Group Of Young State Lawmakers Working To Find Common Ground

A coalition of state legislators is hoping 2021 ushers in a new spirit of political cooperation. 

The group calls itself The Future Caucus and its members are Republicans and Democrats from both the House and Senate. All of them are 45 years old or younger, and all of them focusing on issues important to millennials.

The legislators want to focus on issues like criminal justice reform, rural broadband, affordable housing and increasing the minimum wage.

“We have to start talking about a living wage. If we want to retain Oklahomans and young Oklahomans that we want to stay here, we have to give them an incentive to do that,” said Rep. Ajay Pittman, D-Oklahoma City.

“We’ve seen so much polarization in this country, and I think a lot of people are tired of it. I think Oklahomans want to know that the legislator they sent to the state Capitol is working with other legislators to get things done,” said Sen. John Montgomery, R-Lawton.

Members of the Future Caucus said they don’t expect to agree on everything, especially when it comes to how to spend taxpayers’ dollars, but they said this is a conversation starter.

“Because you’re not always going to be here. So what do you want Oklahoma to look like when you’re no longer around? What life do you want them to have?” Pittman said.

“This is about consolidating and figuring out what our issues are and realty being able to communicate across generations,” Montgomery said.

“We have a caucus of almost 40 members,” Pittman said. “That’s almost half of the House. So if we’re really talking about it there’s more people getting elected each and every day and we’re here to say we aren’t going anywhere.”