Oklahoma really should be a lot more competitive than it is, but that doesn't mean it will be.
Why's that? The OKC suburbs might be the most traditionally Republican parts of the state, and they're growing.
Except that it's no longer 1980, and suburban growth doesn't automatically equal Republican trends. If anything, it would inevitably indicate the opposite, as suburban growth is almost always fueled by outsiders. Newcomers to suburban areas do not take on the culture, politics and mindset of the natives; they demolish it.
Ask just about any long-term resident of a rural-turned-suburban Southern county why their community went from being largely Democratic in the 1960s and 1970s, to heavily Republican in the 1980s and 1990s, and again started trending back Democratic beginning in the 2000s.
Okay, but increased growth doesn't automatically indicate a Democratic trend, either. Is there any evidence that the people moving into the OKC area are Democrat-leaning? I think a just-as-logical assumption would be they're Republican-leaning voters moving to a more fiscally conservative state.
