By Ron McWhirter

In our Summer edition I provided my annual analysis of our Oklahoma Conservative Index which scores state legislators based on their votes on ten conservative versus liberal bills. I noted that the Republican In Name Only (RINO) members of the majority Republican Party now make up the largest segment of Republicans in the Legislature. Of the 121 Republicans in the Oklahoma Legislature, only 26 made the Top Conservatives list. So, only about a quarter can truly claim to be conservatives. Meanwhile, there were 74 Republicans scoring below 60 percent – RINO territory.

In the past, these liberal-leaning Republicans would have been registered Democrats. Today, they masquerade as Republicans because they could not get elected otherwise. I concluded my analysis by saying that in Oklahoma, today’s battle is between liberals and conservatives within the Republican Party. While that related to the Republicans elected to the Oklahoma Legislature, this same battle has played out in our statewide Republican primary elections this year.

Every four years we see a host of state offices up for election – such as the office of Governor and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The Republican candidates have won all of these statewide races during the last two decades. The last time a Democrat was elected to one of those statewide offices was in 2006 when Gov. Brad Henry was reelected to a second term.

Traditionally, many people in Oklahoma first registered as a Democrat because their parents were Democrats. Also, when I registered to vote 55 years ago, it was a common saying that if you register as a Republican, you would not be able to vote. That was because Democrats held a majority of the seats in both chambers of the legislature, as well as nearly all the statewide offices and the seats in Congress. It was not uncommon to find no Republicans filing for many of these offices, so the offices were elected in the Democratic primary. If a Republican did run, they usually did not have an opponent for the nomination, so nothing to vote for there. So, Republicans voters found there was no contest in primary elections, and when it came to the General Election, the Democrat had already been elected in the primary.

Today, that scenario is completely reversed. Many offices are now filled in the Republican primaries, and the Democratic Party struggles to recruit candidates so that there will be a Democrat candidate to vote for in November.

Earlier this year, the Oklahoma State Election Board (OSEB) released its annual voter registration report. At the end of 2025, there were 2,406,168 registered voters in Oklahoma. The largest number of Oklahoma’s voters are Republicans, who make up 53.2% of registered voters. Democrats are the second-largest party with only 25.3% of registered voters. Democrats were surpassed by Republicans in 2014. Libertarians now account for almost 1% of Oklahoma voters and independents (those with no party affiliation) round out the total with 20.4% of registered voters. If trends continue, independents may soon outnumber Democrats.

Many liberal politicians anticipating a run for a statewide office have concluded that the odds would be stacked against them if they ran as a Democrat. They did not abandon the Democratic Party because it became too liberal, they decided to run as a Republican because that was the only way they had a chance to be elected. This year we saw two statewide Republican races that moved to the August 25 GOP runoff which demonstrate this phenomenon.

In the race for Governor this year, the Republican race was not settled until the runoff. The top two contenders in the June 16 primary election were in a virtual tie. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond took first place with 26.25%, finishing slightly ahead of former State Senator Mike Mazzei who garnered 25.97 percent. The Republican runoff was also very close, with Mazzei receiving 186,734 votes (50.28%), edging out Drummond who received 184,681 (49.72%). Republicans nearly had Drummond as their standard bearer for the General Election.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond was elected Oklahoma Attorney General in 2022 after losing the GOP nomination in 2018 to former Attorney General Mike Hunter. Before running for AG, he had not previously been active in the Republican Party and had contributed to many Democrat candidates. Drummond contributed to liberal Democrats in their unsuccessful campaigns against conservative U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, and First District Congressman Jim Bridenstine. He also contributed to Democrat Dan Boren for Congress and Drew Edmondson for Governor. A notable contribution was given to liberal Democrat John Waldron in his first State House race in 2017. Waldron would later became chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party. Perhaps the most controversial Drummond contribution to a Democrat was $1,000 to President Joe Biden in 2020 – against the reelection of President Donald Trump. That contribution became an issue during this year’s campaign and Drummond tried to dismiss the donation by saying it was given by his wife.

The race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction saw an even clearer example of a RINO running for a statewide office. Robert Franklin finished in first place in the June 16 Primary and faced Dr. James Taylor of Oklahoma City in the GOP Runoff. Franklin won the Republican nomination with 54.63% of the vote in the runoff. Franklin switched his political party registration from Democrat to Republican in 2023. In 2022 he had been a contributor to the Democrat candidate for governor. While he switched his party affiliation to Republican, there is no indication that he changed his liberal political views.

Even before the candidate filing in April, GOP Chairwoman Charity Linch and other leaders of the Oklahoma Republican Party recognized a need to inform Republican voters which candidates were true Republicans. They created the OKGOP Certified Program. Republican candidates were sent forms/questionnaires to complete. To become a certified Republican candidate, their positions had to agree with at least 80% of the Oklahoma Republican Party Platform, had not been registered with any other party for the last five years, and not donated to a Democrat candidate in the last five years. They also had to express opposition to abortion, and support of Second Amendment Rights. Over 150 candidates applied for OKGOP Certified status during the 2026 Republican Primary cycle. Ultimately, 45 runoff and general election candidates across legislative, congressional, and county lines achieved certification.

In the GOP runoff for governor, Mike Mazzei was certified, while Gentner Drummond failed. In the runoff for Superintendent of Public Instruction, James Taylor was certified, but not Robert Franklin. Perhaps the certification made the difference in Mazzei winning the close runoff for governor. But, Franklin still won the Republican nomination in the Superintendent’s race.

When I first started writing this column, my pretext concerned the emergence of RINO, or fake Republican candidates running in the GOP primaries, and the need to alert Republicans voters that these were not valid Republicans. As I proceeded with the article, I recognized a perhaps more significant issue. The problem facing the Oklahoma Republican Party is not just RINO or fake Republican candidates, but the growing number of RINO voters registered as Republicans. Therefore, revealing that a candidate does not believe in the conservative Republican values represented in the Republican platform, or that they donated to Democrat candidates, is not going to sway the RINO voter to reject those candidates.

In high school I was a member of the Teen Democrat Club – there was not a Teen Republican Club. Following graduation from high school in 1971, I registered as a Democrat. I was active in the Democratic Party and served as a delegate to the 1972 Oklahoma County Democratic Convention. I was a supporter of U.S. Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson for President, considered the most conservative of the candidates. But, I and supporters of other candidates, were overwhelmed and froze out by the supporters of ultra-liberal U.S. Senator George McGovern who ended up winning the Democratic Party nomination for President.

I later ended up volunteering with the Democrats for Nixon organization and was even presented as a Young Democrat for Nixon at a media event in Oklahoma City which featured the actress Madlyn Rhue (I saw her in an episode of the Star Trek television series) who came down from the national organization. In November I voted to reelect President Nixon, as well as other Republican candidates. A few months following the election, I changed my registration to Republican. As Ronald Reagan was found of saying about his switch to the Republican Party, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.”

Back when I and many others left the Democratic Party, we migrated to the Republican Party and fortified its conservative values and candidates. Unfortunately, many of those who register as Republicans today, do so because they are tired of seeing conservative Republicans elected. They joined the Republican Party to change it. Or, perhaps they are registered Republican because their parents were Republicans.

I began this column saying that the RINO members of the majority Republican Party make up the largest segment of Republicans in the Legislature. This year we had 14 legislators score a perfect 100% on our Oklahoma Conservative Index. Remarkably, two of those conservative legislators were defeated in the Republican primaries. And now we see RINOs competing, and even winning the GOP nomination for a statewide office. So, again I say, the battle is between liberals and conservatives within the Republican Party.