(Update:Â On Tuesday, June 16, Rhonda Eastman won the Democratic nomination for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission seat.)
Democrats have not held a seat on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission since Jim Roth’s appointed term ended in 2009. Still, three Democrats are hoping to buck that trend this fall as they face off for their party’s nomination in the June 16 primary.
Candidates include Harold Spradling, a former educator who is making his fifth bid for the office and his second running as a Democrat. This year, he is joined by Rhonda Eastman and Donald Clytus.
Three members make up the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, with Chairwoman Kim David, Commissioner Brian Bingman and Hiett, who is term-limited and ineligible to run for reelection, each having a legislative background themselves.
The commission’s core responsibilities include enforcing regulations in the state’s oil and gas industry, ensuring reliable service at fair rates for electric and natural gas utilities, and the safe and legal operation of motor carriers, pipelines, rail crossings and fueling stations, as well as the prevention and remediation of energy-related pollution of the environment.
The Corporation Commission hasn’t been without controversy. In 2024, Hiett was accused of groping a man at national conference, and the three commissioners ended 2025 by terminating the agency’s administrative director without explanation.
On the regulatory side, Oklahomans are paying more for electricity than ever before amid rising energy costs. Rate hikes have become commonplace and rarely rejected. Combine that with the data center saga playing out in places like Oklahoma, which critics say drain energy and water resources, and consumers are getting a little grumpy.
The following cheat sheet offers a look at the three Democratic candidates running to replace Hiett in the June 16 primary. The winner will face one of the two Republicans — Rep. Brad Boles (R-Marlow) and Justin Hornback — running for their party’s nomination.
Harold Spradling
Age: 91
Profession/Background: Harold Spradling has a diverse background across multiple fields. He has worked in the oil and gas industry, but has also served as a teacher and counselor for school systems with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, according to a questionnaire he filled out in 2018 for the Wagoner County Republican Party. He is the father of prominent attorney Cameron Spradling.
On his 2024 campaign website — which no longer is active — Spradling said his “ancestry includes many preachers.”
“I have attended two church related Bible colleges (one beginning at age 16),” Spradling’s bio stated. “In my early days I was referred to as ‘a holy-roller’ and in my later years have been criticized as too liberal because I worship in liturgical churches as well as the evangelical mega churches.”
Platform: In a 2022 appearance at a Corporation Commission candidate debate hosted by NonDoc, Spradling told the audience he does not approve of electricity rate securitization, which the Legislature authorized in the wake of Winter Storm Uri. With other candidates saying the process was needed, Spradling disagreed, warning there could be other large storms in the future.
“I was on the ‘No’ side,” he said. “This was a bill passed by the Legislature for this one issue. Are we going to do these kinds of things every time? Securitization means we’re just going to protect ourselves from what might happen. The theory is good, but it doesn’t have to be done that way every time there is a storm.”
Links: Personal Facebook
Rhonda Eastman
Age: 53
Profession/Background: Rhonda Eastman was born in Tulsa and grew up in LeFlore County, graduating from Spiro High School. She has worked in several fields, including trucking, utilities, and construction, according to a letter announcing her candidacy in the Madill Record.
Platform: Eastman has made opposition to data centers one of her core campaign themes.
“This has become a major hot-button topic, and the majority of citizens do not want them,” she wrote on her website. “Why are so many wanting to come to Oklahoma? Cheap Land, Abundant water, and Lax Regulation.”
Eastman also believes the state has too many dormant wells containing hazardous materials, which the oil and gas industry often downplays.
“Regulation exists to protect the environment, the other businesses, and the people from the effects of bad actors that do not care about the costs to other people,” Eastman wrote on Facebook. “This policy of running our state like a business that Gov. Stitt bragged about has a price, and the people and our state are the ones that are paying it.”
Donald Clytus
Age: 56
Profession/Background: Donald Clytus is the founder and director of strategic planning for Insider Analytics, an OKC-based consulting company.
Platform: Clytus does not appear to have launched a campaign website or conducted interviews ahead of the primary.
His Facebook posts relating to the campaign have centered almost exclusively on promoting other candidates and reminding voters of the election date. While he has posted a brief video showing a copy of the U.S. Constitution, it’s unclear what issues or policies he would prioritize if elected. In an Instagram post urging voters to select him, Clytus compared himself to one of his opponents, Harold Spradling, and asked them to do their homework before casting their ballots.
“While I do have 16 years of state government experience, I am not the most experienced,” he wrote. “That would be Harold Spadling, 91, of OKC. He is a role model. He has dedicated decades of service to this state, and I hope one day I can look back on my life and feel I have achieved as much in service to this state as he has. But can he compete in the general against a Republican? That choice is what the voters must decide. Research your candidates.”
