While driving back to Oklahoma after watching a Texas Rangers baseball game last June, Garry Mize realized something that would change his life.
He wanted to do more things like that.
Mize, Oklahoma’s House District 31 representative, had not planned to attend the game at Globe Life Field that day. It became the impetus for his decision to not seek reelection in 2022.
“There was an evening in June of last year that I had a fundraiser scheduled,” Mize said. “My brother called me early in the day and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got four tickets to the baseball game tonight. If you can come down, bring the boys.’”
It was a quandary that Mize had been facing more and more frequently. Spend time campaigning or spend time with his family?
“I sat there contemplating thinking I can’t because I’ve got to go do my fundraiser,” Mize said. “I was gonna give up an opportunity to take the boys to sit really close to the field to their first major league baseball game. And I thought, ‘I’m not giving that opportunity up.’”
Mize called some friends who ensured the fundraiser ran smoothly without him, then enjoyed a day at the ballpark with his kids.
“I realized on the way home that as I went on and progressed and got asked to do more leadership things that it was going to mean more and more sacrifice for time with my kids, and I just wasn’t willing to make that trade,” Mize said.
Mize was elected to his seat in 2018 and successfully defended it in 2020. Term limits for the position are 12 years, but Mize would not max out.
Before the 2022 election, he announced he would not seek re-election. Either Collin Duel, Logan Trainer or Karmin Grider — republicans like Mize — will be elected in his stead.
“So 12 years didn’t really seem like a long time,” Mize said. “But it kind of is. I mean, it’s a real seige on your time. Just because you have 35,000 folks and you know, the Senate has twice as many. It was a mix of things. It was kind of a mix of things that led to me running but it was a mix of things that led to me making the decision.”
Mize hopes his legacy is one of putting constituents first.
He said at times, he has voted for things he does not agree with in order to satisfy his constituents’ wishes. One of his goals was to keep his word to the people who voted him into his seat.
“What you’ll find at the Capitol, and this is regardless of whether you agree with me or my politics, you will find that I was always a man of my word as far as how I voted,” Mize said. “That was a big deal to me. I absolutely wanted to do that.”
Mize plans to return to his financial career and to start a speaking business — something that has been a dream of his for a long time.
“You can still be very influential in your community,” Mize said. “You can still get involved and I would say arguably I know better now the resources that I have available in the areas where I could be best.”
With his workload lightened, Mize will have more freedom to spend time with his family, and the ability to spring on a surprise outing to a professional sporting event with no reservations. He does not, though, want to close the door entirely on legislation.
“I imagine from a legislative standpoint I’ll be involved, somehow, some way,” Mize said. “We’ll see. I hope so just because of the reputation that I’ve garnered that there will be something there but I’m trying to leave the door open and see what opportunities might come…But I’ll be around I’ll be in the community as always and helping people just in a different capacity.”