James Coburn

EDMOND — EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in an occasional series of stories about candidates for the 5th District Congressional seat, opening in 2010.

Republican James Lankford and his wife Cindy spent seven months praying and struggling about his decision to run for Congress. Lankford, 41, has never run for a political office before.

“About a year ago, I had a very strong sense of calling to say I have to do this,” Lankford said.

The five Republican Congressional 5th District candidates include Lankford and Johnny Roy, both of Edmond; state Rep. Mike Thompson of Oklahoma City, former state Rep. Kevin Calvey of Del City, Paul Arabie of Del City and Rick Flanigan of Bethany. Independent candidate Clark Duffe, of Edmond, also is in the race.

No Democrats have announced their candidacy for the Congressional 5th District seat currently occupied by Republican Mary Fallin, a 2010 gubernatorial candidate.

“All of us when we went to Washington, D.C., would be freshmen in Congress,” said Lankford, director of the Falls Creek Summer Youth Camp since 1996. Each of his opponents has run campaigns before, he said.

“What the voters will have to decide is, ‘Is this person a better legislator or is this person a better campaigner?’ And determine the difference between the two on that,” Lankford said.

Lankford began a Facebook page in September when he announced his candidacy. Two months later his Facebook page has nearly 10,000 followers, more than any Oklahoman running for political office, he said.

“We are experiencing a ground swell and we understand this is not about us,” Lankford said. “There really is a passion we’re finding in Oklahoma that we’re finding from people who want a Christian candidate, who is a constitutionalist, who is going to walk with their core values but has not been in the political machine before.”

His strategy is not to simply go after every bank president he respects for support, he said, but to go after the more numerable bank tellers who identify with his beliefs as an Oklahoman.

Lankford said he is not running to be the pastor of District 5, but a legislator who serves families, helping them to navigate through the federal bureaucracy.

A strong Christian core is at the heart of his personal beliefs, but he is also a strong constitutionalist, he said.

“The task of government is to protect what is honorable and punish the criminal,” Lankford said. Families are honorable, he said. So the federal government has a role in protecting families, he added.

Marriage should not be discouraged by a broken system based on federal dollars, he said.

“We have things in our welfare system, for instance in some of our welfare policies that are in place currently that impede families,” Lankford said. “Two very poor individuals that want to get married lose benefits by getting married.”

James and Cindy Lankford, a speech pathologist, have lived in Edmond since 1995 and worship at Quail Springs Baptist Church. He said his two daughters, Hannah, 12, and Jordan, 9, will have a $150,000 debt obligation to the federal government.

“That is inconsistent with our values,” Lankford said. “My grandparents never said, ‘Things are really tough for me right now. I think I’ll make it tougher for my grandchildren so things will be easier for me.’”

As a congressman, Lankford would deal with the issue of excessive spending by an expanding federal government.

Lankford said Congress has overstepped its bounds for limited government. Congress does not abide by its authority under the Constitution, he said. Basic regulations of commerce should be left to the states, not the federal government, he said.

“A passion for me is that the federal government is a federal government and not a national government,” Lankford said. “They’re very different in their design. We were never designed to run everything from Washington, D.C.”

Cash for Clunkers is a failure because people were given $3,500 for vehicles appraised at $24,000 by Edmunds used car guide. The auto industry and appliances should not be picked as winners by the government, he said. Giving favors increases the lobbyists and special interest groups in Washington, D.C., he said.

“Whoever has the most powerful lobby and has the greatest access, they go to the federal government and have it passed through Congress that ‘We want a perk for our group,’” he said.

He said the federal government’s role in health care is not to impede health care progress made by the states. Lankford said he favors health care lending a hand for the poor and those who struggle to afford health care, but it is not a responsibility of the federal government.

“The Constitution is our foundation and our fence,” Lankford said.

TO LEARN MORE about James Lankford’s candidacy for the Congressional 5th District, visit his Web site at www.jameslankford.com. You also may find him on Facebook.