Confirming an open secret in the halls of the State Capitol, former House Rep. Jon Echols officially announced his candidacy to become Oklahoma’s next attorney general Wednesday afternoon, arguing that his values and experiences qualify him to be the state’s top lawyer.
At an announcement event at the Christian Heritage Academy in Del City, Echols thanked his wife, whom he met in the same building where he delivered his speech, and his parents, particularly his late mother, who was the first person in her family to graduate from college and who later taught special education during the day while earning her law degree at night. His father, David Echols, is a prominent attorney and member of the Oklahoma City Community College Board of Regents.
“They taught me the values of discipline, of hard work, of treating everyone the same,” Echols said of his parents. “It didn’t matter if you were a lawyer at the courthouse or you were a poor child living in poverty in southwest Oklahoma City: You have a right to equal protection under the law. As attorney general, everyone will be treated the same.”
The announcement does not come as a surprise — Echols registered a candidate committee with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission on Feb. 13, and he has been discussing a 2026 campaign to become AG for well more than a year. He is the first to announce his bid to take the place of Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who has chosen to run for governor next year instead of reelection.
Platform priorities Echols mentioned included addressing fentanyl smuggling, combating domestic abuse and stopping “environmental extremists” who target fossil fuels and animal agriculture. The event was opened with a prayer by Mark DeMoss, the pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, and Echols carried over the religious undertones into his speech, where he compared himself to Moses.
“Just as Moses defended the Ten Commandments when he came down from Mount Sinai, I will defend our Judeo-Christian values from those that wish to overtake them,” Echols said.
Echols previously served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 2012 until 2024 and had a eight-year stint as House majority floor leader — the longest in state history — until he was term-limited last year. As a legislator, Echols sponsored legislation dealing with everything from name, image and likeness to increasing access to hospice care. He was one of many co-authors listed on HB 4156, a stringent and controversial anti-immigration bill passed last year that is currently facing legal challenges at the federal level.
He proudly touted presenting the bill on the House floor in his speech Wednesday.
“If I will take that beating from the Democrats for three hours on the House floor when I don’t have to, imagine what I’ll do for you,” he said. “And I will enforce that law as attorney general.”
Echols also drew on his experience from serving on the oversight committee for the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency, calling it “DOGE before DOGE was cool.”
“I’ll be a watchdog for your tax dollars,” Echols said. “As a matter of fact, of fact, I will tell you, I won’t be a watchdog. I think what I’m going to be is a guard dog to make sure your taxpayer dollars are spent the way they need to be.”
Echols was introduced by Sheriff Chris West of Canadian County, and Echols said he has secured the endorsement of 17 sheriffs so far.
“My office will always back the blue and will always stand with those that put themselves in harm’s way to protect you and I,” Echols said.
Echols is an associate attorney at his family’s legal practice, which specializes in matrimonial law. According to the practice’s website, he graduated at the top of his class from Oklahoma City University’s law school in 2005. He previously worked with the firm of Crowe & Dunlevy.
In 2009, he founded Turn Key Health, an oft-maligned health care provider in correctional facilities that has faced frequent criticism for inmate deaths at jails contracted with the organization. After a sale of the company, he now serves as its president. In 2023, Echols told Oklahoma Watch he works mostly outside of Oklahoma to minimize perceived conflicts of interest.
