Darrel Robertson running for Oklahoma congressional seat
Veteran Castrol pro Darrel Robertson has announced his candidacy for Oklahoma’s District 2 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican. Robertson, 63, plans to continue fishing the Walmart FLW Tour at least through June 24, when the primary takes place.
Robertson’s opponent is Republican incumbent Markwayne Mullin, who is in his first term as a Congressman. No Democratic candidate has announced yet. Oklahoma’s District 1 is a Republican stronghold that covers 26 counties of the state’s eastern region, including border counties from Kansas south to Texas. Robertson says that his campaign will center on conservative values that he feels are slowing being eroded.
“I never thought about running for public office in my life. The only office I ever held was on a church board,” says Robertson, who’s fished the Walmart FLW Tour for 18 years. “What kind of opened my eyes was when Tom Coburn, who’s one of Oklahoma’s senators, announced he’s fighting cancer and is retiring. Tom Coburn is the best senator in Washington as far as I’m concerned, and we can’t afford to lose people of integrity like him.
“God, Oklahoma and this country have been awful good to me; I’ve been blessed,” Robertson continued. “But every day we’re losing more of our freedoms. We’ve got to have more people like Senator Coburn in Washington who stand up for the things that made us great in the first place. Markwayne Mullin hasn’t performed his duties in a way that reflects that. I will.”
When he’s not on the tournament trail, Robertson and his wife Carol run a cattle ranch near Jay, Okla. Robertson said he plans to fish the remainder of the 2014 Walmart FLW Tour season, and campaign in between tourney stops.
“I like my life the way it is. I fish and raise calves,” says Robertson. “But I can see that the way we’re going as a nation isn’t the best way for our kids and grandkids. I want to help put us on the right path again.”
Robertson has collected almost $2 million fishing the Walmart FLW Tour. In 1999, he won the Forrest Wood Cup and the Ranger M1 Millennium tournament.
“I don’t want to give up tournament fishing, but I’ll have to when I’m elected. I’ve got the schedule figured out for this spring and I feel that I can campaign and fish,” he says. “It’s going to cost a lot of money to run and the people backing me want me to work hard to get elected. So it’s going to be a very busy spring.”
To find Darrel Robertson on Facebook, click here.
His Campaign Twitter address is @Robertson2014OK and a website, robertson2014.com, will be opened soon. Contributions or correspondence can be mailed to: Robertson for Congress, P.O. Box 452123, Grove, OK 74345.