By Constitution Staff

The U.S. Congress is composed of two chambers. Senators serve six-year terms with only a third of the seats up each election year. Each state has two seats in that upper chamber. Only one of Oklahoma’s two U.S. Senate seats is up for election in 2026. Senator Markwayne Mullin was elected in 2022 to fill the remainder of the term of Senator Jim Inhofe who resigned. The seat is up for reelection for a full-term next year. Senator James Lankford was reelected in 2022, and his term will not be up until the 2028 election.

The seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up each election year since they serve two-year terms. The incumbents all plan to run for reelection and they all have challengers.

The candidate filing period for offices for the 2026 Oklahoma elections will be April 1-3, and a number of candidates have already announced their intent to ran. The Primary Elections will be held on June 16, 2026, and the Runoff Primary Elections on August 25, 2026. The General Election will be on November 3, 2026.

U.S. Senate

Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin is running for a full six-year term. He was elected to the U.S. Senate seat in 2022, having served five terms in the U.S. House. When he first ran for the House seat in 2012, he pledged to serve no more than six years but ran and won reelection in 2018 and also in 2020. In 2022 he successfully ran for the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Inhofe. Mullin, 47, owns Mullin Plumbing which spans much of the state. He also has ranching operations in Adair and Wagoner counties. He has compiled a mostly conservative record in Congress. He is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation.

Two Democrats have announced that they are running for the nomination to challenge Mullin for the seat.

Troy Green, 58, says for 30 years he has taught martial arts. In 2022, he retired from teaching full-time, and founded Safe Haven Oklahoma, a nonprofit fighting human trafficking and child exploitation. He has also worked as a realtor, bail bond agent, and a private investigator. He also lists on his LinkedIn page that he is a “Humanist.” He unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Oklahoma House in 2012.

N’Kiyla “Jasmine” Thomas, 30, is a Chickasaw citizen, a registered nurse, and liberal activist. She boasts that if elected she would be the first Black, Native American women to hold the seat. She says she was born and raised in Ardmore by a black woman. She said on FaceBook, “I believe in protecting reproductive rights and women’s healthcare, preserving Native sovereignty (I am a proud Chickasaw citizen), and standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, because equality and dignity are not negotiable.”

U.S. House – First District

The First Congressional District includes all of Tulsa County, eastern Creek County including Sapulpa, western Wagoner County, and a small part of western Rogers County.

Incumbent Republican Kevin Hern, 63, of Tulsa is running for reelection. He was first elected to the seat in 2018, and was reelected in 2020, 2022 and 2024. He is the owner of KTAK Corporation which operates more than a dozen McDonald’s restaurants in Tulsa. Hern won reelection last year with 60% of the vote.

Two Democrats and an independent have announced their intention to run for the seat in 2026.

Democrat Erica Watkins, 38, served in the U.S. Army National Guard from 2007 to 2017 and was proud to be one of the first groups of women to serve as combat assets. She earned degrees in Sociology and Global Affairs and says that her career experience includes working as a political activist. She is the Executive Director of We’re Oklahoma Education, or WOKE, which was originally called Defense of Democracy Oklahoma. Members of the group were known for regularly attending state Board of Education meetings and to protest Superintendent Ryan Walters.

Democrat Ryan Parschauer, 43, of Jenks has been a Hospice chaplain since 2010.

Independent candidate John Croisant, 48, serves on the Tulsa Public Schools board. He taught 6th grade geography and was the head girls soccer coach for 12 years, before retiring in 2018 to open his own insurance agency.

U.S. House – Second District

The Second District covers most of eastern Oklahoma, stretching south from the Kansas state line to the Red River border with Texas. Josh Brecheen was first elected to the seat in 2022 and reelected in 2024. Brecheen, 45, of Coalgate was a member of the Oklahoma Senate from 2010 to 2018. During his eight years in the Oklahoma Senate he had a cumulative average score of 82% on the Oklahoma Conservative Index. Before his election to the Legislature, he worked for former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn. He has also owned a quarter-horse breeding operation. Brecheen won reelection in 2024 with 74% of the vote.

Brecheen is being challenged for the Republican nomination next year by Will Webb of Eufaula. He served in the U.S. Army National Guard from 2014 to 2020. His career experience includes working as an advocate, Army Chaplain Corps, peer support specialist, pharmacy tech, an ASIST instructor, and missionary.

Two Democrats have announced their intention to run in 2026.

Brandon Wade, 48, was the only candidate filing for the Democrat nomination for the seat in 2024. Wade is a machinery assembler for Schlumberger in Bartlesville where he has also served as president of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 351. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022 but lost in the Democratic Primary. In the 2024 General Election he finished way behind Congressman Brecheen, receiving just 21% of the vote.

Democrat Erik Terwey, 44, of Bartlesville is the manager of a small business and a former public school teacher of world languages. He earned a Master’s degree in French literature from the University of Oklahoma. He ran for a city council seat in 2020. In his unsuccessful campaign for the city council, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, he supported a mask mandate for Bartlesville saying, “It is time that we are led by science, not science fiction.”

U.S. House – Third District

The third district covers most of the north central and western parts of the state, including the panhandle. Geographically, it covers about half the land area of the state due to the low population density. The boundary changes following the 2020 U.S. Census extended the district into southwestern Oklahoma County, which includes a portion of south Oklahoma City and a part near downtown.

Long-time Congressman Frank Lucas, 65, of Cheyenne was first elected to the seat in a Special Election in 1994. He is the longest serving member among the current Oklahoma Delegation in the U.S. House and is running for reelection. He is a former State Representative and runs a ranching operation. In 2024 Lucas faced two challengers for the Republican nomination and emerged as the victor in the Primary with 73% of the vote. Since no Democrats, Libertarians or independents filed for the office, the race was decided in the GOP Primary with the reelection of Congressman Lucas.

One Democrat has announced a challenge to Congressman Lucas in 2026 and says he (she?) is running to be elected “Congresswomen” for the district. Jules Roberson, 36 of Anadarko says he is avowed progressive, a Native American (Wichita), a transwoman, and an Amazon warehouse worker. He says he was closeted until age 29. “While times are harder now for trans people then they were 7 years ago (I'm 36), part of the reason I seek office (is) to impart this will to those who find themselves oppressed.”

U.S. House – Fourth District

The Fourth District covers much of south central and the southwestern parts of the state. Congressman Tom Cole, 75, of Moore is running for reelection. Cole was first elected to Congress in 2002. Prior to his election to Congress, he served in the Oklahoma Senate 1989-90. During his time in Congress, Cole has moved up to leadership positions, and last year he was named Chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Cole was reelected in 2024 with 65% of the vote.

Three Democrats has announced their intention to run in 2026.

Mary Brannon, 73, of Washington, OK was the Democrat nominee against Cole in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024. Brannon received 28% of the vote against Cole in the 2024 General Election. She is a former teacher and school counselor.

Democrat Mitchell Jacob of Newcastle served in the U.S. Army from 2017 to 2022. He received a law degree from the University of Oklahoma in 2025. His career experience includes working as a stockbroker, banker, and mortgage loan originator. He was the Democrat nominee for a seat in the Oklahoma House in 2024.

Democrat Jeff Pixley of Norman retired as an Air Force Colonel after a career of over 30. He was a Fighter Pilot, and the former Commander of the U.S. Air Force’s Basic Military Training in San Antonio, TX. He settled in Norman, Oklahoma following his retirement.

U.S. House – Fifth District

The Fifth District includes most of Oklahoma City in Oklahoma County, all of Lincoln, Pottawatomie and Seminole counties. It also extends into the southern part of Logan County, including Guthrie, and a portion of eastern Canadian County, including Yukon and Piedmont.

In 2018 the Fifth District seat flipped from Republican to Democrat when Kendra Horn defeated the incumbent, Steve Russell. Oklahoma had not had a Democrat in Congress since 2012, and for the first time in state history Oklahoma had a Democrat woman to Congress. But, in 2020 State Sen. Stephanie Bice of Edmond secured the Republican nomination and went on to defeat Congresswoman Horn. Bice was elected to the Oklahoma Senate in 2014 and reelected in 2018. Although Bice was a moderate Republican, earning a 56% cumulative average on the Oklahoma Conservative Index for the six years that she had been in office, she has been far more conservative than the liberal Congresswoman Horn. Congresswoman Bice, 51, won reelection in 2022 and 2024 and is running for a fourth term. She was reelected in 2024 with 60% of the vote.

One Democrat has announced to run for the seat in 2026. Jena Nelson, 47, of Edmond was the only Democrat to file for Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2022. She received 43% of the vote against Ryan Walters in the General Election. She was an educator for more than 16 years and won Oklahoma Teacher of the Year in 2020. She now works as a nonprofit development professional, corporate leadership developer and small business owner who most recently served as acting Executive Director and Director of Programs for the Oklahoma Faith Network.