2026 Tulsa City Council election

Council District 1: Reggie Williams, Jr.

This is the most interesting and active race. Vanessa Hall-Harper has drawn four opponents, mainly fellow Democrats who have an issue with her record. In addition to her participation in the Mean Girls Caucus, voters will recall Hall-Harper's shameful, racist slur against U. S. Senator Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) after Sen. Scott's response to the 2021 State of the Union address.

Prominent north Tulsa voices like former City Councilor Joe Williams and Angela Chambers, who challenged Hall Harper in 2024, are endorsing Reggie Williams, Jr., who is athletic director at the Salvation Army's North Mabee Red Shield Youth Center and has been involved in the North Tulsa Economic Development Initiative. Mareo Johnson, founding member and executive director of Tulsa's Black Lives Matter chapter, serves on the city's Sales Tax Overview Committee. Thomas William (Tom) Moore has a very thoughtful website with some sound ideas about homeless policy and dealing with vacant properties in north Tulsa.

Vanessa Hall-Harper lives in Gilcrease Hills. Reggie Williams, Jr., is registered to vote in Victory neighborhood, near Marian Anderson Elementary School, but there is some indication that he lives in Melrose Place neighborhood, near Reservoir Hills. Corinice Wilson lives in the Troost Avenue neighborhood along Mohawk Boulevard. Mareo Johnson lives in Suburban Acres, near Chamberlain Park. Tom Moore is from the rural part of the district, with 10 acres near Mohawk Park.

Corinice Wilson seems to have a lot of backing, but her campaign contribution report shows that the $19,318.00 she has raised has mainly been in $100 - $250 donations, except for a maximum contribution from former State Sen. Judy Eason McIntyre. Wilson is assistant professor of sociology at Tulsa Community College. Many years ago, she served as community outreach coordinator for Community Action Project Tulsa County (CAPTC). In 2016-2017, Wilson was a leader in neighborhood protests against GKFF's industrial park development at 36th Street North and Mohawk Boulevard.

In 2024, Mayor GT Bynum appointed Wilson to his Beyond Apology Commission. This TCC profile of Corinice Wilson from 2025 highlights Wilson and her other involvements:

The Commission appointment under Tulsa's former Mayor G.T. Bynum's executive order has a critical mission--to propose ambitious yet achievable goals in eight key areas: housing and homeownership, education, community and economic development, financial compensation, land, health and wellness, systems change (policy), and cultural identity. These efforts are aimed at addressing longstanding inequities and fostering measurable progress in the community.

"Our initial housing recommendations were submitted to Mayor Bynum at the end of November 2024. The ongoing restorative work will continue for two more years," Dr. Wilson explains....

Dr. Wilson is active in the community, serving on the Board of Trustees for the League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Tulsa and as a board member for Teach Not Punish. She also mentors young professionals and is active in the Tulsa Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Metropolitan Baptist Church. Additionally, she volunteers for the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice and the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.

A TCC board agenda item from 2022 describes Wilson's academic background and her duties at that time:

Corinice earned both her Doctor of Philosophy in Criminology and Social Inequality and Master of Science in Criminology and Corrections from Oklahoma State University. Corinice also earned her Master of Human Relations from The University of Oklahoma and both her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Psychology from Northeastern State University. Corinice has over twenty-six years of higher education teaching experience. Corinice has been with Tulsa Community College for fifteen years.

(Why did OSU add "Social Inequality" to the name of their Criminology department?)

In a Facebook post last week, Mareo Johnson pointed out yet another sales tax bait-and-switch involving incumbent Hall Harper:

District 1 doesn't just need another person who knows how to sit at City Hall. District 1 needs someone who understands how taxpayer dollars are supposed to be monitored, how voter-approved funds should be protected, and how to hold government accountable.

This year an ordinance proposing that $5 million associated with Kirkpatrick Heights/Greenwood be amended to District 1 economic-development projects. The official council documents specifically identify the proposed $5 million change.

This is important to know because Tulsa voters approved $5 million in the Improve Our Tulsa sales-tax extension for future investments in the Kirkpatrick Heights-Greenwood Master Plan area.

When voters approve money for a specific purpose, a Councilor shouldn't move that money.

While publicly advocating moving the 56 acres into the Greenwood Trust rather than Greenwood Legacy CDC, arguing that the Trust would be community-led. That's interesting. Couldn't move the 56 acres into a trust, so the next thing is to try to reallocate the money from, which is voter approved for the certain project. Not cool at all.

Here's more about the City Council's vote to move control of the $5 million.

While I'd like Tom Moore's ideas to have a seat at the table, he's not running a campaign beyond a website and forum appearances, and District 1 is not likely to elect a Caucasian independent. Voters need to pick a candidate that will be a good councilor and can beat Hall-Harper in a runoff. Anybody but Vanessa, but of the other three challengers, Reggie Williams seems like the best option.

Council District 2: Aaron Bisogno

One-term incumbent Anthony Archie has a rematch with Aaron Bisogno. Archie has, as expected, fallen in line with the rest of the non-profit establishment caucus on the council. Bisogno grew up in Tulsa; Archie came here to go to ORU. Bisogno opposes higher taxes; Archie voted to put the hotel-motel tax hike on the November ballot. Both are registered Republicans, but Archie is a relatively recent convert.

This quote from Anthony Archie is just weird, and it shows the kind of emptiness that the philanthropocracy prefers in its candidates:

"This is my philosophy in politics," Archie said. "People are asking two things: Do I like you? That is, are you somebody who is likeable? And do I think you like me? And I think that people know that, regardless of whether you are left or you are right, I like them. I genuinely want to see their family thrive."

I genuinely want families to thrive, but a willingness to be disliked is a basic character quality for integrity in public office. I'd hope a city councilor would be thinking about the proper duties and priorities of city government. If his focus is on likeability, other city officials and the lobbyists and special interests who orbit city government will matter more to Archie than the constituents who are minding their own business at home.

Archie calls himself a full-time city councilor on his LinkedIn and also shows Oklahoma Toffee Company as a current job. Bisogno is still an assistant manager at Mariner Finance, where he has been for three years. As I wrote in 2024, Aaron Bisogno "may be the only candidate in the race who can speak and vote according to his conscience without worrying about losing his job or his funding."

Council District 3: No recommendation.

One-term incumbent Jackie Dutton, who replaced Crista Patrick in the Mean Girls Clique (see above), is being challenged by Tanisha Bowen. Dutton is a registered independent who changed from Democrat, Bowen is a registered Democrat and has the endorsement of the Tulsa County Democrat Party. I wrote about the history of District 3 representation (Roscoe Turner) and dis-representation (the Patrick family) in 2024.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Tanisha Bowen is a Realtor with Keller Williams and involved in something called EPIQ Energy, which looks like a defunct Multi-Level Marketing thing. Her campaign website shows her as membership chairman of the Greater Tulsa Board of Realtist, which appears to be an association of African-American real estate professionals aiming to encourage homeownership among black Tulsans and affiiated with National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB). From her Facebook profile, it appears that she is a single mom and was a supporter of SQ 832. This is a hopeful comment:

"I have to be a problem solver. I have to typically be the calmest," Bowen said. "I've always been told, 'Be the calmest person in the transaction,' and so when everything is burning up around you, when everyone is losing their head, bring calm to the situation."

Jackie Dutton lives in Clarland Acres near Lindbergh Elementary School. Tanisha Bowen lives in Maplewood neighborhood.

Jackie Dutton ought to be replaced for her inability to exercise self-control and listen attentively and politely to a citizen. The alternative, however, is funded by Mayor Monroe Nichols's Tulsa Forward PAC. Pick your poison.

Council District 5: Karen Gilbert

As in 2024, incumbent Karen Gilbert (back on the council after a couple of terms away), a registered Republican, is challenged by a worse choice in Adam Burnett, an attorney with Frasier, Frasier, & Hickman, a personal injury firm founded by local former Democrat National Committeeman Jim Frasier. Gilbert, executive director of Crime Stoppers, is generally pro-police and opposed to proposals that would make it harder to enforce the law. She has not been a part of the Mean Girls Clique.

Karen Gilbert lives in Mid-Town Village, formerly known as Stevenson neighborhood, near the old Stevenson Elementary School, now the Islamic Center of Tulsa. Adam Burnett lives in Leisure Lanes in the northern part of the district.

Council District 7: Kenny Wogoman

Perhaps the meanest of the Mean Girls, Lori Decter Wright is head of the greatly diminished Tulsa Opera. Decter Wright led off the snarky comments aimed at a citizen making public comments, and she was part of the gang that retaliated against Councilor Grant Miller's opposition to a sales tax increase.

Her opponents are Dave Perry and Kenny Wogoman. While all the candidates are registered Republicans, Decter Wright only recently changed her registration from Democrat, possibly just to be able to vote for progressives running in Republican primaries, possibly to block the Tulsa County Republican Party from endorsing one of her opponents.

Dave Perry (legally, David Scott Perry) says he's a lifelong Republican and a life-long Tulsan, but his voter registration record says he registered in February 2025, and I can't find him in earlier voter registration lists. I haven't been able to find much independent information about him, but I like his take on the Gilcrease Museum bait-and-switch:

Perry pointed to Gilcrease Museum's planned reopening next year as one example of the city focusing on "wants." The new building cost $140.9 million, including $91.5 million from public funds and $49 million from private funds. Initially, the city planned on spending $83.6 million, including $73.6 million in public funds.

"I don't even know how much total has been allocated. I just know that we keep throwing money at it," Perry said. "I just don't see the need to bulldoze it and start over. ?I can't see how that was financially feasible."

Dave Perry and Kenny Wogoman both express worries about abuse and security of data collected by Flock license-plate cameras. Perry is the only candidate to oppose the hotel-motel tax increase.

Kenny Wogoman (legally, Kenneth Allen Wogoman, Jr.) is an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, shows up as plaintiff in petitions (2018, 2021) filed by now-disbarred Ron Durbin against the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority alleging violations of the Oklahoma Open Meetings Act. Wogoman appears to have been a Muskogee County resident until 2020.

Neither challenger is running a visible campaign. I reached out to Perry and Wogoman. Kenny Wogoman responded, and we spoke on the phone. Wogoman told me he had been an operations manager for Amazon and traveled extensively as part of the effort to set up same-day delivery. He said he has been doing some door-to-door campaigning but has no one working with him on the campaign.

Incumbent Decter Wright is a homeowner in Shadow Ridge subdivision near 91st and Memorial. Wogoman is a homeowner in Woodland View near 61st and Sheridan. Perry lives in Shadow Mountain Condominiums near 61st and Memorial but is not listed as a property owner there.

The main thing is to vote for someone other than Decter Wright. I'd lean toward Wogoman just because he seems slightly more intentional about running than Perry appears to be.

District 9: Shawn Tiemann

Incumbent Carol Bush decided not to run for re-election.

Pete Regan, a former chief of staff to Democrat Congressman Dan Boren, an administrative assistant to David Boren at OU, a lobbyist, and a Democrat candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2006, re-registered as a Republican sometime in 2022, and he has the most yard signs around the district, including one in front of George Kaiser's house. Regan donated to RINO Gentner Drummond's campaign for Attorney General in 2022. Regan has raised nearly $180,000, and his contributors include Obama-backing billionaire George Kaiser, former RINO Mayor GT Bynum, former Democrat Mayor Kathy Taylor, Democrat Mayor Monroe Nichols's Tulsa Forward PAC. Basically, this is the city establishment candidate, the Money Belt candidate, another minion of the philanthropocracy. (Regan also has mail-order ministerial credentials through the Universal Life Church.)

What do you do with $180K in a city council race? What can you do if any of it is left over? You can transfer surplus municipal campaign funds into your re-election campaign. You could also transfer that leftover money into a race for another municipal office. Here's my speculation: They're setting Pete Regan up to run for Mayor. Maybe in 2028, maybe not until 2032. They'll give Mayor Monroe Nichols a cushy NGO sinecure, put him out to pasture.

Nichols started raising money for his 2028 re-election campaign in fourth quarter of 2025. Nichols carried over $9,878.20 from his 2024 campaign, has raised $92,262.00, but has spent $84,917.49, and only had $17,222.71 on hand at the end of June 2026. He spent $22,041.31 on "officeholder expenses," mainly flights to conferences and dinners, including airfare to attend the dedication of the Obama Presidential Library. I'm wondering if The Powers That Be feel Mayor Nichols is not paying sufficient attention to his duties at home.

Then again, it may be as simple as a campaign firm looking for revenue opportunities. Regan has the same campaign consulting firm, CAMP, as Karen Keith did for her failed 2024 mayoral run. CAMP's had a hard time of late, and Tuesday is looking like a bad day for their statewide ticket.

Ben Johnson, a registered Democrat, has been a 911 dispatcher for the City of Tulsa; before that, he worked around Delaware and Pennsylvania in emergency medical services and regional planning. It used to be a violation of the City Charter for a city employee to engage in political activity, but a tiny number of voters changed that in a November 2017 special election.

Johnson has a Bachelor's in Russian from OU and a Master's in Public Administration from the University of Delaware. Johnson is co-author, with Ryan Mattson, of the book Inequality by Design: How a Rigged Economy Fractures America and What We Can Do About It, and the two have a Substack where they "expand on the ways pervasive and sustained inequality is breaking our society." Johnson also has a personal blog; his latest entry speculates on the collapse of the west's economic and political systems.

So again, what does this imply going forward? For one, it means we can likely scrap the dystopian scenario I laid out early last year. It appears the foolishness of the ruling class is now so clearly beyond redeeming, a collective reckoning is all but unavoidable. At this point, the only question is will that reckoning play out in a positive manner or not. Will political control and economic prosperity devolve back to the huddled masses through largely peaceful means, or will that devolution happen because revolutionary violence wrenches control of the political economy of the United States away from distant elites in Washington and New York? For a guide of what that might look like, next time, we will visit the Soviet Union in the year of my birth, 1982.

The third candidate is fundraiser and freelance sportscaster Shawn Tiemann. Tiemann's resume includes play-by-play work for Rogers State University, Bixby High School, University of Montana, and a variety of minor league baseball teams, and sports talk at KTBZ The Blitz and Tulsa's Sports Animal. He also works for Vertical Raise, helping youth sports teams raise funds. (NOAH Jaguars Softball, part of Tulsa's homeschool sports organization, is a satisfied customer.) His web presence includes his campaign website, his professional broadcasting website (with clips), a broadcasting talent page, a podcast from 2020 (which includes a three-part interview with the legendary Bob Carpenter), an X account. When he took the job with University of Montana, the UM sports information office published an interesting profile of Tiemann.

Ben Johnson's voter registration address is currently protected (his wife, Maryann Hon, is an assistant DA in another county) but owns a house in Brookside with a homestead exemption, and the address matches his previous registration address.

Shawn Tiemann is registered to vote in Brookside but now lives at a different address around the corner, still in the same precinct. The house where he now lives is in the name of his wife, immigration attorney Lorena Rivas. He told me he is in the process of a divorce.

Pete Regan is registered to vote at a Brookside house he sold in November 2025, surface rights only (!), to a couple of men. (Is he reserving the right to dig for coal?) Looks like he and his wife Amy bought a new home on that lot in 2012, he divorced Amy in 2017 (did the rich-guy/lawyer thing of filing under your initials in a different county -- where the lake house was -- to make the case hard to find on OSCN); he got the house, and they split custody of their son who was 10 at the time. Someone named Peter Regan bought a house near 38th and Wheeling in August 2025 and has a homestead exemption there; that property is also in District 9.

Of the three, Shawn Tiemann seems closest to being a normal human being, and he might be the best shot at nipping in the bud the mayoral ambitions of the philanthropocracy's latest favorite.