Gov. Kevin Stitt will have at least one more appointment to an Oklahoma court of last resort after Judge Gary Lumpkin announced he will retire from the Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 1, 2027. Lumpkin is the longest serving judge currently on the state’s top criminal court, with former Gov. Henry Bellmon appointing him in 1989.
Six candidates applied with Oklahoma’s 15-member Judicial Nominating Commission to succeed Lumpkin, including District Attorney Matt Ballard, District Judge Mark Campbell, Associate District Judge Marion Fry, Associate District Judge Preston Harbuck, Special Judge Matt Orendorff, and Associate District Judge Joe Trail. The commission will conduct private interviews with the candidates and forward three names to Stitt for his consideration.
Oklahoma has two courts of last resort: the nine-justice Supreme Court for civil issues and the five-judge Court of Criminal Appeals for criminal cases. After Lumpkin’s replacement is selected, Stitt will have appointed six of the 14 high judges of the state, just short of a majority but more than any other governor.
Gov. Brad Henry had the second most-influence on the current appellate courts, with four judges remaining on the bench. Three Gov. Mary Fallin appointments also remain, as well as one from Gov. Frank Keating.
Lumpkin’s decision to retire this year gives Stitt at least one more appellate court appointment, and it also likely prevents what would have been an appointment for Oklahoma’s next governor. With seven court of last resort members over the age of 65, the winner of the November election will likely appoint a few appellate judges in the subsequent four years.
Supreme Court Justices James Winchester, James Edmondson, Douglas Combs and Noma Gurich are all over 70, while Justice Richard Darby and Court of Criminal Appeals Judges David Lewis and Robert Hudson are over 65. Edmondson, the oldest justice, is 81 and was born during the final months of World War II.
Gary Lumpkin retiring after three-plus decades
Lumpkin has served in Oklahoma’s judiciary since 1982 when he became associate district judge for Marshall County. He held that role until 1985 when he was became a district judge for the 20th Judicial District. In 1989, Lumpkin joined the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, and he is the longest serving member currently on the court.
When Lumpkin was first appointed associate district judge by Gov. George Nigh in 1982, he generated statewide coverage for requiring people convicted of driving under the influence to buy an apology advertisement in the local paper. Nigh later also appointed Lumpkin district judge.
Lumpkin grew up in Sentinel, Oklahoma, in Washita County and is a graduate of Weatherford High School, Northwestern State College, Southwestern State College and the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
After graduating law school in 1974, he worked for the Oklahoma Department of Consumer Affairs and in private practice until he was appointed an assistant district attorney for Marshall County in 1976.
He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1968 to 1971 and was deployed to Vietnam. He remained in the reserves until his full military retirement in 1998.
The following overview of the six applicants for Lumpkin’s office is derived from publicly available information. Applicants are presented in alphabetical order.
Matt Ballard
Age:Â 49
Residence:Â Claremore
Law School:Â University of Oklahoma College of Law
Biography/profession:Â Rogers County District Attorney Matt Ballard is the son of the late Keith Ballard, a University of Oklahoma professor and school administrator. He grew up in Rogers County, according to a biography on his website, and he graduated from Claremore High School, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
According to his LinkedIn, Ballard worked in private practice after graduating law school in 2002 until he joined the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office in 2006. He returned to private practice in 2008 before he received 61 percent of the Republican primary vote in 2014 to oust the controversial Janice Steidley as the district attorney for Rogers, Mayes and Craig counties. Ballard was reelected in 2018, 2022 and 2026. He also served as the Claremore city attorney in 2010, according to his website.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 McGirt v. Oklahoma decision, which functionally affirmed eastern Oklahoma as a series of Indian Country reservations, Ballard has worked to extend state concurrent jurisdiction over Indian defendants within his district attorney district, which falls within the Cherokee Nation Reservation.
In 2023, Ballard’s office won in the case State v. Crosson, an Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals decision which held that when a state court judge is presented with an arrest warrant supported by probable cause, the judge must issue the warrant. The appellate judges said no McGirt analysis involving Indian status is allowable at that stage.
The following year, Ballard was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice just before Christmas over his office’s prosecution of Indian defendants within Indian Country reservations. That lawsuit is currently stayed pending the outcome of a 10th Circuit appeal involving Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler’s prosecution of Indians within the Muscogee Nation Reservation.
While the Judicial Nominating Commission’s process is intentionally nonpartisan, the governor’s office is ultimately a political office and may consider a judge’s political affiliations. Ballard, a Republican, is the only candidate currently holding a partisan political office, and his support for state concurrent jurisdiction over Indian defendants has aligned with Stitt’s legal positions on the topic.
Although Ballard’s office has generally avoided the controversies of his predecessor, in 2022 he suspended a pair of assistant district attorneys who observed jury deliberations via security cameras in the Rogers County Courthouse.
Mark Campbell
Age:Â 61
Residence:Â Durant
Law School:Â Oklahoma City University School of Law
Biography/profession:Â According to the legal research firm Trellis, Bryan County District Judge Mark Campbell graduated from the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City University School of Law in 1992 before working as an assistant district attorney in Durant and Enid.
In 2002, he ran for district attorney for the 19th District (Atoka, Bryan and Coal counties) against his former boss, DA James Thornley, and handily defeated him in a three-way Democratic primary. Before the end of his term, Campbell was appointed Bryan County District Court judge by Gov. Brad Henry in 2005.
Campbell has applied to be appointed to an appellate court several times:
- In 2017, he was one of three candidates referred to Gov. Mary Fallin to succeed Justice Steven Taylor on the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Fallin selected Justice Patrick Wyrick;
- In 2019, he was one of three candidates referred to Stitt to succeed Wyrick on the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Stitt selected Justice Dustin Rowe; and
- In 2021, he was one of three candidates referred to Stitt to succeed P. Thomas Thornbrugh on the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals. Stitt selected Judge Gregory Blackwell.
Most recently, Campbell has gained attention for rejecting a negotiated plea deal which would have seen suspended Coal County Sheriff Jason Smith’s removal proceedings dismissed if he remains suspended during his probation for a misdemeanor assault and battery conviction. Campbell also tossed out an unusual land-dispute lawsuit opposed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton earlier this year.
While the Judicial Nominating Commission’s process is intentionally nonpartisan, the governor’s office is ultimately a political office and may consider a judge’s political affiliations. While Campbell was previously elected as a Democrat, voterrecords.com indicates he is currently a Republican.
Marion Fry
Age:Â 51
Residence:Â Poteau
Law School:Â University of Tulsa College of Law
Biography/profession:Â LeFlore County Associate District Judge Marion Fry was born and raised in Reichert before graduating from LeFlore High School, Carl Albert State College, Oklahoma State University and the University of Tulsa College of Law, according to his 2006 campaign announcement in the Stigler News-Sentinel. He worked as an EMT and at a grocery store until he finished college.
In the late 90s, Fry worked as an assistant district attorney for Tulsa County before moving to the LeFlore County DA’s office in 2001. He unsuccessfully campaigned for district judge in 2006 and 2010, before being elected associate district judge for LeFlore County in 2014. He was reelected in 2018, 2022 and 2026, with no one challenging him for the office earlier this year.
While the Judicial Nominating Commission’s process is intentionally nonpartisan, the governor’s office is ultimately a political office and may consider a judge’s political affiliations. Voterrecords.com indicates Fry is currently a Republican.
Preston Harbuck
Age:Â 48
Residence: Atoka
Law School:Â University of Oklahoma College of Law
Biography/profession:Â Atoka County Associate District Judge Preston Harbuck grew up helping with his grandparents’ farm, according to his Oklahoma Magazine 40 under 40 profile from 2015. He graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma College of Law, according to Trellis. An avid OU sports fan, Harbuck was elected associate district judge for Atoka County in 2010, and he won reelection in 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026.
In 2014, former Texas Democratic activist Alec Johnson criticized Harbuck as “a prosecutor in robes” after Johnson was convicted of two counts of obstructing a public official for attempting to block construction of parts of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
On July 2, Harbuck saw his decision to grant default judgment in a quiet title case reversed by a Court of Civil Appeals panel, which found that the defendant “had no opportunity to be heard on the merits of the case” and that the plaintiff had “presented no evidence demonstrating entitlement to judgment.”
“Plaintiff has advanced no substantive legal theory upon which an Oklahoma court could rely in quieting title to the subject property in her name,” Judge Robert Bell wrote in reversing Harbuck’s default judgment on behalf of the plaintiff.
While the Judicial Nominating Commission’s process is intentionally nonpartisan, the governor’s office is ultimately a political office and may consider a judge’s political affiliations. Voterrecords.com indicates Harbuck is currently a Republican.
Matt Orendorff
Age:Â 44
Residence:Â Sallisaw
Law School:Â Oklahoma City University School of Law
Biography/profession:Â Sequoyah County Special Judge Matt Orendorff grew up in Sallisaw where his father was an attorney. He graduated from Sallisaw High School, Hendrix College and the Oklahoma City University School of Law.
After finishing law school in 2008, he joined his family’s law firm, according to Trellis. In 2014, he ran for associate district judge and lost the election by 13 votes, unsuccessfully requesting for a recount. He was hired as a special judge in Sequoyah County the following year.
While the Judicial Nominating Commission’s process is intentionally nonpartisan, the governor’s office is ultimately a political office and may consider a judge’s political affiliations. Voterrecords.com indicates Orendorff is currently a Republican.
Joe Trail
Age:Â 40
Residence:Â Coalgate
Law School:Â University of Oklahoma College of Law
Biography/profession: Coal County Associate District Judge Joe Trail grew up in Ada and graduated from Ada High School, East Central University and the University of Oklahoma College of Law, according to a 2016 article in The Ada News.
In the article, Trail argued in favor of young attorneys from rural areas returning home to build their practices, citing a decline in rural attorneys as retiring attorneys go un-replaced. Trail previously practiced civil litigation with Erik Johnson, who is now district attorney for Hughes, Seminole and Pontotoc counties, and he referred to Johnson as his “mentor” in the 2016 article.
Trail served six years in the U.S. Marine Corps and was deployed twice to Iraq. Trail is also a former chairman of the Pontotoc County Democratic Party, and in 2016 he submitted a letter to the editors of NonDoc in favor of public candidate forums and debates.
Trail ran for Coal County associate district judge in 2022 unopposed and was reelected without opposition in earlier this year.
While the Judicial Nominating Commission’s process is intentionally nonpartisan, the governor’s office is ultimately a political office and may consider a judge’s political affiliations. Voterrecords.com indicates Trail is currently an independent.
