Philip Matthew Pinnell (born August 15, 1979) is an American politician serving as the 17th lieutenant governor of Oklahoma, since 2019. Pinnell is also serving as the first Oklahoma Secretary of Tourism & Branding. Pinnell is a member of the Republican Party.

Early life and career

Pinnell graduated from Metro Christian Academy in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

, and

Oral Roberts University Oral Roberts University (ORU) is a Private university, private Evangelicalism, evangelical university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Founded in 1963, the university is named after its founder, Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christian preacher Oral ...

. He served as chairman of the

Oklahoma Republican Party The Oklahoma Republican Party is an Oklahoma political party affiliated with the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. Along with the Oklahoma Democratic Party, it is one of the two major parties in the state. It is currently the ...

from 2010 to 2013. He then worked for the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

as the National State Party Director. Pinnell also worked on a campaign for former Oklahoma Attorney General

Scott Pruitt Edward Scott Pruitt (born May 9, 1968) is an American attorney, lobbyist and Republican Party (United States), Republican politician from the state of Oklahoma. He served as the 14th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) f ...

Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma

On April 20, 2017, Pinnell announced his candidacy for the office of lieutenant governor. On June 26, 2018, Pinnell finished in the top two in the Republican primary election, and he and Dana Murphy advanced to a

runoff election The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

, in which Pinnell defeated Murphy. Pinnell defeated Democratic candidate Anastasia Pittman in the lieutenant gubernatorial election on November 6. Pinnell was sworn in on January 14, 2019. On January 18, 2019, Governor

Kevin Stitt John Kevin Stitt (born December 28, 1972) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 28th governor of Oklahoma since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in 2018, defeating Democrat and former state Attorney Ge ...

selected Pinnell to serve as the first Oklahoma Secretary of Tourism and Branding, wherein he oversees the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation. Stitt separated the departments of Tourism and Commerce to be their own stand-alone agencies. He resigned as Secretary of Tourism and Branding on March 1, 2024.

Controversies

In June 2023, after severe storms hit parts of Oklahoma that involved hurricane-force winds and tornadic activity that knocked out power for days for more than 100,000 energy customers during severe heat waves, Pinnell did not inform Greg Treat that he was the acting Governor who could declare a state of emergency, which Treat eventually did days after the event. Treat was not informed ahead of time he was acting Governor while Stitt was in Paris and Pinnell was also out of state. Stitt had not responded to Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum's calls for assistance. However, six days after the event, Stitt was saying he was in contact with Bynum and Bynum redirected attentions elsewhere from the story. At least three people died from the storms.

Personal life

Pinnell and his wife, Lisa, have four children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinnell, Matt 1979 births Lieutenant governors of Oklahoma Living people 21st-century Oklahoma politicians Oklahoma Republican Party chairs Oral Roberts University alumni Politicians from Enid, Oklahoma Political campaign staff Stitt administration cabinet members