After posting my ballot card for the June 16, 2026, Oklahoma primary, I got questions, as I usually do, about why I chose one candidate over another. A friend messaged to ask: "Mazzei and not Jake Merrick? Everybody else I know has been on the Merrick train for months." The short answer: Merrick has no shot at making the runoff. He's also got personal financial problems that mirror the poor financial and organizational skills on display in his campaign. I have my issues with Mazzei, but he's the best of the four who are running an organized campaign. Merrick has enjoyed a lot of support online, regularly winning social-media polls, but that hasn't been reflected in the real world. He had 5% support in the February poll, a distant 5th place. When NonDoc took a poll to determine if any of the minor candidates had built enough support to have a realistic shot at the runoff, Merrick was still a distant 5th, with 7%, well behind the top 3 candidates (Mazzei, Drummond, Keating) who were clustered around 21-22% and McCall at 18%. There is a more recent poll, from JMC Analytics, a Louisiana pollster, showing Mazzei 29, Drummond 21, and Keating and Merrick tied at 12, with McCall fading to 8%, but the pollster doesn't have much history of polling Oklahoma. So are people who vote for Merrick "throwing away their vote"?
- June 12, 2026 at 11:32PMWhy not Merrick?
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