2006 New Member Profiles
Oklahoma's 5th District: Mary Fallin (R)

The Almanac of American Politics
© National Journal Group Inc.

Mary Fallin
Born:	December 9, 1954
Family:	Divorced; two children
Religion:	Christian
Education:	Attended University of Central Oklahoma; Oklahoma State University, B.S. 1977
Career:	Hotel properties manager; commercial real estate broker
Elected  Office:	Oklahoma House, 1990-94; Oklahoma lieutenant governor, 1994-2006

Mary Fallin is the second woman ever elected to Congress from Oklahoma. She will succeed Republican Rep. Ernest Istook, who ran for governor.

Fallin was born in Missouri but raised in Tecumseh, Okla., where both her mother and father served as mayors. In 1990, she won election to the state House, where she focused on victims' rights and health care reform. She was elected lieutenant governor four years later, making her the first Republican and the first woman ever to hold the office in her state.

During her three terms as lieutenant governor, the conservative Fallin expanded her reach well beyond the office's traditional ribbon-cutting responsibilities. With a focus on economic development, she compiled a pro-business record and played a key role in bringing the right-to-work issue to a statewide vote and in reforming the state's worker compensation system.

But her rising star dimmed a bit in 1998 when, in the course of a bitter divorce, she was accused of having a sexual relationship with a state trooper assigned to her security detail; both of them denied the charge. Democrats used the scandal to attack Republican Gov. Frank Keating for refusing to criticize Fallin, even though he had slammed President Clinton's relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Fallin recovered to win a third term in 2002, and was considered a possible gubernatorial candidate for this year. But in June 2005, she announced that she would seek a fourth term as lieutenant governor. Four months later, though, Fallin changed direction and jumped into the race for Istook's House seat when he announced that he would run for governor.

In the competitive GOP primary for the Oklahoma City-based 5th District seat, Fallin was one of six candidates. Her opponents were state Corporation Commissioner Denise Bode, state Reps. Kevin Calvey and Fred Morgan, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, and physician Johnny Roy.

The two statewide elected officials, Fallin and Bode, aggressively raised money through the end of 2005. Then Cornett's late entry into the race-he didn't file until May-altered the landscape. Although Fallin finished first with 35 percent, Cornett's Oklahoma City base propelled him to a second-place finish with 24 percent. Bode came in third with 19 percent.

Since no candidate won a majority of the primary vote, Fallin and Cornett, the top two finishers, competed in an August 22 runoff. The four unsuccessful candidates quickly endorsed Fallin. They apparently resented Cornett's late entry -- just two months after his re-election as mayor. With the support of her former foes, Fallin won easily over Cornett, 63 percent to 37 percent. And, in this solidly Republican district, the general election was an afterthought.