Former Oklahoma City Republican Rep. Jon Echols has jumped into the race to replace Attorney General Gentner Drummond. He’s the first to declare his candidacy for the office.
Echols — an attorney by trade — represented Oklahoma City’s House District 90 for 12 years before terming out the last election cycle.
State ethics commission records show he’s now running for the Office of Oklahoma’s State Attorney General.
As a lawmaker, Echols served on various appropriations and budget committees, the health and human services and joint pandemic relief oversight committees, among others.
As the founder of Turn Key, the highly criticized company contracted to provide healthcare in the state's jails, Echols' legislation priorities spanned everything from implementing tax cuts and credits to tightening regulations around the sale of alcohol and including hospice care in Medicaid coverage for eligible Oklahomans.
He was also a champion for many of the state’s anti-immigration measures, such as House Bill 4156, which criminalized anyone in Oklahoma without federal permission for an impermissible occupation crime
That measure, authored by then-House Speaker — now Gubernatorial candidate — Charles McCall from Atoka, was eventually signed into law and is now contested in federal court.
Drummond, McCall (both of whom are running for governor) and Echols are positioned to each publicly take credit for that bill's passage.
Echols is the first candidate vying to be the next attorney general. He is set to formally announce his campaign at 2 p.m. on Wednesday at the Christian Heritage Academy in Del City.
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