two consecutive terms for the governor. This effectively prohibited Henry, then 47, from making a comeback attempt at a later date. However, in 2013, Henry stated the initiative didn't apply to him as he had already been term limited by the State Constitution before the proposition was approved. Supporters had asked Henry to run in the 2014 elections against incumbent Republican governor Mary Fallin, but he declined.

Oklahoma Supreme Court appointments

Governor Henry appointed the following Justices to the

Oklahoma Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Oklahoma is a court of appeal for non-criminal cases, one of the two highest judicial bodies in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and leads the judiciary of Oklahoma, the judicial branch of the government of Oklahoma.

: *

James E. Edmondson James E. Edmondson (born March 7, 1945) is a justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. He was appointed to the Court's District 7 seat by Governor Brad Henry in 2003. Early life Edmondson graduated from Central High School in Muskogee, Oklahoma, ...

2003 * Steven W. Taylor2004 *

Tom Colbert Tom Colbert (born December 30, 1949) is a former Associate Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. He was appointed to the Court's District 6 seat in 2004, by Governor Brad Henry, becoming the first African-American to serve on the court. On Janua ...

2004, making Henry the first governor to appoint an African American justice to the Court. * John F. Reif2007 * Doug Combs2010

Budget proposals

Governor Henry submitted the following budgets to the

Oklahoma Legislature The Legislature of the State of Oklahoma is the state legislative branch of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The Oklahoma House of Representatives and Oklahoma Senate are the two houses that make up the bicameral state legislature. There are 1 ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

Legacy

Henry was widely expected to be named President of the University of Central Oklahoma. However, the state's largest newspapers, The Daily Oklahoman and The Tulsa World, both editorialized against the appointment of Henry as UCO president by the UCO Board of Regents, which was appointed by Henry. Another candidate, Don Betz, was named to the position. Henry was considered a likely choice to be Dean of the Oklahoma City University School of Law. However, U.S. Federal Magistrate Valerie Couch was appointed. As governor, Henry appointed 5 members of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and delivered the 2010 commencement address at the OCU School of Law. Henry has strong experience as Oklahoma Senate Judiciary Chairman, OU Law Review Editor and considerable skills in fundraising. On June 8, 2016, Henry joined the law firm Spencer Fane

Election results

2002

2006

References

External links

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry
''official state website'' *Everett, Dianna

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. Retrieved 10–13–09 * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Brad 1963 births Living people People from Shawnee, Oklahoma Democratic Party governors of Oklahoma Democratic Party Oklahoma state senators Oklahoma lawyers Politicians from Oklahoma City University of Oklahoma alumni University of Oklahoma College of Law alumni Lawyers from Oklahoma City 21st-century American politicians Baptists from Oklahoma Shawnee High School (Oklahoma) alumni