(Update:Â On Tuesday, June 16, GOP candidates John Pfeiffer and Kevin West advanced to an Aug. 25 runoff election.)
Faced with the tough task of explaining to Oklahoma voters what the job actually does, four Republican candidates are vying to replace outgoing Commissioner of Labor Leslie Osborn for the right to stand as the chief advocate for workers in the state.
Candidates include small business owner Lisa Janloo and retired U.S. Postal Service employee Keith Swinton. Two current legislators are also running — Rep. John Pfeiffer (R-Orlando) and Rep. Kevin West (R-Moore).
The winner of the June 16 Republican primary will face Democrat Kevin Dawson and Libertarian Mike Hall in the November general election.
Along with only Georgia, North Carolina and Oregon, Oklahoma elects a commissioner of labor every four years. In other states, the position is appointed, something Swinton has said a friend from Wisconsin criticized as limiting “accountability.”
The primary duty of the labor commissioner is to lead the Oklahoma Department of Labor, which has a mission “to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage-earner.” The Department of Labor oversees worker safety regulations and administers permits for regulated amenities, such as elevators, boilers and amusement park rides.
The following cheat sheet offers an overview of the labor commissioner candidates seeking the Republican Party’s nomination based on information from publicly available sources, such as websites, social media pages and interviews conducted by the State Chamber of Oklahoma. Candidates are presented in alphabetical order.
Lisa Janloo
Age: 36
Profession/background: According to her website, Lisa Janloo is a mother and small business owner who has been active in her community through participation in things like the home school program she founded during the COVID-19 pandemic and as vice president of the Spencer Chamber of Commerce.
She previously ran for HD 97 in 2022, ultimately losing the heavily Democratic seat by a wide margin. Janloo has also served as the director for the Latinos United for Conservative Action organization that collaborated with President Donald Trump’s campaign to engage minority communities and encourage civic participation.
Platform: If elected, Janloo’s goals would include investing in programs that promote positive development among the Oklahoma youth through guidance and opportunities that would allow them to succeed. She would also work to establish what she calls safe, fair and equal workplaces for all. She says she would promote positive relationships between employers and the Department of Labor, where rules would still need to be complied with, but those who are not following them would be allowed to correct the behavior before citations were issued.
Janloo strongly opposes State Question 832, which would raise the minimum wage in Oklahoma over time. However, she said the cost of living does need to be addressed, but she said it can be accomplished by deregulation and tax cuts.
“I’ll just say this: When we say, ‘No, no, no’ to State Question 832, we don’t need minimum wage increased,’ but then we got Republicans left and right raising taxes for everything, or adding new regulations — how are people supposed to survive?” Janloo said in a Facebook video.
In her interview with the State Chamber of Oklahoma, Janloo said Oklahomans need to have access to the “resources and tools” to enter the workforce successfully.
“To be able to compete with pretty much anyone, it goes back to education. We have to have educated, quality people in our workforce,” she said. “Then [we must] make sure that we can support our businesses, because when they’re making money and people and employees make money, they put back into our cities and our communities and the economy is driving, that is how we are able to keep up with other cities and states that are bringing in money.”
John Pfeiffer
Age: 39
Profession/background: A Logan County rancher, Rep. John Pfeiffer was first elected to House District 38 in 2014, serving the maximum 12 years and being in the thick of many policy battles as an assistant majority floor leader and vice chairman of the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Pfeiffer’s father was inducted into the Oklahoma Agriculture Hall of Fame last year, and his wife is a candidate for assistant district judge in Logan County this year.
According to his campaign website, Pfeiffer served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011. Pfeiffer has made government transparency a focus of his time in the Legislature, authoring a bill last year to create a position in the Attorney General’s Office to facilitate access to government records. He also passed HB 2164 to expand the definition of “corruption in office” to include “the use of public office or authority to procure or attempt to procure a personal benefit, profit, or perquisite.” Pfeiffer’s bill was cited by an administrative law judge as a criminal penalty that would have addressed prior alleged corruption at the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.
Platform: If elected, Pfeiffer’s website says he would defend the 2nd Amendment rights of employees in the workplace, fight for lower taxes for small businesses and cut government regulations, which he believes will help foster economic development. Pfeiffer also supports Oklahoma’s “right to work” laws and the strengthening of workforce development programs that help those struggling to find employment a path to a stable job.
“Oklahoma needs a labor commissioner that will keep standing up to federal overreach,” Pfeiffer said on Facebook. “No more federal mandates that make it harder for our people to earn a living. Help me fight back against the burdensome overreach that is affecting the jobs and opportunities families depend on.”
In his interview with the State Chamber of Oklahoma, Pfeiffer said a position like labor commissioner needs to balance regulation and free enterprise.
“Government tends to be reactionary instead of forward-thinking, and for the most part that’s OK, because you don’t want a government that’s out there over-reaching and thinking about all these worst-case scenarios,” Pfeiffer said. “But you have to have at least enough vision to figure out where you want to go and, if you’re going to be reactionary, make sure you’re not over-reacting on the wrong things.”
Pfeiffer has been endorsed by the National Women’s Prayer and Voting Army, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Ag Fund, Rep. Dick Lowe (R-Amber) and former Rep. Randy Grau (R-Edmond).
In the four-way race, Pfeiffer — pronounced “pie-fer” — appears to be the only candidate running a TV commercial so far, with a 15-second advertisement poking fun at the pronunciation of his name and concluding with the proclamation: “John Pfeiffer. Funny name, serious conservative.” He has also posted a reel of himself building a Lego tractor with his son that features a classic elevator joke.
Keith Swinton
Age: 62
Profession/background: Swinton previously ran for labor commissioner in 2018 and 2022, finishing with 20.8 percent and 13.9 percent, respectively. According to his interview with the State Chamber of Oklahoma, Swinton is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, and he previously worked for the U.S. Postal Service National Center for Employee Development.
Swinton also has an engineering and entrepreneurship background, which he says is uniquely suited for the position of labor commissioner.
Platform: If elected, Swinton told the State Chamber that his biggest priorities would include ensuring employee safety in the workplace and educating employers on the value of safety. Swinton said he also wants to see more synergy between the legislative and judicial branches of government when it comes to labor issues. Swinton also sees the state as having underutilized resources in the form of its workforce. He said he would champion deep investment in the workforce in order to promote the development of higher-paying jobs for residents.
Asked by State Chamber senior vice president Brent Skarky why he decided to run, Swinton said, “It’s my calling.”
“It’s something my background fits uniquely into this position, and leadership is what I can provide,” he said. “It’s something the state needs.”
Links:Â Facebook
Kevin West
Age: 58
Profession/background: Rep. Kevin West has held House District 54 since voters in southeast OKC and Moore first elected him in 2016, eventually chairing the Government Oversight Committee and becoming an assistant majority floor leader. A cabinet maker who owned his own business from 1996 through 2004, West was eligible to seek one more term representing HD 54, but he chose to file for labor commissioner instead. Last year in the House, West authored legislation aimed at preventing municipalities from passing franchise fees on their Winter Storm Uri securitized debt on to ratepayers. The bill unanimously passed the House but was denied a hearing in the Senate in 2025 and 2026. In recent years, he has joined two other legislators in challenging Winter Storm Uri securitized debt in front of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, albeit unsuccessfully.
West has been heavily invested in so-called “culture war” issues while in the House, such as placing restrictions on drag shows, which he said in 2023 had become “a big problem.” He passed a bill this session requiring biological sex designations on birth certificates, and he advocated for Oklahoma’s 2023 law banning gender transition procedures on minors. However, the Senate did not pass his proposal this year to eliminate the part of that statute preventing behavioral health services and mental health counseling from being considered “gender transition procedures.” Similarly, his 2024 and 2026 efforts to ban pride flags failed to become law.
Platform: If elected commissioner of labor, West wants to rebuild Oklahoma’s pipeline of skilled trade workers and create more incentives for apprenticeships, according to his campaign website.
“With my background in construction, I’ve dealt with the department on job-site safety stuff — the workplace safety — so I know that very well, and when you really get to looking at the labor commissioner, it’s pretty broad what you can do,” West told Chad Warmington, president and CEO of the State Chamber of Oklahoma. “So a lot of the things that I’m really wanting to focus on and what my vision is is just to promote the great things Oklahoma has going for it. We have a great workforce, and we need to work on developing the skilled workers.”
West has said he would also work to guarantee small business owners have a fair shake when they bid on public contracts. He has also discussed promoting safety through workplace partnerships rather than a punishment-first system that he believes is counterproductive to fostering successful businesses of any side, but particularly those who are small-scale employers.
“It’s campaign season in Oklahoma and you’ll hear a lot about ‘federal overreach,’ but most burdens on citizens and businesses come from state law and administrative rules, not Washington,” West said in a post to Facebook. “For the past decade I’ve stood in the gap against overreach in all forms because leadership means recognizing threats and acting, not just following the crowd. As your next labor commissioner I’ll enforce the law, keep agency rules in check, and not create new barriers to work and opportunity.”
West has been endorsed by the Oklahoma 2nd Amendment Association, the Retired Firefighters Association, Rep. Cody Maynard (R-Durant) and Rep. Jay Steagall (R-Yukon).
(Clarification: This article was updated at 10:50 a.m. Monday, June 8, to clarify Kevin West’s professional background.)
