Thanks, dad!
Former Oklahoma congressman Dan Boren is considering a run for governor in 2018, but he is already facing some notable opposition — from his father.
David Boren, a former U.S. senator and Sooner State governor himself who is now Oklahoma University president, publicly warned his son, also a Democrat, against pursuing the job.
“I learned from media reports today that Dan Boren is considering a race for governor in 2018. I will advise against it,” the elder Boren, 74, said, in a statement first reported by the AP. “In my opinion, it is not a good idea. I have had a policy of never endorsing or campaigning for any candidate for governor. I will continue that policy regardless of who the candidates may be.”
Oklahoma University officials provided the same language to CNN. The statement did not elaborate on why the father would advise the son not to run. David Boren was not available for further comment.
The Oklahoma governor’s mansion will come open in 2018 when its current occupant, term-limited Republican Mary Fallin, leaves office.
Dan Boren has said he is taking steps to prepare to run, but has not officially announced his candidacy.
The Boren family, including cousins and in-laws, is a mainstay of Oklahoma and national politics, with ties to one of the state’s most celebrated former college athletes and the most powerful elected official on Capitol Hill today.
David Boren served as governor from 1974-1979, before moving to the U.S. Senate. He served there until 1994, when he resigned to accept his current post as university president. Lyle Boren, David’s father and Dan’s grandfather, was a congressman from 1937 to 1947.
Dan Boren, 42, served four terms as the U.S. representative from Oklahoma’s second congressional district before standing down in 2012 and taking a job with the Chickasaw Nation, working as the tribe’s president of corporate development. Boren did not return a call to his office.
His wife, Andrea, is the sister of former Oklahoma University quarterback Josh Heupel, who won a national championship with the Sooners in 2000. Boren’s first cousin, Janna Ryan, nee Little, is married to House Speaker Paul Ryan.
