Kathryn Louise Taylor (born September 29, 1955) was elected the 38th mayor of

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

on April 4, 2006, in the city's largest

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

for a mayoral election. She defeated Republican incumbent Mayor Bill Lafortune to become Tulsa's second female mayor, after

Susan Savage M. Susan Savage (born March 30, 1952) is an American Democratic politician from Oklahoma. She was the 36th Mayor of Tulsa from 1992 to 2002, the first woman to hold that office. From 2003 to 2011, she was the 29th Secretary of State of Oklah ...

first filled the post in 1992. Taylor is married to Bill Lobeck, CEO of

Vanguard Automotive Group Vanguard Automotive Group was a vehicle rental company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. Vanguard purchased ANC Rental, owner of National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car. It had a fleet of nearly 300,000 vehicles, mainly from Ford and Chrysler, a ...

. Taylor served as

Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism This page relates the history of the position of Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism. History The Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism was a member of the Oklahoma Governor's Cabinet. The Secretary was appointed by the Governor, with ...

in Governor

Brad Henry Charles Bradford Henry (born July 10, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician who was the 26th governor of Oklahoma from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected governor in 2002. Henry won re-election for a second term ...

's administration from 2003 to 2006. She resigned from that post in order to run for Mayor.

Early life

Taylor grew up in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

and graduated from John Marshall High School. Taylor earned her bachelor's degree as well as her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

. Taylor worked as an attorney for a private firm in Oklahoma City from 1981 until 1988. She then moved to Tulsa in 1989 and became vice president and general counsel of

Thrifty Car Rental Thrifty Car Rental is an American car rental agency, headquartered in Estero, Florida, with offices in many countries around the world. Thrifty is owned by The Hertz Corporation, along with other agencies including Hertz Rent A Car and Dollar R ...

. Taylor eventually bought

National Car Rental National Car Rental is a private American rental car agency based in Clayton, Missouri, United States. National is owned by Enterprise Holdings, along with other agencies including Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Alamo Rent a Car. National typically c ...

from

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

. She and her husband eventually sold the company and started the Lobeck Taylor Foundation. Taylor was appointed in 2003 by

Governor Brad Henry A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

to serve as Secretary of Commerce, Tourism, and Workforce Development.

Mayor of Tulsa

As Mayor, Taylor oversaw the completion of Tulsa's "

Vision 2025 Vision 2025 was a series of four propositions to increase Tulsa County's sales tax rate by $0.01 in order to fund capital improvements and provide economic development incentives. Two prior proposals, in 1997 and 2000, were rejected by Tulsa Count ...

" projects including the

BOK Center The BOK Center, or Bank of Oklahoma Center, is a 19,199-seat multi-purpose arena and a primary indoor sports and event venue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. Designed to accommodate arena football, hockey, basketball, concerts, and similar even ...

. Taylor also pushed a successful $450 million street bond issue and construction of a new downtown baseball park. She oversaw the closing down of

Bell's Amusement Park Bell's Amusement Park was an amusement park located in Tulsa's Expo Square, part of the Tulsa State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma. It operated for 55 years before closing in 2006. The park was previously owned and operated by Keli and Jason Fritz. An ...

in 2006. Tulsa County terminated Bell's lease. Neither the City of Tulsa nor Mayor Taylor were involved. She supervised the move of Tulsa's

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. On June 4, 2009, Taylor abruptly announced that she would not seek re-election. On September 30, 2009, Oklahoma Governor

announced that Taylor would become his top education adviser after her term as mayor ended on December 7. Taylor subsequently led Oklahoma's two unsuccessful applications for federal program funds in the "

Race to the Top Race to the Top (R2T, RTTT or RTT) was a $4.35 billion United States Department of Education competitive grant created to spur and reward innovation and reforms in state and local district K–12 education. Funded as part of the American Recovery ...

" competition. Taylor was inducted into the

Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame was established in 1982 by Oklahoma Governor George Nigh "to honor Oklahoma women who are pioneers in their field or in a project that benefits Oklahoma; who have made a significant contribution to the State of Oklahoma ...

in 2011. In January 2013, Taylor announced that she would run again for her old job as mayor of Tulsa in the 2013 election. In the mayoral

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

on June 11, 2013, in which the city used a new

non-partisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

election system for the first time, Taylor finished first with 42.1% of the vote, ahead of her successor

Dewey F. Bartlett Jr. Dewey Follett Bartlett Jr. (born March 16, 1947) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 39th Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma. An oil industry executive and political figure in Tulsa, Bartlett was the Republican nominee for mayor of ...

, who had 34.2%. She and Bartlett met in a

runoff election The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

on November 12, 2013, and Bartlett prevailed, receiving about 55% of the vote."Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett Defeats Former Mayor Kathy Taylor To Win Second Term"

KOTV-DT KOTV-DT (channel 6) is a television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Griffin Media alongside Muskogee-licensed CW affiliate KQCW-DT (channel 19) and radio stations KTSB (1170 AM), KBEZ (92.9 FM), ...

, November 13, 2013.

References

External links

2013 Campaign websiteOklahoma Women's Hall of Fame Oral History Project -- OSU Library
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Kathy 1955 births Harvard Institute of Politics Heads of Oklahoma state agencies Living people Mayors of Tulsa, Oklahoma Oklahoma Democrats State cabinet secretaries of Oklahoma Women in Oklahoma politics Women mayors of places in Oklahoma 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Candidates in the 2013 United States elections