Jim Inhofe is a longtime Republican member of the United States Congress. He was elected from Oklahoma. Some of his stances over the years may have raised some eyebrows, to put it mildly.
Arguably Inhofe's most well-known moment as a member of the United States Senate came in 2015. Then, he bizarrely held a snowball on the Senate floor in a misbegotten stunt about climate change. He reasoned that it still gets cold outside, so global warming is supposedly a hoax, which, of course, is very, very wrong. Despite this, Inhofe has amassed a career resume many dream of in Congress.
Expected to step down before the end of the year
Jim Inhofe is to resign his Senate seat, CNN and The Oklahoman report. The move would begin his previously apparent impending retirement early. Last year, Inhofe said that he wasn't planning to run for another term in his next scheduled election year. In this particular case, it would be 2026.
A special election to fill out the rest of Inhofe's term will likely concur with the 2022 U.S. midterm elections. However, the timing of the anticipated announcement will likely leave just barely enough time for it to happen. Oklahoma was already set to have one Senate election in the midterms. Republican Senator James Lankford is running for re-election.
Luke Holland, Inhofe's chief of staff, is expected to run for the seat. Other possible Republican contenders include Governor Kevin Stitt and Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell. Former U.S. Representative Kendra Horn and former State Attorney General Drew Edmondson have been named as Democratic possibilities.
Inhofe has been the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee since 2021.
He had been its chairman starting from 2018. Earlier, he was twice the chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Was a member of the United States House of Representatives
A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Inhofe moved to Oklahoma with his family as a child. He graduated from Central High School in Tulsa before serving in the United States Army.
He would reach the rank of specialist 4. Eventually, Inhofe graduated from the University of Tulsa with a degree in economics.
Jim Inhofe's career in elected politics began with the Oklahoma Legislature during the 1960s. He served a term in the Oklahoma House of Representatives before joining the Oklahoma Senate. In the latter, he would become the minority leader.
In 1974, Inhofe was the Republican nominee for governor of Oklahoma. But he would lose decisively to Democratic State Representative David Boren. In 1976, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 1st District of Oklahoma. Inhofe defeated future Governor Frank Keating in the Republican primary. However, he would lose the general election to Democratic incumbent James R.
Jones. Jones later went on to chair the House Budget Committee.
In 1978, Inhofe found electoral success again when he won the Tulsa race to become mayor. He would be re-elected as mayor twice.
James R. Jones wouldn't for another term in the House in 1986, instead of launching an unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign. Inhofe would win the race to succeed him. He'd win another three terms in the House afterward.
In 1994, Inhofe's old opponent David Boren resigned from a seat in the U.S. Senate. He would be taking over as president of the University of Oklahoma. Inhofe won the subsequent special election by a hefty margin. Likewise, his ensuing five re-election victories were also by significant gaps over the opposition.
