Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) said Tuesday that he would appoint energy executive Alan S. Armstrong to temporarily fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Markwayne Mullin.
The Senate confirmed Mullin on Monday to lead the Department of Homeland Security after President Donald Trump ousted his predecessor, Kristi L. Noem.
Armstrong is the executive chairman of Williams, a natural gas company based in Oklahoma. He previously spent 14 years as the company’s chief executive.
Armstrong’s appointment will not change the balance of power in the Senate, which Republicans control 53-47. State law requires Armstrong to sign an affidavit pledging not run for the seat in November, limiting his tenure in the Senate.
Trump has endorsed Republican Rep. Kevin Hern to succeed Mullin, effectively clearing the field for him. Hern is all but certain to win the heavily Republican state in November if he prevails in the June primary.
Stitt previously named Armstrong to serve on a state commission on how to deal with a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2020 that found that much of eastern Oklahoma remains Indian land.
“Nowhere else in the United States do Native Americans participate so fully in every aspect of civil society that the absence of a Native American in public and private discourse is more notable than the presence of one,” the commission wrote in a 2020 report.
Armstrong does not appear to be a major political donor, although he has given to the campaigns of several of his soon-to-be Republican colleagues, including Sens. John Barrasso (Wyoming), Tim Sheehy (Montana), Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Josh Hawley (Missouri) and James Lankford (Oklahoma), according to campaign finance records.
He has given occasionally to Democrats, including former senators Joe Manchin III (West Virginia) — who became an independent before he left office — and Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota).
Armstrong also made the maximum contribution in 2021 to the campaign of Adam Kinzinger, the former Republican congressman from Illinois. Kinzinger had voted months earlier to impeach Trump and became a leading Republican critic of Trump’s conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
On an earnings call last year, Armstrong said his company was poised to reap the rewards of Trump’s policies.
“Simply put, no one is better positioned than Williams to benefit from the natural gas demand fundamentals now under the Trump administration and a Republican Congress,” Armstrong said, according to a transcript of the call.
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