Michael Bates

One of the benefits of social media for voters is that it paints, over time, a detailed self-portrait of a person's interests, political inclinations, and philosophical commitments.

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.)

Former State Senator Jake Merrick, the underfunded gubernatorial candidate who managed to finish aheade well-funded former Speaker Charles McCall in June's primary, has endorsed Mike Mazzei in the Republican runoff for Governor

Only three of 17 active candidates for Tulsa City Council have filed the required pre-election contributions and expenditures report with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. Tanisha Bowen (District 3), Adam Burnett (District 5), and Ben Johnson (District 9), all Democrats, filed their ethics reports by today's 5:00 pm deadline. All three have received donations from Tulsa Forward PAC, the political action committee established by Mayor Monroe Nichols and headed by his chief of staff, Dana Walton. Bowen received $1,000 from Tulsa Forward PAC, Burnett received $1,000, and Johnson received $750.

Gentner Drummond wants Oklahoma's children to be in government-subsidized daycare from birth to kindergarten so they won't be "feral."

It's disheartening just to watch what's been happening at Tulsa City Hall, and even more disheartening to write about it.

This Saturday I was on Tulsa Beacon Weekend on KCFO AM 970 with Jeff Brucculeri to preview the August 25, 2026, runoff and City of Tulsa general election. In addition to the four statewide Republican runoff elections and the six Tulsa City Council seats, we covered the two state questions, SQ 844 and SQ 846, and the Senate 34 runoff.

Earlier this month, I was a guest on David McLain's Truth in Focus Media podcast TIFMedia on Rumble ) to discuss the August 25, 2026, runoff, state questions, and a few other articles here on BatesLine. The episode was recorded on August 6, before many of the developments in the last weeks of the campaign.

The primary preferences of Oklahoma conservatives were scattered among numerous candidates in the long list of open-seat statewide offices, but in the runoff Oklahoma conservatives have united around a single slate for the four offices remaining on the ballot: Mike Mazzei for Governor, James Taylor for State Superintendent, Kevin West for Commissioner of Labor, Marty Quinn for Insurance Commissioner.

At the Mazzei watch party at the Renaissance Hotel, the screens alternated between the official state election board results and Jason Murphey's spectacular statewide precinct map , which displayed the official results as they arrived.