OKEENE – Paul Laubach, a Blaine Countybased rancher and newspaperman, has announced his intention to run for the House District 59 seat in the Oklahoma Legislature.
Laubach, an Okeene resident, is running as an independent against incumbent first-term Republican Mike Dobrinski, also of Okeene.
In a news release announcing his candidacy, Laubach said he is running “to turn upside down an entire system of hypocrisy, corruption, and unlimited partisan and special interest treachery that is hurting our state and western Oklahoma.”
“We need systematic reform of our entire political and judicial system if we are ever going to achieve what we are capable of,” Laubach said.
Laubach, a longtime Democrat who changed his affiliation to independent in 2008, expressed frustration with the modern Democratic Party and accused it of leaving rural, conservative Democrats “hanging out to dry.” He expressed alignment with moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and with former President Donald Trump, a Republican, but disdain for establishment Republican figures like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah.
“I may be a bad hombre,” Laubach said, adapting a line from Trump, “but I intend to give every voter an alternative choice against the status quo of our current political and judicial system.”
In an email, Dobrinski said he has “had the pleasure of helping many folks with challenging issues” and “addressing the needs and concerns shared by residents of HD59” since winning the seat.
“As my constituents know well, I didn’t run with an agenda other than representing my rural friends and neighbors and that hasn’t changed since I’ve been in office,” Dobrinski said.
Laubach operates commercial farming and ranching operations in Blaine, Dewey, Major and Roger Mills counties, he said. He is a member of the Oklahoma City Association of Professional Landmen, the Oklahoma Press Association, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, the Okeene Kiwanis Club and the chambers of commerce in Okeene, Canton and Seiling.
He attends the Okeene First Baptist Church.
Laubach’s Trail Miller Company operates community newspapers in Okeene, Hennessey and Dewey County.
This isn’t Laubach’s first run at state politics. Running as a Democrat, he lost a close race for the same seat in 2004.
House District 59 includes the northern twothirds of Blaine County, including Greenfield, Watonga, Hitchcock, Canton, Longdale and Okeene. After redistricting takes effect following the 2022 legislative session, it will stretch west into southern Woodward County and Dewey County, then east into Kingfisher County and southern Garfield County.
Dobrinski said he “will continue working hard for my district” and looks forward “to getting out and making more friends in Garfield County we picked up in redistricting.”
Dobrinski didn’t have to campaign through the general election in 2020, he said, because he didn’t have an opponent after winning the GOP primary. Picking up an independent challenger would leave the race undecided until November.
The filing period for 2022 state office candidates is in mid-April.