There are a number of current or former Republican state legislators running for higher office, and I wanted to do a post on their voting records during the 2016-2018 tax hike spree that Governor Mary Fallin and the GOP-led legislature went on (I ran the first version of this post during the 2022 election).
During good economic times, Republicans like to run on tax cuts and no-new-taxes pledges, but the real test of their espoused principles comes during economic downturns and belt-tightening eras. Will their rhetoric match their governing, when push comes to shove and budgets have to be balanced? Will their instinct be to raise taxes, or to cut government?
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So, without further ado, Just The Facts: 2026 Candidate Voting Records on Major Tax and Fee Increases in the Oklahoma Legislature, 2016-2018. We will specifically be looking at the voting record of 12 current or former Republican legislators who are on the June 16th GOP primary election ballot for statewide or congressional offices.
The colors I used in the following graphics are not 'green for good, red for bad'. Green means they voted for the tax increase measure, Red means they voted against the tax increase measure, Gray means they missed the vote, and blank means they were not eligible to vote (for example, Sen. Mazzei left office in 2016, and was only about to vote on three of these bills; Humphrey, Pugh, and West didn't enter office until the 2016 election, and thus their votes start in 2017. In other cases the bill either did not receive a hearing in that legislative chamber or the member was not on the committee where a vote took place).
The very last measure in each graphic, HJR1050, is perhaps the most important of these recorded votes, as a green/yes vote there indicates that the legislator voted to make it much easier for the Legislature to raise your taxes.
Let's dive in. The following five former state legislators are running for Governor or U.S. Congress (with former state senators Brecheen and Bice being current members of Congress):
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Of these five former legislators, only Brecheen was in the small group of legislative conservatives who valiantly fought a losing effort against the onslaught of tax hikes. Speaker Charles McCall, in particular, ignominiously supported and promoted every tax increase proposal during this time period.
The next graphic examines seven other current or former Republican state legislators from that time period who are on the ballot for other statewide offices:
by Muskogee Politico - May 26, 2026 at 07:00AM
Just The Facts: Candidate Voting Records on 2016-2018 Tax Hikes
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