The Tulsa Public Schools board member spoke to City Elders in March 2025 about a district audit.
City Elders calls itself a “biblical model of city governance” to “establish a divine order in spiritual and civil governance.” According to its website, it aims to “prohibit the powers of darkness from infiltrating government systems or any structure of authority and making laws contrary to nature and nature’s God.”
“I started asking for an audit when I was elected in 2017,” Marshall said at the speaking engagement. “And I hadn’t seen any paperwork, but the spirit of the Lord God said that deception was in the house.”
Marshall was a longtime proponent of an audit of TPS. In February 2025, State Auditor Cindy Byrd released the report, which alleged lax internal money oversight that led to embezzlement, overspending and poor record-keeping.
In June 2026, Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler announced former TPS executive Chris Hudgins had been charged with conspiracy and embezzlement. That comes after another employee, Devin Fletcher, was sentenced for wire fraud in November 2024.
“[City Elders] was interested in learning more about the audit, how incidents like this could be avoided in the future and the steps citizens could take to stay informed and play a role in eliminating acts of theft of public dollars,” Marshall said in the social media post.
Marshall told StateImpact she received calls complaining she had spoken at a “white Christian nationalist” group. She said she was not aware the group had political leanings when she was invited.
“It did not have anything to do with politics… I was a school board member, and I was carrying out my fiduciary responsibility as an elected official,” Marshall said. “There was no talk about ideologies or philosophies or religion or politics.”
At the event, Marshall was introduced by E’lena Ashley, an ally of former State Superintendent Ryan Walters, fellow board member and proponent of the audit.
Marshall said if City Elders endorsed her candidacy, she would refuse it. The group previously endorsed John Cox, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination.
She will face the winner of the Aug. 25 Republican runoff election in the Nov. 3 general election.
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