The national focus on politicians’ health is making its way into the Oklahoma GOP race for governor

At times, he’s managed to come across as plain mean, reminiscent of behaviors exemplified by President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Mazzei.

During a Republican primary debate, the 61-year-old babbled some weird gibberish in an attempt to mock a debate moderator who got tongue-tied, and then he appeared to silently laugh at a joke only he viewed as funny. His three GOP opponents sharing the stage with him didn’t even crack a grin.

He has struggled to answer direct questions, smiled at odd times, argued with a different debate moderator and even held up a finger indicating that she should wait on him to finish when she was trying to get him back on topic and enforce time limits.

At that same debate, Mazzei and his GOP runoff opponent Gentner Drummond were asked the unusual question of whether they would make their health records and tax returns available to the public. (Both said they would, though Mazzei qualified that by noting the great thing about the primary process is Oklahomans already get to see if a candidate has the endurance and stamina to go all the way.)

Both men are competing to win a pivotal nomination on Aug. 25. For the past four gubernatorial elections, the winner of the GOP primary election has gone on to win in November.

While it’s common for U.S. presidential candidates to release their tax returns and for the sitting president to release the results of his annual physical, that’s not typically an expectation of Oklahoma’s governor.

In response to the debate question, Drummond last week released his health screening results, which shows he suffers from hypertension and high cholesterol that’s controlled with medication. However, as of writing this, he had yet to release his tax returns.

But Drummond also went a step further: He took a drug test.

And he challenged Mazzei to do the same.

Drummond, 62, insisted to Oklahoma Voice that he wasn’t “suggesting one way or the other” that Mazzei is unable to perform the job (although NonDoc reported Drummond’s campaign manager, Matt Parker, said last month that voters are “realizing there is something not quite right about Mike Mazzei”).

And that appears to be exactly what Drummond is doing by suddenly releasing his health records and the results of a drug test that, by the way, came back negative.

Rather than put all this speculation to rest, Mazzei told Oklahoma Voice earlier this month that he would not discuss releasing his health or financial records.

Mazzei went a step further by acknowledging the elephant in the room and said that his opponent’s campaign is suggesting he’s unfit for office and “probably on some unhelpful medication.”

He said he’s not been on any medication since a 2008 car accident, in which he suffered nerve damage to his back and missed many votes while serving as a state senator. And Mazzei also insisted that he’s not on “any pain medication now.”

In prior elections, Oklahomans might have taken him at his word and moved on.

But those days are gone.

If Mazzei’s campaign doesn’t believe that, it need only look at the growing focus on health that federal officials have faced. 

Surely Mazzei has not forgotten the fervor over deciding whether former U.S. President Joe Biden underwent a cognitive decline while in office, and the rampant speculation that his allies covered it up. Questions about the Democrat’s mental acuity and physical endurance grew more pointed after a disastrous debate performance against then Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Trump, who recently turned 80, has faced continuing scrutiny about his health and age. 

But even more recently, Americans were left to speculate over the wellbeing of Kentucky’s Republican U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, 84, who abruptly vanished without explanation from public sight. After weeks of speculation and mounting pressure, McConnell, who at one time served as the president of the Senate, released a statement saying that he had fallen and been hospitalized since. He said he had received “excellent care” while also dealing with a case of mild pneumonia.

Oklahomans deserve proof and peace of mind that they’re electing someone with the stamina and acuity to represent them on a statewide and national stage. 

And voters deserve to know if Mazzei is just a bad public speaker and debater or if that’s being exacerbated by some other underlying health condition.

This should not be a guessing game.

Mazzei makes his living crunching numbers, not public speaking. Drummond is an experienced orator who makes his living as an attorney arguing. So maybe it’s simply a matter of being outperformed.

I’m glad that Mazzei says he’s not using pain medicines. 

But if he’s not, why isn’t he willing to prove it by releasing a copy of his most recent physical and a drug test?

That way he can put all this speculation to bed, and voters can focus on issues that affect them most.

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