In rural Oklahoma, candidates hear concerns about health care, broadband and poultry industry
By Troy Littledeer | @kituwahpunk
BARON, Okla. — Statewide and legislative candidates met Monday night with Adair County residents at the Mid-County Community Organization in the Baron community, where discussions focused on health care access, broadband, environmental protection and poultry industry regulation.
Brandon Wade, the Democratic candidate for Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District, framed broadband, health care access and paved roads as baseline infrastructure for rural communities rather than separate public services.
Hannah Cole, a health care worker running for Oklahoma House District 86, centered her remarks on rural health care availability and public school funding across a district that includes Adair County and portions of Cherokee and Delaware counties.
Dr. Kelly Forbes, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, addressed rural economic issues and questions about mental health services, while Troy Green attended the forum representing U.S. Senate candidate Jim Priest.
Adair County has roughly 20,000 residents. About 42% of the population identifies as American Indian or Alaska Native, and more than one in five residents lives below the federal poverty line, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Access to emergency medical care in the county changed following the closure of Stilwell Memorial Hospital in June 2025. The closure left the county without an inpatient hospital, requiring residents to travel outside the county for hospital care.
Broadband access remains limited in the area. About 29% of households lacked a broadband internet subscription during the 2020-2024 period, according to census data.
Agricultural runoff in the Illinois River Watershed formed another focus of the meeting. The watershed crosses northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas, where phosphorus runoff associated with poultry litter has been the subject of decades of legal and regulatory disputes.
Oklahoma’s long-running federal environmental litigation against six poultry companies concluded in July 2026 with a settlement providing nearly $44 million for watershed monitoring, stewardship programs and limits on poultry litter application.
For residents in a rural county where health care, internet access, roads and agriculture all shape daily life, the issues discussed Monday extended beyond individual programs to questions about how state and federal policies reach communities such as Baron.
Troy Littledeer is an award-winning Indigenous writer, photographer and researcher based in Stilwell, Oklahoma. A member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma, Littledeer has more than 20 years of experience covering tribal governments, education, sports, public policy and rural communities.
His work has appeared in tribal and independent publications including the Cherokee Phoenix, Times of London, Osage News, NDNSports.com, and Giduwa Cherokee News.
Littledeer received the 2025 Tim Giago Free Press Award from the Indigenous Journalists Association for his work defending tribal press freedom and received a first-place photography award from the Oklahoma Press Association in 2019.
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