Bob Anthony

Robert Anthony (born May 15, 1948) is a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma who briefly served on the Oklahoma City Council and who is the longest serving statewide elected official in state history after serving 36 years on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.

After serving on the Oklahoma City Council from 1979 to 1980, Anthony was elected to the corporation commission in 1989. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate in 2004, and unsuccessful candidate for United States Congress running against Glenn English in 1990. He served six consecutive six year terms on the commission and was term limited in 2024.

With the retirement of Doug La Follette as Wisconsin Secretary of State in 2023, Anthony became the earliest serving statewide elected official in the United States, not counting federal offices, having held the same office since 1989. Anthony officially left office in January 2025.

Early life and career Anthony was born at St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City on May 15, 1948. His father, Guy Anthony, owned the C.R. Anthony Co., a chain of department stores founded by and named after his grandfather.

Anthony was a captain in the United States Army Reserves, worked in his grandfather's retail clothing company C.R. Anthony Co. Worked as a staff economist for the Interior Committee of the United States House of Representatives and as a consultant for the Library of Congress from 1976 to 1979. He was the president of C.R. Anthony Co. from 1980 to 1987 when the company was sold an investor group. He first won election to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) in 1988 and took office in 1989.

Anthony revealed in late 1992 that he had been cooperating in a federal bribery probe, secretly taping utility company representatives who broke laws prohibiting donations to regulators. The scandal was averted at the last minute by a company buyout.

In 2004 he entered the race to succeed Don Nickles in the United States Senate, but finished third in the primary, losing to Tom Coburn.

In August 2018, Anthony won the Republican nomination for a seat on the OCC. He went on to face Democrat Ashley Nicole McCray and independent Jackie Short in the November election. Anthony won re-election with 60% of the vote.

Electoral history