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Sam Graefe
Sam Graefe (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Oklahoma State Senate to represent District 43. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Graefe completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Sam Graefe graduated from Hazelwood High School. He earned an associate degree from St. Louis Community College in 2009, a bachelor's degree from Washington University of St. Louis, and a graduate degree from the University of Missouri, Rolla. His career experience includes working as a chemical engineer, engineering manager, respiratory therapist, real estate broker, certified math teacher, energy auditor, gas consultant, and baseball coach. He has been affiliated with the Boy Scouts and American Gas Association.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Oklahoma State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Oklahoma State Senate District 43
Kendal Sacchieri defeated Sam Graefe in the general election for Oklahoma State Senate District 43 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kendal Sacchieri (R)  | 80.5 | 30,049 |
 | Sam Graefe (D) | 19.5 | 7,282 | |
| Total votes: 37,331 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Sam Graefe advanced from the Democratic primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 43.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 43
Kendal Sacchieri defeated incumbent Jessica Garvin in the Republican primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 43 on June 18, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kendal Sacchieri | 53.3 | 5,143 |
 | Jessica Garvin | 46.7 | 4,512 | |
| Total votes: 9,655 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Graefe in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Sam Graefe completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Graefe's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Sam worked in Oklahoma and then chose to retire to the OkC area in 2012, after retiring as an engineer in the natural gas pipeline, refinery, and manufacturing industries, and raising his family in St Louis. Sam is the proud father of 4 adult children, 10 grandchildren, an uncle and cousin to many. During retirement Sam has served as a STEM educator as a long term substitute, certified in Math, a GED instructor, and a Community College Adjunct.
Serving as a County Election Board Vice Chair, and a Director of a County Conservation District were a natural fit for an engineering manager. Voting is very important to Sam. He has voted in every election since 18 year olds were first given their franchise. As a polling Inspector, Sam has served since 2008.
Sam lives in rural McClain County, west of Purcell near Dibble, and enjoys the Dibble and other Senior Centers, attends various Methodist churches, and has been a bass voice in several choirs.- My most important policy is to hold politicians like OSDE Superintendent Walters accountable. We do not have enough office holders willing to ensure the checks and balances. Our rural and public schools are being targeted by an agenda to replace public schools with publicly subsidized private and religious schools. Instead of making sure every dollar is leveraged to prepare the workforce for rural communities, we have office holders like Walters who leaves money on the table, wastes resources on losing legal battles, or sends money to political consultants and private schools. I will work with anyone to make sure public and rural schools are funded and supported, with optimism and enthusiasm. Oklahoma can regain its pre 2008 position.
- Workforce Development and diversifying our economy is critical to preserving our Oklahoma Standard. We cannot neglect making the OK Workers meet the needs of current and future enterprises that we want to attract to Oklahoma. Current businesses need to be comfortable with national norms of culture and education. When Oklahoma continues to seem extreme in corporate boardrooms they may reevaluate their continued operations in hostile social or cultural environments. It's not all about tax credits and incentives to create green site projects here. Wait lists for Healthcare, or car mechanics programs etc, need to be nearly eliminated. If employers need skills that aren't available, the VoTech, community college and universities must respond.
- We need to calm down the extremes and build Consensus. There are more things that we agree on, than disagree. The power of consensus is a standard in my business experiences. Solving union and management differences are just one example.of resolving differences between stakeholders. I will serve the interests of voters, all voters, and not extreme agendas.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 7, 2024
