2026 Stillwater-area candidate filing guide: Who's running

Two Payne County commissioners drew Republican primary challengers, Aaron Means filed for a third run at House District 34 after losing to incumbent Rep. Trish Ranson in 2018 and 2020, and positions for Judicial District 9 district attorney and judgeships — covering Payne and Logan counties — will be decided without a primary or general election after candidate filing closed April 3.

District Attorney

Gregory, 41, is the only candidate to file for Judicial District 9 District Attorney in Payne County and will take the seat without opposition. He filed after Thomas, who has served as DA for Payne and Logan counties since 2014, did not seek re-election. Thomas plans to retire, according to the Guthrie News Page.

Gregory is a Stillwater attorney and former prosecutor who served in both the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office and the District 9 DA's office.

District 9 judgeships

Three District 9 judicial seats are on the 2026 ballot, but only one — in Logan County — drew more than a single candidate.

Katherine Thomas, 56, of Stillwater is the sole candidate for district judge, a nonpartisan elected seat she will win by default. Thomas has served as a Payne County special judge since 2011 and was passed over by Gov. Kevin Stitt for the same seat in December 2024 when Stitt appointed his former general counsel, Jason Reese, instead. Reese did not file for election.

Michael Kulling, 58, of Stillwater is the sole candidate for Payne County associate district judge and will retain his seat by default after no challenger filed.

In Logan County, appointed Associate District Judge Diane Vaughan will face Sierra Pfeiffer, a former assistant district attorney and current Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation deputy general counsel, in the district's only contested judicial race.

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Payne County Board of Commissioners — District 1

Republican incumbent Zach Cavett, 47, of Glencoe will face two challengers in the June 16 Republican primary: Ray Harper, 66, of Glencoe, and Jacob Presuhn, 31, of Ripley.

No Democrat or independent filed, so the primary winner will take the seat. Cavett has served as District 1 commissioner since 2012, the longest-tenured member of the current board, and serves as board chairman. District 1 covers road and bridge maintenance for the eastern half of Payne County.

Payne County Board of Commissioners — District 3

Republican incumbent Rhonda Markum, 63, of Stillwater will face Clayton Estus, 32, of Mulhall in the June Republican primary. No Democrat or independent filed.

Markum was elected in 2022 after eight years as the District 3 administrative assistant. Her district covers the western half of Payne County outside Stillwater's city limits.

Oklahoma Senate District 20

Republican incumbent Chuck Hall, 59, of Perry will face Mark LeMarr, 63, of Crescent in the June Republican primary. No Democrat or independent filed, making the primary the decisive contest.

Hall, who has represented the district since 2018, is seeking his third and final term under state term limits and currently chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. He is CEO and board chairman of Exchange Bank in Perry.

LeMarr has pastored CrossPointe Assembly Church in Crescent since 1989 and previously served as mayor of Cimarron City. Senate District 20 covers Payne, Noble, Pawnee, Logan and Kingfisher counties.

House District 33

Republican incumbent Rep. Molly Jenkins, 61, of Coyle will face B.J. Roberson, 46, of Cushing in the Republican primary. Jenkins won the seat June 18, 2024, defeating then-incumbent John Talley in the Republican primary and running unopposed in the general election.

Max E. Burchett Jr., 49, of Guthrie filed as the sole Democrat and will face the primary winner in November.

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House District 34

The legislative race most consequential for Stillwater voters is in House District 34, where Democratic incumbent Rep. Trish Ranson, 56, of Stillwater will face a Republican challenger in the November general election — either Aaron Means, 67, of Stillwater, or Ted Riley, 57, of Stillwater, who must first settle the Republican primary in June.

Ranson has won four consecutive general elections in the district. In her first two, she defeated Means — winning 57.4 percent to 42.6 percent in 2018 and 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent in 2020, her closest race against him. She then defeated Michael Baughman in 2022 with 61.6 percent of the vote and Andrew Muchmore in 2024 with 58.5 percent.

Riley, a Stillwater resident, is the general manager of The House FM, a Christian radio network based in Oklahoma City, according to his Facebook page. He previously worked at KOSU, the public radio station based at Oklahoma State University.

House District 35

Rep. Dillon Travis, 33, of Maramec will face Kevin Wright, 58, of Jennings in a Republican primary rematch.

Travis won the House District 35 seat in February's special election with 64 percent of the vote over Democrat Luke Kruse, having won the Republican nomination in January with 78 percent of the vote.

Wright, who was eliminated in the December special primary, filed again for a second chance at the nomination. Kruse did not file. No Democrat or independent filed for the November general election, so the Republican primary winner will take the seat and serve a full two-year term beginning in January 2027.