Attorney General Gentner Drummond has a new chief of staff after his longtime political adviser, Trebor Worthen, departed the AG’s Office near the end of August.
Worthen has been replaced by one of his closest political friends, former Kingfisher Sen. Rob Johnson, who had been Drummond’s general counsel since he was sworn into office in January 2023. Worthen and Johnson served together in the Oklahoma House of Representatives 20 years ago.
“Despite my zealous (and prayerful) attempts to convince him to remain in service to the state, he believes now is the ideal time to transition back to the private sector,” Drummond wrote of Worthen in an Aug. 23 email to his senior leadership team. “When I asked him to serve as my chief of staff, I knew he would be the ideal person to partner with in my new role as attorney general. Trebor was my first official hire once I was sworn in. He had the right background in state government, with four years as a state representative and numerous years of experience advising a host of elected officials. He has been an invaluable member of our team. While I deeply regret seeing him leave our office, I know he will remain impactful to Oklahoma.”
Drummond has long been rumored as a likely 2026 candidate for Oklahoma governor, and Worthen’s astute political acumen has widely been seen as a valuable resource for Drummond, a banker, attorney and rancher with Tulsa ties and Osage County roots.
Worthen joined the Attorney General’s Office as chief of staff after functionally serving as Drummond’s closest political adviser in his failed 2018 attorney general bid and his successful 2022 run for office. While Drummond’s campaign paid a Worthen-affiliated fundraising firm called Advocacy Insight tens of thousands of dollars for 2018 campaign work, the two men insisted that Worthen’s 2022 campaign involvement was minor and unpaid.
“I was not on the campaign at all. I had no role,” Worthen told NonDoc in February, adding that he also was not involved in third-party campaign efforts related to Drummond’s 2022 race.
But phone calls and email records indicate that Worthen was heavily involved in Drummond’s 2022 campaign. When Drummond announced his candidacy with a press release and fundraising ask on May 29, 2021, he copied Worthen as the only other visible email on the communication.
Asked about the arrangement after a District Attorneys Council meeting in February with Worthen present, Drummond clarified that Worthen did have a role in his 2022 campaign.
“He was my consultant. He was confident I’d be elected,” Drummond said.
Worthen clarified further that he “was a volunteer on the campaign.”
Drummond joked that Worthen “didn’t knock very many doors.”
Asked what he did as a volunteer for Drummond’s campaign, Worthen replied that he “advised him as needed.”
Drummond called it an “unpaid position.”
“I didn’t have a contractural relationship,” Worthen said. “I wasn’t, I mean, I didn’t even have a consulting company. Everything I did in the ’22 election cycle (were) volunteer efforts.”
‘I can send you, like, a statement or something’
While Trebor Worthen may have left his formal campaign consulting firms behind in 2022, his wife, Jenna Worthen, was employed then and remains employed now as the chief fundraising consultant for Drummond.
As of his most recent reports with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, Drummond’s campaign has continued to pay Jenna Worthen’s consulting firm, James Martin Company, LLC, for fundraising services. In the second quarter of 2024, he raised $26,900 and spent $8,484.84. More than half of the dollars spent went to James Martin Company.
Meanwhile, if Trebor Worthen’s description of his 2022 arrangement with Drummond seemed hazy, the horizon of his 2026 electoral cycle plans featured even more smoke Monday.
“I can send you, like, a statement or something if you want,” Worthen said by phone.
Asked whether he would be leading Drummond’s campaign in 2026 — either a reelection effort for attorney general or a bid in an open gubernatorial race — Worthen again said he would prefer to send a statement.
When he did, the statement did not answer the question.
“It was a tremendous honor to be trusted by Attorney General Drummond to work alongside him as he serves the people of our state,” Worthen said. “He is a man of conviction and integrity who cares deeply about the future of Oklahoma. While I greatly enjoyed my service, I am excited to return to the private sector and enter a new season of life.”
In his Aug. 23 email, Drummond told his senior leadership team that Worthen gave him “several weeks’ of advance notice of his plans.” Drummond appointed Johnson to fill Worthen’s role, according to Bacharach, the agency’s communications director. Drummond had hired Johnson in January 2023 — shortly after taking office — to be the office’s general counsel.
During his time with the AG’s office, Worthen appeared to maintain some political connections, including running a political action committee that had aligned against Gov. Kevin Stitt in the 2022 electoral cycle, according a March 2023 report from The Oklahoman. The story noted that although the PAC had not raised or spent money since the November 2022 election, Worthen reregistered as its chair Jan. 30, 2023.
Replacing Johnson as general counsel is Brad Clark, who had been general counsel of the State Department of Education during Joy Hofmeister’s tenure as state superintendent. Clark moved to the AG’s office when State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters took over.
Incidentally, Walters sparked controversy by hiring his 2022 campaign manager to work in an agency leadership capacity upon taking office in 2023. After interviews with several Oklahomans with government affairs experience, Walters hired Matt Langston, a Texas-based campaign consultant, to be his chief political adviser, a role that has involved Langston clashing with journalists on Twitter and drawing about $130,000 annually without a formal contract with OSDE.
While both Langston’s and Worthen’s roles have largely been viewed as political tells toward speculative 2026 gubernatorial campaigns, neither Walters nor Drummond has publicly declared such intention.
But Walters recently came close to announcing a gubernatorial campaign, saying during a press conference that term-limited House Speaker Charles McCall (R-Atoka) views him as his “biggest political opponent in that governor’s race in 2026.” When pressed on the statement, Walters declined to say if he was planning on running for governor.
Drummond has also declined to say if he is running for governor in 2026, although he has repeatedly clashed with Walters since they both took office, and Walters’ role in the allocation of federal pandemic-relief funds has reportedly been the subject of inquiry by Drummond’s multi-county grand jury unit.
Walters’ second quarter campaign finance reports show him raising $26,600. His amended first quarter filing showed Walters raising only about $4,800. During that quarter, he paid $5,000 to Engage Right, the political consulting firm run by Langston.
Other potential Republican candidates for governor of Oklahoma in 2026 include Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell and U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK1).
(Update: This article was updated at 6:45 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, to include additional information regarding campaign finance reports.)
