Gentner Drummond

Gentner Frederick Drummond (born October 3, 1963) is an American attorney, rancher, banker, and politician from Oklahoma.

Drummond is a member of the Republican Party and the current Attorney General of Oklahoma.

He flew in the Gulf War air campaign during the Persian Gulf War, gaining national coverage for being one of the first American pilots interviewed during the war.

He resides in the McBirney Mansion and is a member of the Oklahoma Drummond ranching family.

Named after his great-great-grandmother, Gentner Frederick Drummond was born to Leslie and Carol Ann Drummond.

He is part of the fifth-generation of Oklahoma's Drummond banking and ranching family.

Drummond bought his first piece of land at age 14 and later graduated valedictorian from Hominy High School in Hominy, Oklahoma in 1981.

He then attended Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, was a member of the Air Force ROTC, and received a bachelor's degree in agriculture economics in December 1984.

Drummond was commissioned in the United States Air Force in March 1985, served for eight years, reached the rank of captain, and flew F-15C Eagles.

After returning to Oklahoma in the early 1990s, Drummond worked for the law firm Boone, Smith, Davis, Hurst and Dickman in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as serving as an assistant district attorney for Pawnee and Osage Counties.

Drummond later founded Drummond Law, a law firm focused on banking law with his second wife Wendy Drummond.

Drummond's legal ethics have attracted criticism from jurors, former clients, opposing counsel and their clients, and The Oklahoman, including in connection with his representation of other Drummond family members and a bank.

Drummond is also a principal owner of Blue Sky Bank (formerly Citizens Bank of Oklahoma, NBC Bank, and the National Bank of Commerce), as well as Drummond Communications, a store agency for U.S. Cellular under the trade name Premier Locations.

He also owns the 1100 acre event location Post Oak Lodge.

He also operates a 25000 acre ranch near Pawhuska, Oklahoma.

During the Gulf War, he took part in the first combat mission of Operation Desert Storm on January 17, 1991, and was one of the first three pilots interviewed by pool reporters after the mission.

He earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for "superb situational awareness, airmanship and understanding of the established rules of engagement", three Air Medals, and four Aerial Achievement Medals during his service.

Drummond completed 32 missions with 190 hours of flight time during the conflict.

After his military service, Drummond then worked as a staffer for U.S. Senator David Boren, the last Democratic senator from Oklahoma, between 1993 and 1994.

He then attended the night program at the Georgetown University Law Center where he earned a Juris Doctor degree in 1995.

In a 2013 interview before running for office, Drummond described his politics as aligning with the "business class ... which translates to mean that there is a little Republican and a little Democrat in everyone" and noted the importance of the Democratic Party in helping Oklahoma in the 1920s and 1930s, and he also noted the prosperity brought by the Republican Party in the 1980s and 1990s.

Drummond ran for Attorney General of Oklahoma as a Republican in the 2018 election.

Michael J. Hunter led the first round with 44.5 percent of the vote while Drummond finished in second with 38.5 percent, with both advancing to a runoff election.

Hunter defeated Drummond in the runoff by 271 votes.

Drummond campaigned as a reform-oriented political outsider with more experience, maintaining that Hunter had never tried a case.

Drummond attacked Hunter as a "career lobbyist" who was overly reliant on outside counsel and challenged Hunter's residency in Oklahoma, while Hunter characterized Drummond as dishonest and unethical.

During the race, controversies from Drummond's legal career provided fodder for news coverage.

Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, Congressman Tom Cole, and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt criticized Drummond's campaign for an ad claiming that Hunter supported jobs for undocumented immigrants and that such support led to the murder of Mollie Tibbetts.

Tibbetts's family denounced the campaign ad as racist and an attempt to politicize the murder.

Drummond ran for attorney general again in the 2022 election, despite speculation he may instead run for Oklahoma's open senate seat.

In the primary, Drummond faced incumbent John M. O'Connor and at the outset Drummond announced he would be willing to spend another $2,000,000 of his own money to support his second bid.

He campaigned as a candidate independent of Governor Kevin Stitt, who had appointed O'Connor after Michael J. Hunter's resignation.

The aftermath of McGirt v. Oklahoma was a dominant issue in the campaign: both candidates criticized the ruling, but O'Connor argued that litigation to overturn or winnow the ruling in McGirt was warranted, whereas Drummond championed a less litigious approach (the candidates also differed in their opinions on whether Congress should disestablish certain reservations at issue, with Drummond opposing such action).

During the June 16 Republican primary debate, O'Connor called Drummond a "Democrat in Republican clothing."

In 2019, the United States federal government sued Drummond, two of his businesses (Drummond Ranch LLC and Drummond Cattle LLC), and Regier Flying Service (which he had engaged) for allegedly spreading herbicide that killed more than 40,000 trees on United States Army Corps of Engineers land near Skiatook Lake and Birch Lake.

However, the case was later settled and dismissed without prejudice after Regier Flying Service agreed to pay a $240,000 settlement.

Drummond defended spraying the herbicide saying the federal government's position was "contrary to wildlife management and natural range development" and the public lands in question had been "formerly ours."

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Drummond's cattle ranch, US Cellular stores, and law firm received $3.6 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds over the course of two years; in the second year, the three businesses applied for and were approved for their loans from Blue Sky Bank, a bank which is also owned by Drummond.

O'Connor ran ads attacking Drummond for a donation of $1,000 by Drummond to the Joe Biden Presidential campaign in 2020 as well as Drummond's history of giving to Democratic candidates.

Drummond claimed that the donation to Biden's campaign was made by his wife and provided receipts showing the donation was later refunded.