(Update: View the livestream of this debate here.)
Republican attorney general candidates Jon Echols and Jeff Starling are set to face off in a public debate hosted by NonDoc and News 9 at 5:45 p.m. Monday, May 18. The debate will be held at Will Rogers Theatre, 4322 N. Western Ave. in Oklahoma City.
The debate, titled Summary Judgment, will be live streamed on the News 9 Facebook and YouTube pages, the News on 6 Facebook and YouTube pages, as well as the Facebook page of NonDoc.
Co-moderated by Tres Savage of NonDoc and Haley Hetrick of News 9, the debate will feature questions written and asked by professional journalists. The Frontier will lead fact checking efforts for the debate.
Seating for the public is limited and available only by reservation. Those interested in attending can RSVP for reserved seats through this Google form.
The winner of the June 16 Republican attorney general primary will face Democratic attorney general candidate Nick Coffey in the general election.
Echols served 12 years in the Oklahoma Legislature, representing House District 90 in southwest Oklahoma City. For eight years, he served as the House majority floor leader. Echols, who owns a slate of health care companies, co-founded Turn Key Health Clinics in 2009 and served as the company’s president. He previously worked at the Crowe & Dunlevy law firm and at his family’s firm, Echols and Associates.
Starling currently serves in Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Cabinet as Oklahoma’s secretary of energy and environment. He previously worked as the chief legal and administrative officer and corporate secretary at Lagoon Water Midstream. He also worked at Devon Energy and at McGuireWoods LLP in Virginia.
Other debates for #election2026
Sponsors of NonDoc’s 2026 debate series include Hilliary Communications, AARP Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center, the Oklahoma Association of REALTORS, McSpadden, Milner & Rott, the State Chamber of Oklahoma, the Scholars Strategy Network and the ACLU of Oklahoma. Other charitable sponsorships for the debate series are available.
On May 28, NonDoc is hosting a Republican primary debate among leading gubernatorial candidates in Lawton.
On June 2 and June 3, NonDoc is hosting back-to-back state superintendent debates for the Republican and Democratic primaries.
Other debates for the 2026 election cycle are being planned. Since 2018, NonDoc has partnered with other media outlets across Oklahoma to produce more than 40 public political debates for local, state and federal offices.
(Update: This article was updated at 9:40 a.m. Thursday, April 16, to clarify biographical details.)
