A 10-day challenge period for Oklahoma marijuana initiative State Question 820 ended on September 15 with four challenges filed with the state Supreme Court. In addition to resolving the challenges, the Supreme Court is also set to decide on whether the measure will be placed on the November 2022 ballot. Once signatures for an initiative…
In Oklahoma, the campaign behind a marijuana legalization initiative reported submitting 164,000 signatures for the ballot measure on July 5, 2022. Michelle Tilley, the campaign director, said, “The overwhelming number of signatures we have received demonstrates that our campaign has the momentum.” Of the signatures submitted, 94,911 signatures must be valid for the initiative to…
Markwayne Mullin and T.W. Shannon advanced to an August 23, 2022, Republican primary runoff in the special U.S. Senate election in Oklahoma. Neither received the majority of the primary vote needed to win outright on June 28. Ten candidates ran in the primary. The special election will fill the rest of the six-year term left…
Gentner Drummond defeated incumbent John O’Connor in the Republican primary for attorney general of Oklahoma on June 28, 2022. Libertarian candidate Lynda Steele is running in the general election, but no Democratic candidates filed to run. According to Ben Felder in The Oklahoman, “Libertarians have never won a statewide race in Oklahoma, giving the Republican…
Incumbent John O’Connor and Gentner Drummond are running in the Republican primary for attorney general of Oklahoma on June 28. Libertarian candidate Lynda Steele is running in the general election, but no Democratic candidate filed to run, meaning that the winner of the Republican primary will be heavily favored in November. Republicans have held the…
Ten candidates are running in the Republican primary for the special U.S. Senate election in Oklahoma on June 28, 2022. The special election will fill the rest of the six-year term left by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R), who was last elected in 2020. Inhofe announced in February 2022 that he would resign on January 3,…
Eighty-eight of the 125 state legislative districts up for election in Oklahoma this year are uncontested, meaning voters in 70% of districts will see either only a Democrat or only a Republican on their general election ballots. This is both the largest number and highest rate of uncontested districts since 2014. Uncontested districts lack major…
The filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in Oklahoma this year was April 14, 2022. Twenty-eight candidates are running for Oklahoma’s five U.S. House districts, including five Democrats and 23 Republicans. That’s 5.6 candidates per district, more than the 5.4 candidates per district in 2020 and less than the 7.2 in 2018. Here are…
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) on May 25, 2022, signed a bill into law requiring transgender students to use the restroom that matches their sex assigned at birth. Senate Bill 615 passed the House with a vote of 69-14 and the Senate by a vote of 38-7. The law governs the use of multiple-occupancy restrooms…
The Oklahoma State Legislature adjourned its 2022 Regular Session on May 27 without referring any measures to the 2022 ballot for voters to consider. During the 2021 and 2022 legislative sessions, the Legislature considered referring constitutional amendments and state statutes to the ballot. Fifteen constitutional amendments and one state statute had passed in the chamber…