Oklahoma runoff, Tulsa general 2026: BatesLine ballot card

In-person absentee voting will be available at your county's early voting locations on Thursday, August 20, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., on Friday, August 21, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturday, August 22, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tulsa County will have in-person absentee voting at the new Tulsa County Election Board location at 12000 E. Skelly Drive and at Tulsa Tech Broken Arrow Campus near 111th Street S & 129th East Ave (aka Florence and Olive). Polls in each precinct will be open Tuesday, August 25, 2026, from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

NOTE: Precinct boundaries, voting locations, and district boundaries have changed, in some cases dramatically. Enter your name and date of birth on the Oklahoma State Election Board's online voter portal and you will see where to vote and your sample ballot.

I'll be posting the traditional printable PDF when I have solidified my list of recommendations.

Originally posted on August 11, 2026, and postdated to remain at the top until the polls close on Election Day. I will be adding more links and detail between now and the election.

Here are the candidates I'm recommending and (if in the district) voting for in the Oklahoma Republican primary elections on August 25, 2026. Click the hyperlink on the office to see detailed information on that race and its candidates. (This entry will change as I decide to add more detail, link previous articles, or discuss additional races between now and election day. The entry is post-dated to keep it at the top.)

As I post this, I'm still unsure about several races, and there are other races I had planned to write about in detail, but time is short, people are voting, and many have asked for a summary of my recommendations. My most enthusiastic choices are in bold; in other races, there may be one or two other candidates that would be acceptable, or I simply don't know the endorsed candidate as well as I would like. There are certain incumbents that I'd like to see defeated, but I don't feel comfortable endorsing an opponent at this point. I'll try to fill in TBDs and NOTs before the start of early voting.

SQ 844 (reimbursement flexibility for property tax exemptions): YES
SQ 846 (Constitutional voter ID): YES

Governor: Mike Mazzei
Superintendent of Public Instruction: James Taylor
Labor Commissioner: Kevin West
Insurance Commissioner: Marty Quinn

There are a number of legislative seats statewide with runoffs, but these two are the only ones in the Tulsa area.

Senate 34: Dana Prieto (i)
House 9: Scotty Stokes

There are six contested Tulsa City Council seats and one proposition. Here are my picks, at this point.

District 1: Anyone but Vanessa Hall Harper
District 2: Aaron Bisogno (R)
District 3: Anyone but Jackie Dutton
District 5: Karen Gilbert (R)
District 7: Anyone but Lori Decter Wright
District 9: Open seat, no preference so far
City of Tulsa ONG franchise renewal: YES

I will be looking carefully at campaign contribution reports when they are due on August 17 to see who the philanthropocrats and the Chamber are backing, but for now, I mainly want to get rid of the Mean Girl Caucus on the City Council. At a recent City Council meeting, while a citizen spoke about the need for independent ethics oversight of the Council, Hall Harper, Dutton, Decter Wright, Laura Bellis, and one redacted non-councilor engaged in ridicule of the speaker over a group chat, giggling and trading looks. Their behavior appalls former councilors across the political spectrum. This isn't the first time they've been caught in this childish behavior. They're on the record labeling conservative Tulsans as "actual fascists," but Bellis, Hall Harper, and Decter Wright teamed up with GT Bynum to keep one of their council colleagues from working for a living because he dared to oppose a tax increase. That seems pretty fascistic to me. If Hall Harper, Dutton, Decter Wright, and Bellis lack the impulse control to wait until after the meeting to share their snarky comments, they don't belong on the City Council. Bellis, alas, is unopposed, but defeating the other three would be a good start.

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