Think of it like this: if you were—as the most awful turn of fate would have it—forced to appoint an Oklahoma politician to oversee your personal affairs, perhaps your family trust, who would you pick?
Would you pick John George, the state representative who, aside from House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, has cast the most “yes” votes thus far this year—voting yes 499 times, but finding his “no” button only five times, and missing three?
Or would you pick Tom Gann, the legislator known for setting up an entire IT system to apply consistent criteria to bills—to analyze them, to find where they betray Oklahoma values, creating bigger government, etc.—and the legislator behind the meme, “Gann was right”?
Yesterday marked the release of the Oklahoma State Capital’s Capitol Conformity Tracker, mid-year report. Issued. as the state’s three-day filing period opens, on the 1st of April, through the 3rd—registering candidates for the 2026 Republican primary on June 16th—the report provides the reader with one last sanity check for reaching the decision: should I run against my incumbent state representative? Does my incumbent state representative still deserve a challenge? Or have they, at the last minute, seen the light and changed?
Over the last 17 months, since your state representative took the oath of office, numerous indices and measurement tools have emerged to guide you—both in deciding whether your incumbent should be challenged and in identifying the specific issues on which to educate the electorate. Even in a worst-case scenario, where you do not win, your challenge—using these tools—can help the incumbent see the error of his ways and prepare the electorate to hold him accountable in a future race, should he fail to adjust and represent the values of the people.
Once this foundation is built, though you might not ever hold that office yourself, you will have paved the path for another challenger to step up next time and to return the district to the people.
That said, perhaps your incumbent has already adjusted. Perhaps he has been conscientious—learned from indices such as the vital OKGrassroots.com Republican Platform Index, which measures and finds most wanting in terms of consistency with Republican principles. Or the Oklahoma State Capital’s People’s Audit, which gauged the 93 worst votes in 2025 and found that most Republican representatives are voting far out of line with the values of the people and should be replaced.
Time and again, through a variety of means and methods—from these indices, to the ever-growing social media presence, to the thriving grassroots ecosystem inside of Republican party organizations all across the state—grassroots individuals have engaged in and attempted to educate their elected officials, thus, attempting to negate the need to replace them.
Has it worked?
Is your incumbent the extremely rare individual who has been able to claw back his soul from the forces of darkness that dominate the Capitol world and the overwhelming peer pressure to comply?
Introducing the mid-year run of the Oklahoma State Capital’s Conformity Index.
This index is based on a simple premise: in today’s legislative culture—an ever-degrading culture, ever more removed from the ideals and promises of the first-generation Republican majorities—we know that much legislation in the House of Representatives is, at best, unnecessary and, at worst, contrary to the values that most candidates for office purport to hold as they seek election. In other words, it turns those candidates into grifters and perpetuates an ongoing deception on the voters.
If a legislator has a propensity to vote “yes” in excess of 90%, then—though it is a lazy rule of thumb—that has been proven to correlate with most more in-depth indices: put simply, that legislator isn’t representing the people or the values they campaign on, but rather the institutional forces of government and government-subsidized private interests.
If the legislator votes “yes” in excess of 80% of the time, they are what are known as the “mediocraties”—a group that too often gives in to pressure and casts values-betraying votes, but from time to time steps up and does the right thing.
As a simple premise, subject to occasional exceptions, those members of the public who step up to challenge those who vote “yes” in excess of 80% of the time are doing the wider public a service and keeping the system honest. And the rule of thumb suggests that the challenger will have plenty of material available by which he can educate that wider public.
These challenges matter.
In 2024, the last election cycle, three challengers to incumbents won election. All three replaced sycophants—those who vote yes with rare exception—and all three now reside in the group of the elite eight that vote “yes” less than 80% of the time.
The impact of the 2024 election has been incredible—a result that can be very visually expressed through the following graphic.
Uniform “yes” voting collapsed in 2025, and thus far in 2026 it has held. If replacing just three lemming incumbents made this much difference, imagine the impact of replacing three more? Or five? Or ten?
That said, even after all of the educating of 2025, the number of legislators who have gained a reputation for being conscientious—actually reading the bills and attempting to consistently vote in terms of principle—have stayed relatively stable.
And in the most-recent run of the report, released just hours before filing day, a last-second measurement has been given: has your co-opted policymaker changed his ways?
Here’s what we know.
The number of legislators who have shown an independence and courageous spirit—a determination to do their job right and not simply mindlessly hit the yes button, and thus representatives who should be returned to office, and who a challenger would be ill-advised to run against (i.e., a replacement isn’t needed)—remains stuck at eight:
These representatives, The Elite Eight of the Oklahoma house of representatives, are, by rank, as follows:
#1: Tom Gann, voting “Yes” 45.2% of the time.
#2: Molly Jenkins, voting “Yes” 46.9% of the time.
#3: Jim Shaw, voting “Yes” 54% of the time.
#4: Rick West, voting “Yes” 54% of the time.
#5: Justin Humphrey, voting “Yes” 63% of the time.
#6: Jim Olsen, voting “Yes” 72% of the time.
#7: Gabe Woolley, voting “Yes” 76% of the time.
#8: David Smith, voting “Yes” 78% of the time.
Think of it like this: if you were—as the most awful turn of fate would have it—forced to appoint an Oklahoma politician to oversee your personal affairs, perhaps your family trust, who would you pick?
Would you pick John George, the state representative who, aside from House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, has cast the most “yes” votes thus far this year—voting yes 499 times, but finding his “no” button only five times, and missing three?
Or would you pick Tom Gann, the legislator known for setting up an entire IT system to apply consistent criteria to bills—to analyze them, to find where they betray Oklahoma values, creating bigger government, etc.—and the legislator behind the meme, “Gann was right”?
Who would be more conscientious and hard-working in governing your affairs?
Not only that, but George’s many yes votes mean he is on the record voting for countless pieces of bad policy, such as the now-infamous—and dead-on-arrival in the Senate—House Bill 3660, which House District 32 Rep. Jim Shaw put on the national stage last week. Just imagine the possibilities for George’s challenger—and yes, a courageous person has stepped up for this task—to use this vote as an illustration of how out of touch George is from the conservative values of House District 36, an incredible district with so much potential to host one of the best state representatives in the state, instead of one of the House’s foremost lemmings.
Then, there are the mediocraties: this is a group of 18 House members who regularly cast good votes, but also cast many bad votes. Some of these legislators already have challengers, and those challengers will have plenty of material to work with. But it is to be hoped that if these legislators survive the challenge, they will not go to the dark side, but will instead see the challenge for what it is: an important, vital accountability tool designed to bring the mediocrity into a position of strength—to be able to hold their own, and to truly represent the values they purport to hold, but too often betray.
Finally, the “lemmings”—the mindless tappers of the green button: that’s everyone else. And for each of these, someone—anyone—in those districts must step up and challenge, put their name on the ballot, and do what is right for the voters of the district, to educate them on the truth, and even if not successful, to build a foundation for the eventual replacement of that co-opted representative.
One will find the latest report, listing the scores of every State Representative at: https://www.oklahomastatecapital.com/sl/ccmy2026
The filing packet for state representative can be found here: https://oklahoma.gov/elections/candidates/2026-candidate-filing-information.html
If you find that your representative is still a sycophant, and is still mindlessly hitting the green button, then they are overpaid, not doing the job, and it’s your great calling to step up and give your community the ability to make the right choice—and restore balance back in favor of the people.
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