Bartlett (left) and Taylor
Tulsa's mayoral race is back on.
The two remaining candidates - Mayor Dewey Bartlett and former Mayor Kathy Taylor - will ramp up campaigning this month following a nearly three-month rest after an intense race to the June 11 primary election, their campaign managers said. The candidates will face off Nov. 12.
"The crazy thing about this election cycle is it's so long," Taylor Campaign Manager Monroe Nichols said. "By the time this is over, it would have almost been a year, which is an incredibly long time for a local election."
This year marks the first nonpartisan election cycle in Tulsa's history, courtesy of a City Charter change approved by voters in 2011.
Bartlett, 65, a Republican, and Taylor, 57, a Democrat, ousted former City Councilor Bill Christiansen in the June 11 election, when Taylor took 42 percent of the vote and Bartlett took 34 percent to Christiansen's 23 percent.
Unlike in past years - such as in 2009, when Bartlett won the general election two months after the primary - the candidates this time have plenty of time to prepare for their next round.
The key is pacing, their campaigns said.
"Most of the summer we spent laying a little lower than we had in the spring - kind of recuperating, rebuilding our base, recruiting a lot of Christiansen supporters," Bartlett Campaign Manager Dan Patten said. "We kind of anticipated Labor Day being the unofficial rekickoff of the campaign."
Both campaigns said their candidates spent more time with their families over the summer, but they stressed that it wasn't all relaxation.
Patten said Bartlett has spent much of his time with city business and will continue doing so to a large degree through Nov. 12.
"We're putting campaign events on hold and moving things around because running the city is full-time-plus job," he said. "It's a big time constraint on Dewey, but I'll tell you he's mayor first and foremost - sometimes even much to my dismay."
Taylor, who was mayor from 2006 to 2009 before deciding not to run for re-election, spent her time keeping up with city issues and holding "a lot" of meetings with voters, Nichols said.
The campaign did cease much of its door-knocking, cold-calling and media advertisements, but all of that will resume "sooner rather than later," he said.
In fact, the campaign began staffing its call center at fuller levels last week, and a radio ad is planned soon, he said.
Taylor also plans regular, yet-to-be-announced town hall meetings - a product of the longer election period, which gives candidates more time for face-to-face contact with voters, Nichols said.
Although the longer cycle risks fatiguing Tulsans, "the opportunity to spend more time with voters" is its major positive, he said.
Patten said Bartlett's volunteers also temporarily cooled down on door-knocking and cold-calling - the lone exception being first lady Victoria Bartlett, who has continued knocking on doors six days a week, he said.
But that will change, as the Tulsa County Republican Party has emailed supporters seeking volunteers from Tulsa, Rogers and Washington counties for "Doors for Dewey Days" beginning Saturday.
As for television ads: stay tuned, the campaigns said.
Both said those will return closer to the general election.
Time between primary, general elections
2006: (April 4 general election): 28 days
2009: (Nov. 10 general election): 63 days
2013: (Nov. 12 general election): 154 days
Zack Stoycoff 918-581-8486
zack.stoycoff@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Tulsa mayoral campaigns renew efforts
