Oklahoma City to host national Republican women’s convention

The National Federation of Republican Women will hold its largest event in Oklahoma City next weekend for training and advocacy of the party’s issues. 

The federation’s 42nd biennial convention will be held Sept. 28 to Oct. 1 at the Omni Hotel and Oklahoma City Convention Center. The event is open to the public, but registration is required.

Eileen Sobjack, the federation’s president, said more than 1,000 members have registered to attend — one of the largest convention turnouts in a decade. The federation has 64,000 members and 1,200 clubs.  

The mission of the federation is to uphold the core principles of the Republican Party while training women who choose to seek office or advocate for policy, she said. 

Workshops will include training for grassroots organizing, promoting the GOP to youth, legislative advocacy and fundraising. 

While the group plans to conduct a straw poll during the event, Sobjack said the federation will not endorse a GOP presidential candidate until after the primary. 

A variety of Oklahoma Republicans are slated to speak, including U.S. Sen. James Lankford, Gov. Kevin Stitt, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell and state Auditor, Cindy Byrd. 

As a grassroots organization, Sobjack said clubs work on issues that are important to their members. Members can disagree on a variety of policies, but all want the GOP candidates to win at the ballot box. 

“Our focus is on electing a Republican, and we can all work on that,” she said.