In District 3 commissioner race, an incumbent's record meets an insider's critique

The Republican primary for Payne County Commissioner, District 3 pits a first-term incumbent against a challenger who spent the past 17 months working for her — and who says day-to-day maintenance in the district has fallen behind.

Rhonda Markum, who was elected in 2022, faces Clayton Estus in Tuesday's primary. No Democrat or independent filed, making the Republican primary winner the next District 3 commissioner. The district covers the western half of Payne County, including approximately 370 miles of gravel roads, 140 miles of paved roads, and more than 120 bridges.

A challenger from within

Estus spent 17 months working in the district he now seeks to lead. He joined Payne County District 3 in October 2024 as a road grader operator and was promoted to road foreman and first deputy commissioner — the No. 2 position in the district under Markum — in early May 2025. He resigned at the end of March 2026 before filing for the commissioner seat.

"I had the opportunity to work for Payne County District 3 as the road foreman," he said at the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce legislative luncheon on Friday. "That experience gave me the firsthand chance to see what our strengths are and what the challenges are that the county is facing right now."

Estus, 32, of Mulhall, has 14 years in heavy civil construction, road construction, excavation, infrastructure development, and equipment operations. He said he is running not out of political ambition but because he believes the district needs what he called practical leadership with real-world experience. "I'm not a politician," he said at the luncheon, "and if I was one, I'd probably be the worst."

Markum, 63, of Stillwater, brought her own hands-on background to the job. She served eight years as the District 3 administrative assistant under two commissioners before winning election in 2022. She has accumulated extensive county government and road management training and said that experience gives her an understanding of how county government works that a newcomer would need time to develop. "I am the most qualified," she said at the GOP forum. "I've already got the training behind me."

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The equipment overhaul

Markum's signature accomplishment, repeated across every public appearance, is a comprehensive fleet overhaul she undertook after taking office. She said the district had been operating aging equipment that was breaking down constantly — at one point, she said, the district was down to a single working motor grader while waiting nearly a year for five new graders she had ordered.

"We were spending more time working and more money repairing motor graders," she said at the May 28 Stillwater Frontier Rotary Club candidate forum. She also upgraded trucks, trailers, rollers, and purchased a jetter — a jet-cleaning machine used to clear plugged culverts — to improve drainage.

She is currently paving 12 miles of road and said she will have paved a total of about 17.5 miles in her term. She is also working with the Iowa Tribe, which is replacing two bridges — one on Big Home Road and one on River Road — using tribal funds.

Estus did not dispute the equipment improvements. But he argued at the GOP forum that day-to-day maintenance has "kind of gone downhill in the past four to eight years" and that drainage and ditching have been neglected across the district. "A lot of the roads could be saved and the way they deteriorate could be mitigated with better ditching," he said at the Rotary forum.

Roads, drainage and priorities

Both candidates named older failing asphalt roads as the district's most pressing infrastructure problem. Markum pointed to specific roads she said need full reconstruction: 80th Street between Sanger and Country Club Road, Country Club South from around 32nd Street going south, 44th Street going east to U.S. 177, and 68th Street from 177 going east toward Mehan. She said 68th Street is currently in litigation but she is paving it anyway.

Estus agreed on the asphalt problem but said it traces back to drainage. "The biggest enemy to anything is water," he said at the Rotary forum. "A lot of those roads are compromised because of the water and the lack of ditching." He named Prairie Road and Vinco Road in the western part of the county as additional roads in "major disarray."

On grading frequency, both said residents should expect their roads graded roughly every two weeks under normal conditions, though both noted weather, emergencies, and dry summer conditions can affect that schedule. Estus said he believes about six graders should be running in the district and that when he was grading himself, he could cover 80 to 85 roads roughly twice as often as they were being covered.

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Transparency and FEMA funding

Estus made transparency his second stated priority across all venues, arguing that residents should be able to find out where their tax money is going without filing open records requests. He said modern platforms — social media, county websites — should be used to communicate project plans and spending proactively.

He also raised FEMA disaster reimbursement funding as an opportunity he believes District 3 has not fully pursued. He noted that District 1 received more than $1 million after recent flooding and said, "that's what District 3 needs to be doing."

Markum said at the GOP forum that the district's books are open — residents can access records under the Oklahoma Open Records Act — and that she has maintained an open-door policy throughout her term.

Property taxes and the data center vote

Both candidates called proposals to reduce or eliminate property taxes a serious threat to county services and schools. "That's a terrible proposal for the county," Markum said at the Rotary forum. "If this was cut, the county wouldn't be able to function." Estus agreed, calling it "absolutely detrimental to the state."

Both also agreed on Markum's vote against a 25-year tax deferment — known as a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT — for a proposed data center in Payne County. Markum said she voted no after hearing from constituents and said a million-dollar company has no need for tax breaks that other local industries don't receive. Estus said he agreed with her position.

Eminent domain and zoning

Markum drew one of her sharpest applause lines of the GOP forum when asked about her top two priorities. After naming aging asphalt roads, she pledged she would not sign eminent domain requests from private companies seeking to use the power against landowners — a reference to concerns among rural residents about wind, solar, and transmission line developers. "I will not sign an eminent domain for any of those that comes across the district," she said.

On zoning, both candidates said they personally oppose it. Markum noted at the GOP forum that under Title 19 of Oklahoma statutes, the county's hands are largely tied — zoning authority rests with the state Legislature, not county commissioners. Estus expressed concern at the GOP forum that even if a county voted for zoning, a future zoning board could be more favorable to the kind of development residents are trying to prevent.

Voting information

The June 16 primary is Tuesday. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Voters can find their polling place at the Oklahoma State Election Board's voter portal at okvoterportal.okelections.gov.

Sources: Stillwater Frontier Rotary Club candidate forum, May 28, 2026; Payne County Republican Party candidate forum, Thursday, June 11, 2026, Stillwater Community Center; Stillwater Chamber of Commerce legislative luncheon, Friday, June 12, 2026.