By Jason Murphey

In 2024, Oklahoma voters appear to have inoculated themselves against the millions in dark money that have dominated the last decade of Oklahoma’s elections. Notwithstanding the dark money, the voters elected a vanguard of new, non-corrupted legislators, several of whom have demonstrated their commitment to the people by completely abstaining from the money of those with vested special interests.

In the future, when we look back at the 2024 elections, we are likely to conclude it was the year we commenced the process of restoring balance in favor of the people instead of the politicians, bureaucrats, and monied special interests.

In early January, we were provided with the first tangible outcome of this new movement.

It’s easy to overlook the importance of this action. To fully realize the significance of this evidence, one had to have been very close to or quite familiar with the legislative process.

But you can take my word for it-it was a big deal.

That evidence was the “no” vote of seven courageous Republican state representatives, who took what, for most, was the rare step of going on the record against the overreach of the House of Representatives’ imperial speaker.

These power grabs and destruction of transparency have been ongoing in some form or another, dating back to 2014, with a special intensity in recent years during the imperial speakership of Charles McCall.

Now, there’s a new imperial speaker, and he’s made the decision to double down on the weakening of some of the remaining processes that provide transparency on behalf of the people-needed transparencies and processes that will be essential to returning the balance of power to the people.

In two previous posts, I wrote about my original assessment of this proposal, House Resolution 1002, describing it as a new low in the House Republicans’ long path toward the abandonment of transparency and rejection of sound legislative process. That’s an assessment I still hold. This was not a measure any serious-minded legislator-who had studied the proposal and understood the vital principles of distributed power, as opposed to concentrated power, and the need for genuine transparency in the legislative process-could support.

That said, legislators rarely have the courage to vote against the rules proposed by their chamber’s party. In fact, there’s a risk that the all-powerful leadership will see this “no” vote on the rules as a proxy for a no-confidence vote.

What was different this year?

Seven courageous Republican members of the House voted against the new speaker’s rules proposals, and several others decided to be “excused” at the time of the vote.

In fact, the proposal didn’t reach the two-thirds majority, which, though not required to adopt the rules, would be required to suspend them-suggesting that the incoming leadership is likely in a far weaker position than the outgoing.

That group of seven was particularly notable because four of them were freshman members casting their first-ever recorded vote on a House resolution.

These members are the future. They represent a significant part of the freshman class and have, in the most courageous fashion, already passed their first test.

The new leadership has been sent a message: A significant part of their caucus is going to represent the people-not the caucus, not the speaker, and not the monied interests funding the speaker and his followers. It didn’t matter how much money the speaker or his lieutenants funneled from lobbyists and their PACs to the members. These legislators would not be influenced; instead, they likely truly represent you, the voter, and the campaign platform they asked you to support when you voted for them.

Courage is contagious, and the contagion is likely to spread. Numerous other members, who have lived under the oppression of imperial speakerships-powerless, lemming-like, fearful, and hesitant-are now likely to start finding their courage and joining the new group of voter-centric representatives.

Those fearful representatives have been living painful lives, constantly forced to return to their districts after casting votes-such as the recent vote for the rules-that, if known about by the people in their districts, would disqualify them in the voters’ eyes. These members must sincerely hope their constituents won’t learn the significance of what they’re compelled to do in Oklahoma City to survive politically-or so they believe.

Once those members realize they can truly vote for what is good and right, without constant compromise, and that the world won’t end, they will become free and will thrive in this new reality.

This brave new group of seven has shown them the example.

Now, here’s the question: How quickly will the courage contagion spread?

If your state representative was one of the seven courageous members who unabashedly stood up to the latest power grab by the already all-powerful House leadership, by voting “no” on House Resolution 1002, you should feel great satisfaction knowing your elected official is on the vanguard of transforming the House of Representatives. They have courage, and that reflects on you, their constituent, and your entire community.

That list is as follows: Gann, Hildebrant, Jenkins, Shaw, Stegall, West (Rick), and Woolley.

As the 2025 session proceeds, stay tuned to this Substack for more vote-specific updates just like this one as together we monitor the transformation in real time.

Jason Murphey was a member of Oklahoma House of Representatives and was term-limited in 2018. He scored a perfect 100% score on the Oklahoma Conservative Index for each of 12 years he served. You can subscribe to his reports at: OklahomaStateCapital.com/substack.