Mike Mazzei moved to Tulsa in 1983 to attend Oral Roberts University.

He’s a financial advisor by trade and has previous political experience having served as a state Senator in District 75, which covers parts of Tulsa and Broken Arrow.

Mazzei also served as Oklahoma’s Secretary of Budget for the first two years of Governor Kevin Stitt’s first term.

He told KRMG, if elected, he’d focus on things like improving education outcomes, making changes to the tax code and cracking down on crime.

“We want to tackle those problems and we believe the conservative solutions to fixing those problems will be highly productive.” Mazzei said.

Mazzei calls himself a lifelong, reform-minded conservative Republican and he likes to say “conservative Republicans fix things.” He said that identity is how he plans to stand out in what will likely be a crowded Republican ticket in the 2026 gubernatorial election.

“We’ll keep getting that message out and keep connecting with people all over the state.” Mazzei told KRMG.

On education, he said would look to other states for proven methods to improve reading scores.

On taxes, he said Oklahoma should become a no income tax state and said Oklahoma has a competitive disadvantage because of its tax rate.

On growing jobs, Mazzei said he would take a different approach than that of Governor Stitt, who’s tried to recruit large companies to Oklahoma with tax incentive programs.

“Instead of dumping hundreds of millions of dollars to chase wasteful green energy companies that are maybe going to go bankrupt, like Canoo did down in Oklahoma City, why don’t we put more focus and attention on those Oklahoma-based small businesses and medium-sized businesses.” Mazzei said.

Mazzei’s campaign kickoff event is happening Thursday at Five Oaks Lodge in Jenks from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Listen to KRMG’s full interview with Mike Mazzei here