Robert Anthony (born May 15, 1948) is a Republican

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

who briefly served on the Oklahoma City Council and who is the longest serving statewide elected official in state history after serving 36 years on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. After serving on the Oklahoma City Council from 1979 to 1980, Anthony was elected to the corporation commission in 1989. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

in 2004, and unsuccessful candidate for

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

running against

Glenn English Glenn Lee English Jr. (born November 30, 1940) is a U.S. Democratic politician who represented Oklahoma's 6th congressional district for 10 successive terms. English is formerly the chief executive officer of the National Rural Electric Coope ...

in 1990. He served six consecutive six year terms on the commission and was term limited in 2024. With the retirement of

Doug La Follette Douglas J. La Follette (born June 6, 1940) is a retired American academic, environmental scientist, and Democratic politician from Wisconsin. He was the 28th and 30th secretary of state of Wisconsin, serving from 1975 to 1979, and from 1983 to ...

as Wisconsin Secretary of State in 2023, Anthony became the earliest serving statewide elected official in the United States, not counting federal offices, having held the same office since 1989. Anthony officially left office in January 2025.

Early life and career

Anthony was born at St. Anthony Hospital in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

on May 15, 1948.Voices of Oklahoma interview with Bob Anthony

, April 27, 2010 (accessed May 22, 2013) His father, Guy Anthony, owned the C.R. Anthony Co., a chain of department stores founded by and named after his grandfather. Anthony earned a bachelor's degree from the Wharton School of Finance at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, a master's degree in economics from the London School of Economics, a master's degree from Yale University and a master's degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

.Bob Anthony
Project Vote Smart (accessed May 22, 2013) Anthony was a captain in the United States Army Reserves, worked in his grandfather's retail clothing company C.R. Anthony Co. Worked as a staff economist for the Interior Committee of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

and as a consultant for the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

from 1976 to 1979.

Political career

Anthony served as a member of the Oklahoma City Council representing Ward 2 from 1979 until he resigned in 1980 to take over his father's company after his death. He was the president of C.R. Anthony Co. from 1980 to 1987 when the company was sold an investor group. He first won election to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) in 1988 and took office in 1989. He was re-elected in 1994, 2000, 2006, 2012, and again in 2018. He was term limited in 2024. Anthony revealed in late 1992 that he had been cooperating in a federal bribery probe, secretly taping utility company representatives who broke laws prohibiting donations to regulators. The scandal was averted at the last minute by a company buyout. In 2004 he entered the race to succeed

Don Nickles Donald Lee Nickles (born December 6, 1948) is an American politician and lobbyist who was a Republican United States Senator from Oklahoma from 1981 to 2005. He was considered both a fiscal and social conservative. After retiring from the Sen ...

in the

, but finished third in the primary, losing to

Tom Coburn Thomas Allen Coburn (March 14, 1948 – March 28, 2020) was an American politician and medical doctor, physician who served as a United States senator from Oklahoma from 2005 to 2015. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, Coburn ...

. In August 2018, Anthony won the Republican nomination for a seat on the OCC. He went on to face Democrat Ashley Nicole McCray and independent Jackie Short in the November election. Anthony won re-election with 60% of the vote. In 2023, Anthony filed a 180-page dissent in opposition to Todd Hiett and Kim David's votes to accept a $6 billion fuel cost claimed by Public Service Company of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Natural Gas, and OG&E. He described the price increase as "rotting from a putrid core of greed, public corruption and

regulatory capture In politics, regulatory capture (also called agency capture) is a form of corruption of authority that occurs when a political entity, policymaker, or regulator is co-opted to serve the commercial, ideological, or political interests of a minor ...

Electoral history

References

External links

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Voices of Oklahoma interview with Bob Anthony.
First person interview conducted on April 27, 2010, with Bob Anthony. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Bob 1948 births 21st-century Oklahoma politicians Alumni of the London School of Economics American United Methodists Corporation Commissioners of Oklahoma Harvard Kennedy School alumni Living people Oklahoma City city council members Oklahoma Republicans Wharton School alumni Yale University alumni