Ex-Republican senator leaving party, still challenging Stitt

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The first Republican candidate to challenge Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt says he’s leaving the party and will run as an independent.

Former state Sen. Ervin Yen, an Oklahoma City physician, said in a statement Tuesday that “the Oklahoma GOP has left me.“

Yen says he vehemently disagrees with the state party’s opposition to mask and vaccine mandates, and the position of some party officials that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

A Chinese-American, Yen was the first Asian American elected to the Oklahoma Legislature and had a reputation as a moderate.