OKLAHOMA CITY — Francis Anthony “Chip” Keating III is running for governor.
If the name sounds familiar, that’s because he is the son of Frank Keating, who served as Oklahoma governor from 1995 to 2003.
Chip Keating, 45, is now a successful Oklahoma businessman – a principal with real estate, oil and gas and technology investment company Keating Investments.
“That old saying, that ‘Oklahoma is OK,’ means that Oklahoma is average and marginal – I want a greater Oklahoma,” Keating told The Black Chronicle. “But we’re not going to get there until we address education and healthcare outcomes.”
The state needs a comprehensive restructuring of its tax system, Keating added, as well as an effective response to the overlapping crises of substance abuse and mental illness.
“We can do better. This state deserves better,” said Keating. “We need a humble, authentic and passionate leader. That’s what I’m running to become.”
Keating is a co-founder and Managing Director of VEX Energy, an operated and non-operated oil and gas company, predominantly focused in and around basins in the lower 48. He was also formerly a General Partner of Energy 11, L.P. and Energy Resources 12, L.P., both public, non-traded upstream oil and gas partnerships in the Bakken Shale.
Keating served a 2-year commitment as Cabinet Secretary of Public Safety for the State of Oklahoma from 2019 to 2020, where he oversaw 28 law enforcement agencies and corrections. Keating was head of Public Safety when protests flared in Oklahoma and nationwide following the murder of George Floyd, a time when Oklahoma law enforcement kept the state’s major cities like Tulsa and Oklahoma City from descending into chaos. A former Oklahoma State Trooper, Keating founded and is currently President of the Oklahoma State Troopers Foundation. Keating spent just over three years as an Oklahoma State Trooper and is a graduate of the 53rd Oklahoma Highway Patrol Academy.
He also serves on the University Hospitals Authority Trust and is a director of OU Health. Keating also served as a Director and Gubernatorial appointee of The Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System, is the past president and board member of the Salvation Army and the Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Prior to founding Keating Investments, Keating served as the Real Estate Development Manager for Chesapeake Energy Corporation in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Prior to joining Chesapeake, he worked as a commercial real estate broker with Trammell Crow Company.
He received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University. He has been married to his wife Brittney for 20 years and has three children: Callie, Frankie and Mary Katherine.
Keating announced his run for governor in October. Candidate filing is April 1-3 at the Oklahoma State Capitol. The election will be held on Nov. 3, 2026.
