Brad Raven, 44, fourth-generation Beaver County resident and longtime volunteer firefighter, Tuesday announced his candidacy for District 61 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
He will run for the seat being vacated by Rep. Casey Murdock who won the Senate District 27 special election on Tuesday.
Raven is 100 percent pro-life, a defender of the Second Amendment, and an ardent supporter of rural schools. He is a member of the National Rifle Association. “I will be guided first by my faith and then by my commitment to the U.S. Constitution,” he said.
His campaign will be chaired by Alan Jett from Slapout.
Raven, a Republican, has served as a Beaver County commissioner the past 11 years, and has served 20 years as a firefighter with Slapout Volunteer Fire Department.
“Serving our neighbors is a way of life for the Panhandle, and it would be my honor to serve as representative,” Raven said.
Raven is running for state representative so he can work to preserve the Panhandle’s rural way of life. “We have to maintain our infrastructure, our roads and bridges, our rural hospitals, and we have to retain our teachers,” he said. “We need good-paying jobs for the hard-working folks in District 61.”
Despite the state’s economic downturn, Raven said Beaver County has been able to continue day-to- day operations.
“It hasn’t always been easy, but we have resurfaced two bridges, replaced another and we are working to replace one of the largest county bridges in the district,” he said.
Raven serves on the Circuit Engineering District 8 Board for Beaver County, as well as the executive board. He also serves as chairman for the statewide insurance pool group for all Oklahoma county commissioners. He has served on the commissioners’ legislative committee in recent years, too. He has been awarded twice by the Oklahoma Emergency Management Association for his work in handling of crisis in the Panhandle.
Brad and Mary Jett Raven, a teacher in Laverne, have been married 22 years. They have one son, Tracer, 20, a freshman at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva. They attend Trinity Faith Fellowship in Laverne.
Contact Raven at brad@bradraven.com or (580) 552-1101. Visit www.bradraven.com.
