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PrintMayoral candidate Mark Perkins and his historic campaign
Perkins may not have achieved his ultimate goal, but his campaign resulted in the highest percentage of votes ever for an independent candidate in Tulsa.
Mark Perkins admits that he entered the Tulsa mayoral race as an underdog. At 30, he was the youngest candidate by 14 years. He had no political experience to speak of. He also ran as an independent, a position often filled by perennial candidates who rarely gather a significant portion of the vote.
As the campaign continued, however, Perkins began to develop a following — even despite a scant budget — and became a fixture alongside the major-party candidates at debates and appearances.
Although he did not emerge the victor, Perkins proved that an independent candidate can make waves in a city election, garnering 18 percent of the vote.
Sitting down just a week after the election, Perkins reflects on the campaign, partisan politics and where he plans to go from here.
What is your reaction to being the best finish ever by an independent candidate?
I never looked into what others had finished. … I didn’t look at my candidacy as an independent from the perspective of offering a third-party alternative as much as I did as believing in the principle that local elections should be independent, in the sense that I don’t think that they should be partisan and I don’t think that federal issues should trickle into our local politics. In our state … independent isn’t a party. It’s just a state of mind.
… A lot of people have been very complimentary about my run, and I appreciate that, but it’s hard. I ran to win and I lost. It’s kind of hard to find the silver lining, but if there is one, it’s that 12,000 Tulsans shared my perspective on the direction we need to head for Tulsa. I suspect that there’s more who shared that perspective but for one reason or another didn’t vote for me. And that’s great, too. … I think Tulsa would be better served by embracing the concept of putting Tulsa and its politics above everything else and by embracing leaders who do that.
Was spreading the message that we need to take a more nonpartisan look at politics and to offer that alternative for people a major motivation?
The motivation, as it relates to your question, was that this is the better approach and I was the one taking it. That, combined with my pragmatic opinions about the issues, led me quite literally to believe I was the best candidate and I was the best choice for Tulsa.
As the loser, I hope that message did get out there, that it’s at least a better approach and that we’re going to be much stronger if we’re more united with Tulsa’s interests at heart rather than clouded by external issues that inherently don’t hold Tulsa as the main benefactor.
Throughout your campaign, did you hear feedback from your supporters praising that approach?
A lot of people embraced it; even people who supported other candidates embraced it. But our passions are so easily swayed by what’s going on in the country that sometimes it’s hard to extricate ourselves from that. People of all ages, from all parties, even people who didn’t vote for me and told me flat-out that they weren’t going to vote for me, still preferred my approach. … I had people call who supported the other candidates and they told me why, but they said they were glad I was in the race and they respected how I ran my campaign and wished more politicians conducted their campaigns in a similar way.
Going into the campaign, what did you expect the response to be and did it meet those expectations?
It was my first campaign. I didn’t really have expectations. On some level, one morning I was going about my life and the next I decided I would be the best mayor. I didn’t run any numbers or research or poll about any issues. I’ve just been attentive to the way things work for Tulsa and decided I’d be the best candidate. I just kind of dove head-first. … In the end, I failed in winning, but I think I turned a lot of people on who may not have otherwise cared. We’re pretty apathetic generally when it comes to politics, but I think I represented a group that is largely ignored in this day and age, and I think I was able to shape the conversation in a positive way and brought a different perspective that might resonate through the years. … I certainly don’t know 12,000 people, so something clicked.
I read that you want to start a nonpartisan organization to help keep this dialogue going? What is your vision for that?
I felt like I had to get a general concept out there while everything was fresh. But I’ve been focusing entirely on the campaign and I want to do this the right way, so it’s going to take a little time to take shape. I’m going to meet with all sorts of people to get their thoughts and ideas. I don’t know what it’s going to look like in the end, but it’s just my general feeling that there’s a role to play from outside of government that can help our government and help the city of Tulsa. So there’s going to be a number of things to take into account. I certainly would be involved, but I wouldn’t want it to be about me. So you have to structure it in the right way.
… It’s going to take some time, but I think it would be unfortunate to let all those people just fade back away, many of whom will become apathetic and get back to their daily routines, which is understandable, but I think the city needs us to be more engaged.
What is next for you? Has this given you the political bug? Do you have goals to continue in this arena? Has it turned you off?
It’s mixed feelings. I had a lot of good response in a lot of areas, but it’s hard, not just losing but going through the process. When you read things and hear things you don’t like, there’s not a lot you can do about it. It opens yourself up and your private life to a lot of scrutiny. … So it’s hard. It’s part of the reason why I’m not very good at losing. To go through all that and it’s over and you’re kind of walking around in a daze.
As I’ve said from day one, because it’s true, I never anticipated getting into politics and I don’t really see that in my future except for at the local level because there’s just a difference to me when you can see the changes in your own community and have a positive impact on where you live and where your family and friends live.
Do you think you’ve opened up Tulsa elections to embracing an Independent candidate? Do you think a precedent has been set to help others?
I’m sure you probably know, I’m a registered Republican. But the thing about (my campaign) is I really didn’t run a truly independent race. I never brought any of the partisan stuff into it. I attracted support, donations, volunteers from all parties. I never asked once what someone’s political affiliation was. So it was, although I’m a registered Republican for other reasons, it was truly an independent race, and I would hate for people to use me as an example … to get in there but still hold their party badge. And frankly I think that will happen.
… What I’m hoping it will do is get the public to embrace the idea of having nonpartisan elections. And I think that’s something I’m going to try to help usher in. Most cities our size have it, most cities in the state have it; it just makes more sense. The only people who don’t want it are people who are partisans and have other agendas that don’t put Tulsa first.
We talk about the worry of the “brain drain” and young talent not coming back to Tulsa. Why are you passionate about this city?
You feel that pressure. You visit places and are attracted to them, and it’s a serious problem. I think a lot of Tulsans can relate to that. The simple answer is, it’s my hometown. It’s where I grew up, where my parents grew up, my grandparents. It’s a small town. You know everybody, where to get your car fixed. The people are friendly. All my siblings have moved away and come back. It’s got that magnetism to it that’s hard to put a finger on, but a lot of people experience it.
… On a personal level, you want it (Tulsa) to be the kind of place that you want to be. If you choose to live here, you want it to be the kind of place that you want to live. So I think that a lot of Tulsans kind of share those emotions. There’s something about Tulsa, which is great. A lot of cities don’t have that. It’s one of the intangibles that we have that a lot of places don’t have, which is huge, because we can’t create that.
What is your advice for the new mayor?
My advice would be to start from last Wednesday; start fresh. Forget about any preconceived solutions or opinions or whatever was said campaigning and understand that the city of Tulsa wants the mayor to succeed and to be thorough in researching every problem and to speak to all interested parties and opinions.
You’ve only had a week to reflect, but what was the highlight of this campaign?
I enjoyed the debates. I performed well at some and would have liked to perform better at others, but overall I enjoyed just the exchange of thoughts and ideas.
