Meet the Team
Russell J Hanks, Chair
I am honored to serve as the Mayes County Chair of the Democratic Party at this important time.
I grew up here, graduating from Adair High School long ago. Getting stuck on Route 66 heading west, I went to Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford and continued westward to study in Flagstaff, Arizona before being recruited by the US Government where I spent a career overseas.
On retirement, I came back to Oklahoma, along with a wife and a couple of children, to settle back in to the Oklahoma life. While the ranch had been chugging along for decades, upkeep was getting further behind. I am starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel, but we all know what that could be.
While I have remained on the sidelines of politics here, I am worried. Worried about the hate and fear we are throwing at each other. Worried that helping neighbors is no longer normal. Worried that the crappy times we have seen in the past are returning.
My goal is to open a conversation among our neighbors and find things we can agree on, regardless of political camp. But let’s be clear. Returning to the past glory days is not an option. We had some problems then. We should avoid them now. We need the old sense of community opened to including all our neighbors. But we need new solutions for the modern environment. That is what I want and where I hope the Party here is headed.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Albert Einstein
Natalie Wiens, Vice Chair
Marsha Henderson, Secretary
Harper Meehan
Zachary Hadden
Bio to come shortly