Cory T. Williams is an American attorney and Democratic politician 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 ...

. He currently served in the

Oklahoma House of Representatives The Oklahoma House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Its members introduce and vote on bills and resolutions, provide legislative oversight for state agencies, and help to craft the state's ...

as the District 34 State Representative from 2009 to 2019. The seat was formerly held by Terry Ingmire, a Republican. He was first elected to the seat in 2008.

Early life and career

Born and raised in Stillwater, Cory Williams graduated in 1996 from Stillwater High School. Williams attended

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

, where he was an active student leader. Williams completed his B.S. in political science with an emphasis in Applied Politics in 2001 and an M.S. in International Trade and Development from the OSU School of International Studies in 2003. While in graduate school Williams was awarded the Boeing Company Fellowship for his overseas work with American Airlines. He completed his J.D. degree from

Oklahoma City University School of Law Oklahoma City University School of Law, also known as OCU Law, is the law school of Oklahoma City University. OCU Law is located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was founded in 1907. OCU Law was located in the Sarkeys Law Center on t ...

in 2006. After completing law school, Cory decide to return to Stillwater in 2006 to raise his sons, Kase and Canton. Currently, Cory runs a law firm in Stillwater and is an active member of the

Payne County Payne County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 81,646. Its county seat is Stillwater, Oklahoma, Stillwater. The county was created in ...

, Oklahoma and

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

s. Cory sits on the Board of the Stillwater

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

, and the Board of the Payne County Youth Shelter.

Political career

Williams entered the race for District 34 State Representative and won his seat in what was broadly considered a Republican stronghold. Williams narrowly defeated Aaron Carlson by 63 votes. In his re-election bid in 2010 he was attacked for his vote against State Question 755 which banned the use of ''Sharia law'' and ''international law'' in court decisions. His opponent sent mail pieces attacking him by having William's picture beside a shadowy figure with Arab appeal. He won by 280 votes. Throughout his time as a state representative, Williams championed criminal justice reform. Williams served at the Assistant Democratic Floor Leader and sat on the House Committees for Judiciary-Criminal Justice and Corrections, Public Safety, and Higher Education and Career Tech. He left his seat to run for

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

. Williams lost the race. His seat was filled by Trish Ranson. At the Oklahoma Democratic Party's biennial state convention on May 20, 2023, Cory Williams was elected as Vice Chair.

Election results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Cory T. Living people Democratic Party members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Oklahoma Legislature People from Stillwater, Oklahoma Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Native American politicians Cherokee Nation state legislators in Oklahoma