Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) is reportedly set to appoint oil and gas executive Alan Armstrong to temporarily fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, and the pick is raising eyebrows for one glaring reason: Armstrong donated $5,800 to former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of the most vocal anti-Trump Republicans in the country.
NOTUS first reported the expected appointment late Saturday, citing three anonymous sources. Tulsa's KOTV-DT confirmed the reporting Sunday morning with its own anonymous sourcing. Armstrong, the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at Williams, has a scant online presence and was virtually unknown in political circles before his name surfaced.
That's what makes the Kinzinger connection so conspicuous.
As the Daily Caller reported, 0n March 22, 2021, Armstrong made two donations totaling $5,800 to Adam Kinzinger, the former Republican Illinois congressman who voted to impeach President Trump over his purported role in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Kinzinger has since emerged as a prominent detractor of the president despite remaining a registered Republican. He spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in support of failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
That's the political résumé of the man who received Armstrong's money. Not a maverick conservative. Not a principled dissenter. A man who stood on stage at the DNC and endorsed Kamala Harris.
There's no public record of Armstrong explaining the donations, and there are no public statements from him on political matters at all. His online footprint is almost nonexistent. His company bio tells the story of an energy executive, not a political figure:
"Alan Armstrong began his career at Williams as an engineer more than 30 years ago. Today, as president and chief executive officer, Alan leads a dedicated team of nearly 5,000 employees that handle 30% of the natural gas in the United States used every day to heat our homes, cook our food and generate our electricity."
That's an impressive energy portfolio. It's not a conservative credential. And in 2025, when Republican voters expect their elected officials to actually represent the movement, a $5,800 paper trail to Adam Kinzinger demands an explanation.
Stitt and Armstrong were expected to meet with President Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence on Sunday. NOTUS's Reese Gorman reported Sunday evening that the meeting took place as expected and "went well," according to anonymous sources. Gorman added that Stitt's official announcement is expected after the Senate confirms the nominee to replace DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
That confirmation is moving fast. The Senate advanced Mullin's nomination Sunday afternoon, and a final vote is likely Monday or Tuesday. Mullin was nominated by President Trump to replace Noem at the Department of Homeland Security.
Notably, Gorman's reporting left open the possibility that Stitt could still decide to appoint someone else following the meeting. Stitt's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Oklahoma state law stipulates that Stitt's pick can only serve until the end of Mullin's term in January 2027. After that, the winner of the state's November Senate election will take office. Trump-endorsed Republican Rep. Kevin Hern is the heavy favorite in that race.
So this is a temporary appointment. A placeholder. Which makes the choice even more puzzling. If the seat is going to Hern in short order anyway, why burn political capital on an unknown executive whose only traceable political activity is funding a man who campaigned for Kamala Harris?
Stitt is known to have a strained relationship with President Trump, which adds another layer to the calculus. A temporary Senate appointment is one of the few high-profile opportunities a governor gets to demonstrate alignment with the base. Picking a corporate executive with zero political profile and a donation history that cuts against the grain of the Republican electorate is a strange way to use it.
The facts here are still developing. The appointment hasn't been formally announced. The Mar-a-Lago meeting reportedly went well, which suggests the White House isn't drawing a hard line against Armstrong. And it's entirely possible that Armstrong's Kinzinger donations were a one-time lapse in judgment from a businessman who writes checks without much political scrutiny.
But conservative voters in Oklahoma have earned the right to ask questions:
A Senate seat, even a temporary one, is not a corporate board appointment. It carries the weight of representing a deeply red state during a consequential stretch of the Trump administration's legislative agenda. Every vote counts. Every signal matters.
Armstrong may turn out to be a reliable conservative vote who quietly does his job and hands the seat off to Hern without incident. Or he may be exactly the kind of squishy establishment figure that Republican voters have spent the last decade trying to flush out of the party.
Right now, the only thing on the public record is $5,800 sent to a man who chose Kamala Harris over Donald Trump. Oklahoma deserves to know what that money meant.
