Insurance Commissioner Greg Mulready is not seeking reelection. Hoping to replace him are five candidates running for Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner in the 2026 midterm elections, starting with the June 16 primary.
The job oversees the Oklahoma Insurance Department, which is responsible for enforcing the state's insurance laws, helping regulate the marketplace to maintain competition and assisting Oklahomans with information about their coverage.
But Insurance costs in Oklahoma are steep and rising. So whoever voters elect will assume responsibility for mitigating worsening tensions between insurance providers and consumers, as rates get steeper and claims continue to pile up.
There are four Republicans and one Democrat running. Every Republican will appear on the ballot next month, during the June 16 primary election and if no candidate receives the majority vote that day, then the top two candidates will face off again in the August 25th runoff.
The winner of that election will compete for votes against Democrat Craig McIntyre in November.
The four Republicans on the June ballot all work in the insurance industry:
- Chris Merideth, from Edmond
- Marty Quinn, from Claremore (former state Senator)
- Bob Sullivan, from Tulsa
- Greta Shuler, from Shawnee
What does the insurance commissioner do?
In a January episode of his podcast, Mulready Minutes, Commissioner Mulready relayed to listeners the most significant insurance issues for Oklahomans last year.
"The biggest challenge for us in 2025 has been in the property insurance market, specifically with homeowners' insurance, because it impacts so many people," Mulready said. "All homeowners across the state are experiencing rate increases and difficulties that go with that. I would add that's not an Oklahoma issue. It is a national issue."
The main culprit? Weather and the billion-dollar disasters that come with it every year. And it's bleeding into 2026. Oklahoma recently dethroned Florida as the state with the most lightning strikes per square mile in the country, a symptom of progressively more and worse storms during peak seasons. Wildfires have torn across the region in recent years, too, causing devastating damage to homes and businesses.
"These aren't things we want to be known for, but we can't really do much to control that," Mulready said. "The last three-year average of the homeowners insurance company — we have about 50 of them that are writing insurance in Oklahoma today – They paid out $110 for every hundred dollars that they took in ...any business person understands that is not sustainable."
So, as homeowners increasingly need reliable and affordable home insurance, providers are looking for ways to save every dollar they can while somehow paying out more claims than they can afford. The result is often companies choosing not to write insurance in a state that is too expensive, Mulready said.
The latest high-profile example of that balancing act is an Oklahoma County lawsuit between a private resident and State Farm, the largest homeowners' insurer in the state, over a denied roof hail damage claim.
The case has risen to the Oklahoma Supreme Court because Attorney General Gentner Drummond attempted to intervene on behalf of all Oklahomans after discovering what he called an internal money-saving effort by the company to deny more hail claims across Oklahoma, and State Farm appealed.
State Farm's argument, in part, revolves around the attorney general overstepping his office's power into an area the state's Insurance Commissioner has purview.
Drummond, who is running for Governor in 2026, argued in the Supreme Court that Mulready, the current insurance commissioner, supports his intervention in the case, which comes with potentially criminal allegations that State Farm engaged in a fraudulent scheme targeting residents across all 77 of Oklahoma's counties.
The constitution seems to give the Insurance Commissioner sole authority over lawsuits of this nature taken up on behalf of the entire state, but Oklahoma law allows the attorney general a similar power to litigate on behalf of Oklahomans. The Supreme Court has yet to decide on who has what authority as laid out in relevant laws.
What does fundraising look like for the candidates?
The table shows the candidates are and important details about their campaigns:
Chris Meredith and Marty Quinn began their campaigns about a year ago, giving them a headstart on fundraising and spending.
The totals derived from Oklahoma Ethics Commission records show the money each candidate raised and spent in the first quarter of 2026 is less than the remaining balance in their campaign accounts for that period.
Then there is Bob Sullivan, who filed his candidacy in January and raised about $114,000 between then and April, while spending a minimal $5,351, and Greta Shuler, who also filed to run in January but submitted a retroactive campaign finance report covering the last quarter of 2025 in which she reported around $130,000 in raised funds and donations.
Democrat Craig Macintyre most recently filed to run in March, meaning he will report campaign contributions for the first time when the 2026 pre-primary report is due June 1, and is likely to submit a retroactive report covering part of the first quarter's finances.
But whoever the next Insurance commissioner is will surely be involved in the State Farm case and any future lawsuits where fighting for Oklahomans or big corporations becomes the choice.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
