State Sen. Joseph Silk, R-Broken Bow, will seek the GOP nomination for U.S. Congress in the 2nd District.

Silk, a champion for the rights of unborn children, will probably face U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullins, R-Oklahoma. Mullins has not formally announced his intention to run for a fifth term. When Mullins first ran, he committed to running for only three terms but he changed his mind and successfully won a fourth term.

Republican leaders in the Oklahoma Senate blacklisted Silk during this year’s session because he authored Senate Bill 13, which would have made abortion illegal in Oklahoma.

As a result, none of Silk’s bills got a hearing the Senate committees. SB13 was killed in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee by Chairman Sen. Jason Smalley, R-Stroud. Silk drew severe criticism from Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, who removed Silk from a committee vice chairmanship because of SB13.

Several states passed similar bills this year in an effort to get a challenge to Roe v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court in order to facilitate its repeal and make abortion illegal.

Silk has described the GOP leadership in the State Senate as “very moderate.” In his five years in the Senate, Silk has supported Second Amendment gun rights and fought tax increases.

“The constitutionality of pro-life legislation can be compared to medical marijuana legislation, in that both are considered in violation of both the U.S. Constitution and our state Constitution,” Silk said after Republicans blocked a hearing on SB13. “But yet, the very same leaders who have supported laws to make medical marijuana legal, without regard for what the federal law says about it being illegal, are also some of the same people who refuse to support SB 13 because they fear it will not hold up in court.

“The bottom line is, it’s impossible to be an abortion free state and a pro-life state. If Roe v. Wade were overturned tomorrow, the pro-life legislation currently on the books in Oklahoma would still be keeping abortion legal in the state. SB 13 would have an immediate impact now, saving countless unborn children.”

Silk attended Rogers State College in Claremore where he completed two years of U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer Training with Detachment 670 from Oklahoma State University.

In 2007, he joined the U.S. Coast Guard and he was assigned to the Coast Guard Cutter Smilax in Morehead City, North Carolina. He later achieved the rank of Petty Officer 3rd Class.

Silk left the military and joined his father back in Oklahoma in a property management company. Silk completed his bachelors degree in organizational and strategic communication with a minor in psychology from Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

In 2014, Silk became the first Republican state senator ever elected from Senate District 5 and the youngest member of the Senate at age 27.

As a senator, he has been honored with the 2015 and 2016 Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee Freshman Legislator of the Year Award; the 2016 Oklahoma Second Amendment Association Minute Man Legislator of the Year Award; and a Conservative Achievement Award from the American Conservative Union.

Silk and his wife, Kimberlee, have eight children.

Silk is an outspoken Christian and has pledged to protect freedom of religion. He believes that life begins at conception and that abortion is murder. Silk is opposed to the “federal overreach” of the federal government.