With music blaring in the background and a crowd of supporters chanting on election night, Corinice Wilson beamed. She was one of two survivors of a five-candidate competition to represent District 1 on Tulsa City Council.
She secured 36% of the vote and, with that, her political aspirations would go beyond Aug. 25. For incumbent Vanessa Hall-Harper, securing 46% wasn’t enough to avoid a Nov. 3 runoff.
As the second part of the race gets underway, District 1 residents have a choice to make: elect a newcomer to represent much of north Tulsa or give the decade-long councilwoman another two years.
If you ask Wilson’s supporters, the decision is an easy one.
“They’re ready to move District 1 forward,” she told The Eagle after it became apparent she was headed for a runoff with Hall-Harper.
Wilson seeks to build collaboration in the district
Wilson, a Turley native, teaches sociology courses at Tulsa Community College. In her first time running for an elected office, she outlasted three other challengers: Thomas Moore, Mareo Johnson and Reggie Williams Jr.
She ran a campaign centered on three principles: “community, collaboration, change” or what she calls the C3 movement. During a candidate forum on July 22, Wilson described herself as “a coalition builder.”
She told the crowd gathered at Antioch Baptist Church she was running “because we cannot continue to use 2016 solutions for 2026 problems” and the district needed “a city councilor who’s going to serve all of District 1.”
Long after polls closed on Aug. 25, Johnson and Moore both showed up alongside Wilson’s supporters gathered at the Historic Big 10 Ballroom and donned “Vote Dr. Corinice Wilson” shirts.
Hall-Harper points to decade of experience on the job
But whether that’s enough to defeat Hall-Harper is a toss up. The incumbent councilwoman, who studied political science at Jackson State University, told The Eagle her decade of experience in the position sets her apart from Wilson.
She spent over two decades working for the Tulsa Health Department before voters first elected her in 2016.
Over the years, Hall-Harper has come out strongly against the proliferation of dollar stores in the district. That fight led to the implementation of the Healthy Neighborhoods Overlay District. To get those zoning rules passed, Hall-Harper and others “had to raise a lot of hell,” she said in a 2021 TulsaPeople interview.
She has also called for increased oversight of the Tulsa Police Department.
Before it was announced that Deputy Chief Jonathan Brooks would take over the vacant police chief position, she told a crowd gathered during the July 22 forum that a “change in culture” was needed within the department to truly address inequalities. She’ll host a fireside chat with Brooks Sept. 14.
“Public safety includes jobs, housing, parks, youth programs, all those things. But at the end of the day, the average citizen, when you talk about justice, that is your connection or your contact with law enforcement,” she said.
In the past year though, Hall-Harper has faced increased scrutiny from some in the district over perceived conflicts of interests, with several disagreements playing out publicly online.
During The Eagle’s Aug. 11 candidate forum, she characterized that criticism as unfounded personal attacks and pledged to collaborate with those interested in working with her.
“I am a public official, but I’m also a human being. And once you become elected, you don’t automatically become a robot,” she said. “What I’m going to say is respect is a two-way street. And hopefully we can meet each other halfway.”
Some of her supporters have expressed the district needs more grocery stores, recreational opportunities for youth and entertainment venues.
But Wilson faced her own share of criticism as some questioned her campaign donations. In an interview with The Eagle on election night, she denied any improprieties and said she didn’t believe the scrutiny negatively affected her support among voters.
“There was no PAC that was related to my campaign. There was no money. There was no account. There was no bank account that was attached to it,” Wilson said.
For now, both women continue to serve together on Tulsa’s Beyond Apology Commission, and each supports reparations in a city still feeling reverberations of the 1921 Race Massacre.
Now that the final two have risen to the top of the race, Wilson is seeking more civility.
“Some of what I have seen during this race has been painful. It has become far too focused on personalities, assumptions, and tearing people down,” she said in a message posted to Facebook on Aug. 29. “That is not why I decided to run, and it is not where I want us to remain. I am asking everyone to come back to the reason we are here: District 1 and its future.”
