Law & Principles

Hern urges Republicans to speak out against California-style elections in Oklahoma

October 7, 2025

Ray Carter

An effort to replace Oklahoma’s election system with one modeled after California’s is getting vocal pushback from officials across the state, with U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern the latest to oppose the proposal.

“I believe that only Republican primary voters should decide Republican primary elections in Oklahoma,” said Hern, R-Tulsa. “I oppose any effort to subvert the will of Oklahoma Republican voters to decide who their nominees are for public office.”

A group calling itself Oklahoma United is seeking to eliminate Oklahoma’s current election system, which allows Republican voters to pick Republican nominees in party primaries while Democratic voters do the same in their party’s primaries, with the two parties’ candidates then facing off in the November general election along with any independent candidates who file for an office.

Instead, Oklahoma United’s State Question 836 would require that all Oklahoma candidates—Democrats, Republicans, and independents—be placed on a single primary ballot with the two candidates receiving the most votes advancing to the general-election ballot. That would largely mirror California elections, where voters’ November choices are often limited to two Democrats and no Republicans.

Had Oklahoma United’s plan been in place in 2018, Oklahoma voters would have been forced to choose between two Democrats for governor in November, even though far more voters cast ballots for Republican candidates in that year’s primaries.

“I began talking about this issue last year,” Hern said. “Every Republican leader in the state should be speaking out against this. If a Republican official has not, you should ask them why they have remained silent.”

Photo courtesy of Congressman Kevin Hern’s Facebook.