Open your mailbox, turn on the radio or fire up a network television channel, and you’ll likely be bombarded with negative ads attacking Oklahoma political candidates.
Outside groups are flooding Oklahoma with a record amount of advertising ahead of the June 16 primary election. From April 1 to June 14, at least 28 organizations reported $27.5 million in independent expenditures to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. Candidates spent a comparable $26.9 million from their campaign accounts from April 1 to June 1.
The Republican primaries for governor and attorney general have attracted most of the outside spending, much of it from political action committees that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as long as they do not coordinate with candidates. These groups are often funded by politically involved 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, which are not required under state and federal law to disclose their donors. Critics have coined the term dark money to describe the tactic.
Top outside spenders include Secure Oklahoma PAC, which has reported $3.42 million in advertising opposing Jon Echols and supporting Jeff Starling in the Republican attorney general primary. The group’s various attack ads and mailers accuse Echols of being disloyal to President Donald Trump.
Secure Oklahoma PAC reported having just $1,000 in the bank on March 31, the last quarterly reporting deadline under state ethics rules. The next report, covering April through June, is due July 31.
In the Republican gubernatorial primary, the Make Oklahoma Great Again PAC has spent at least $3 million on ads supporting Gentner Drummond and opposing Mike Mazzei. The group faced widespread scrutiny last month for releasing an ad created using generative artificial intelligence that showed Mazzei cozying up to Hillary Clinton.
Several television stations pulled the ad following public outcry from public officials, including Gov. Kevin Stitt, who threatened to call a special session to regulate AI in political advertising if such tactics continued.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC affirmed the right of corporations and outside groups to spend unlimited amounts of money in elections via independent expenditures. But the ruling didn’t prohibit states from requiring big spenders to reveal their donors.
Several states have enacted laws requiring disclosure when an organization reaches a spending threshold. Colorado requires outside groups to disclose their top donors when spending surpasses $10,000. The state also mandates disclosure when artificial intelligence technology is used.
While supporters say the information is vital for voters, opponents contend that overregulation can have a chilling effect on free political speech and subject donors to harassment.
Oklahoma Watch contacted the campaigns of Mazzei, Keating and Drummond, who have each faced millions of dollars in outside attack ads, and asked if they would support legislation requiring outside groups to disclose more information. All said yes.
Mazzei, a former state senator whose campaign gained traction following a May 29 endorsement from President Donald Trump, has faced more than $4.3 million in attack ads from political action committees. Much of the advertising has criticized him for a 2014 yes vote on a bill to commit Oklahoma to the National Popular Vote Compact. A campaign spokesperson said Republican senators were misled on the bill and worked to stall it once it advanced to the House.
“Total transparency will clean up campaigns and provide at least some accountability for false and misleading attacks,” Mazzei said in a statement.
Drummond, who acknowledged the constitutional right of political speech, said more scrutiny of the groups would benefit Oklahoma elections.
While the Make Oklahoma Great Again PAC has backed Drummond, another group, School Freedom Fund Oklahoma, has countered that with $3.1 million in attack ads. Drummond is the only Oklahoma candidate the organization has targeted.
"I believe sunlight is the best disinfectant,” Drummond said in a statement. “Voters have a right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and I would welcome greater transparency and disclosure in our political system.”
Keating has faced $1.5 million in opposition spending from two political action committees, the Oklahoma Conservative Coalition and Faith and Freedom Forward PAC.
One of the ads from the Oklahoma Conservative Coalition, which hit television airwaves and digital platforms last month, claims that Keating supported “mutilating our kids with harmful procedures” while serving on the board of the University Hospitals Authority and Trust. The Frontier rated that claim as mixed in a fact check, noting that such boards are generally tasked with overseeing a hospital’s finances and administrative functions.
Keating, who helped fund a dark money group that opposed former state Sen. Greg McCortney in 2024, said he believes voters have grown wary of the anonymous attacks. He said the state is in need of a campaign finance overhaul to tackle the issue.
“You shouldn't be able to hide behind any kind of curtain,” he said. “I want all the names out there.”
Efforts to increase transparency in outside spending have garnered little support in the Legislature. Senate Bill 1051, introduced in 2025 by Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin, proposed banning outside groups from using fictitious names or false addresses to conceal their identity. It stalled after it did not receive a committee hearing.
At an October interim study on dark money in Oklahoma elections, Ethics Commission Director Lee Ann Bruce Boone outlined several potential solutions, including launching a public donor-chain dashboard and mandating more stringent auditing of outside groups.
"We want voters to know who is trying to influence elections," Bruce Boone said. "We don't want people to have a negative view of campaign spending and contributing to the election process. It's not necessarily illegal, it's just about those disclosure laws."
Editor’s Note: This is part one of a series on dark money spending in Oklahoma elections. Part two, focusing on independent expenditures in state legislative races, will be published tomorrow.
Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.
