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.

In response to popular demand, I have assembled the guidance detailed below into a downloadable, printable, single-page PDF.

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. State Sen. Dana Prieto is a leader in the Oklahoma Freedom Caucus; his runoff opponent ran as a Democrat in the House 72 primary in 2018. House District 9 is an open seat.

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

For legislative races elsewhere, see my ballot card. I took Charlie Meadows's picks as a starting point, then looked at campaign contributions and expenditures. Certain donors and consultants are red flags and indicate a likelihood that the candidate will be a tool (wittingly or unwittingly) of special interests once in office. In a few races, I've gone against a less than enthusiastic pick from Charlie because of the preponderance of red flags on one side.

There are six contested Tulsa City Council seats and one proposition. My picks are based in part on a desire to replace every incumbent possible, especially the Mean Girls Clique, based in part on what campaign contributions filings have revealed about each candidate's alignments and affiliations. You can read my detailed discussion of the six City Council races in the full article, but here are my picks.

• District 1: Reggie Williams Jr (D) (Anyone but incumbent Vanessa Hall-Harper)
• District 2: Aaron Bisogno (R)
• District 3: No recommendation
• District 5: Karen Gilbert (R)
• District 7: Dave Perry (R) (Anyone but incumbent Lori Decter Wright)
• District 9: Shawn Tiemann (D)
• City of Tulsa ONG franchise renewal: YES

I was waiting for the campaign contribution reports due on August 17 to see who the philanthropocrats and the Chamber are backing, but even before I had that information in hand, I mainly wanted 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.

The only hesitation in District 3 is that Dutton's opponent, Tanisha Bowen, is backed by Mayor Nichols's Tulsa Forward PAC. Sadly, we don't have a third choice.

UPDATE 2026/08/23: After finally connecting with Dave Perry by phone, I was impressed with his knowledge of issues before the council and his key concerns. Although he is recently back in Tulsa, returning to care for aging parents during the pandemic, he attended Union schools in the '70s and '80s and thus has the longest history in Tulsa of any of the three candidates.

In the suburbs:

• Wagoner County Commission District 3: Dennis McCollough
• Bixby Proposition No. 1 ($16,650,000 public safety bond issue): NO
• Bixby Proposition No. 2 ($35,000,000 streets bond issue): NO
• Bixby Proposition No. 3 ($850,000 parks bond issue): NO
• Bixby Proposition No. 4 ($25,000,000 sanitary sewer bond issue): NO

Wagoner County friends tell me that Dennis McCollough is a solid guy who spent his career at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and understands budgets and management. He has been endorsed by the two candidates who did not advance to the runoff. His opponent, Patrick Sampson, makes a lot of conservative noises on social media but his public statements involving his residency and eligibility for the seat may have him in legal trouble.

The projects proposed for the four Bixby bond issue propositions all sound reasonable, but given the issues with city officials of late, voters may want to take this opportunity to cast a vote of no confidence and see some turnover on the council before entrusting city government with more cash.

MORE INFORMATION:

POLLING:

• Pulse Decision Science poll released August 7 has Mazzei leading Drummond 44-38
• CHS poll has Mazzei and Drummond tied, 44 each

OTHER CONSERVATIVE VOICES:

Here are some blogs, endorsement lists, candidate questionnaires, and sources of information for your consideration.

• Muskogee Politico news, questionnaires, and analysis
• Muskogee Politico legislator tax votes, 2016-2018
• Muskogee Politico primary picks
• Jason Murphey Primary Voter Guide
• Charlie Meadows's picks
• Oklahoma Constitution Index: Scores incumbent legislators on voting record
• iVoterGuide surveys of Oklahoma statewide, federal, and legislative candidates
• Tulsa County Republican Party candidate guide, with links to social media, GOP questionnaires, and GOP candidate interview transcripts
• Make Oklahoma Healthy Again (MOHA) endorsements -- formerly Oklahomans for Health and Parental Rights (OKHPR)
• Oklahomans for Life candidate surveys: Oklahomans for the 2nd Amendment (OK2A)
• NRA-PVF survey grades and endorsements
• Tulsa Beacon endorsements
• OCPAC Action endorsements

ANTI-CONSERVATIVE VOICES:

Historically there have been some endorsement lists that are generally negative indicators, including public employees and teacher's unions (and front groups like Oklahomans for Public Education), but these groups have become careful to conceal their support, which backfires in a Republican primary.

The State Chamber of Oklahoma puts out a voter guide that lists State Chamber PAC endorsements, and it's been updated for the runoff. Being pro-business is great, but please read my 2016 article "Chambers of Horrors" to understand why social and fiscal conservatives, opponents of cronyism, and supporters of historic preservation should find Chamber endorsements problematic.

There are some self-styled "conservative influencers" who have shown themselves confused, inconsistent, or downright treacherous. Caveat lector. Anyone who would work to replace the only conservative on the Tulsa school board with a progressive or promote RINO Gentner Drummond for Governor, or anyone who promotes an inexperienced left-winger for District Attorney, is not someone conservatives should look to for endorsements.

If you appreciate the many hours of research that went into this guide and into the rest of my election coverage, and if you'd like to help keep this site online, you can contribute to BatesLine's upkeep via PayPal. You can also support BatesLine through a paid Substack subscription. In addition to keeping me caffeinated, donated funds pay for web hosting, subscriptions, and paid databases I use for research. Many thanks to those generous readers who have already contributed.