Gentner Drummond. Ryan Walters. Matt Pinnell.
A year out from the 2026 primary elections, those three names have emerged as leaders to be Oklahoma’s next Republican candidate for governor. The catch? Only one of them has officially declared their candidacy.
Drummond, Oklahoma’s Attorney General, has a large -— though not insurmountable lead — according to polling released Wednesday by Sooner Survey, which asked 500 registered Republican voters in Oklahoma about their thoughts on likely GOP candidates for governor. Walters, Oklahoma’s state schools superintendent, and Pinnell, the lieutenant governor, lag behind Drummond.
The poll had a 4.3% margin of error.
The data appears to show Drummond and Walters headed for a showdown. Though Walters has not officially declared his candidacy for governor, he’s long been rumored as a candidate, and he seems to have the inside track on becoming Drummond’s top challenger.
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Walters is a polarizing candidate. His 37% favorability among those polled is second only to Drummond’s 53%. But Walters’ unfavorability is also at 37%, 20 points higher than Drummond. Of those polled, 33% said they would “definitely” vote against Walters in a primary election, while only 15% of respondents said they would “definitely” vote for him. Walters did better with men, rural voters and self-declared “Trump Republicans,” while he did worse with women, urban voters and “traditional Republicans.”
Pinnell, who also has not declared his candidacy for governor, and House Speaker Charles McCall are placed in third and fourth place in the poll. When asked who they would vote for if the election were held today, 10% of respondents chose Pinnell, compared to 12% for Walters and 39% for Drummond. McCall received only 5% of the tally.
McFerron said that Walters “potential strength” may not appear until a potentially lowturnout runoff election.
“It’s a difficult path for (Walters,) but not an impossible one,” McFerron told The Frontier. While 44% of voters said they would either definitely or probably vote for Walters, another 44% said they would definitely not or probably not vote for him.
