Oklahoma House Speaker Kyle Hilbert’s assessment of the state’s 2026 gubernatorial race can be summed up in a single word. 

Costly. 

“This governor’s race is going to be very expensive, which means they are going to spend a lot of money, and it’s going to dominate,” Hilbert said. “I would be surprised if the two leading candidates for governor don’t spend as much money as every other candidate for every other office in the state combined.” 

“What that means is we need your help to engage on these other races in the state House and state Senate because having a well-functioning legislature really matters just as much if not more than the outcome of a potential governor’s race.” 

Hilbert shared his opinion Monday at the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s Board of Directors meeting. For about 50 minutes, he and Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton shared their views on legislative matters as part of a dialogue facilitated by Katie Henke, the Chamber’s senior vice president of government affairs. 

Speaking of the past legislative session, Hilbert said he noticed a more “collaborative, cooperative relationship” between the chambers of government. 

“There are, of course, disagreements, as there should be,” he said. “It wouldn’t be good government if you didn’t have friction from time to time. But how you handle that friction is important. So, that’s been a good change that we had this session.” 

Today’s lawmakers are better equipped to tackle challenges because of a deeper state pocketbook, Paxton said. 

“What is much different than when Speaker Hilbert and I showed up in the legislature in 2016 is the fact that we now have a very significant savings account where we can absorb a lot of things that are coming at us that are unknown,” he said. 
  

“When we came in, there was about 35 cents in the state Rainy Day Fund. Now, we have $3.5 billion...that we can fall back on. We’re in great shape.  I think there’s nothing for us in the state to fret about. We can handle whatever comes our way.” 

The conversation touched on a variety of subjects, including constituent relationships, economic development and education. 

Both candidates raved on the impact of Senate Bill 139, which became law in May 2025 and requires all public-school districts to create and enforce policies restricting personal electronic devices such as phones, tablets and smartwatches from "bell to bell" during school hours, with exceptions for emergencies or documented medical needs.  

They also agreed that the state has room to grow in education, particularly early literacy. Hilbert cited Mississippi’s success in bringing back third-grade retention, which means that pupils who do not meet literacy standards are retained in third grade and receive intensive reading interventions and assignments to high-performing teachers.  

“We have to be thinking about that as a state because that is the future,” Hilbert said. “If you’re talking about making the most effective use of our resources, it’s also going to be early childhood, so we have those interventions.” 

Asked about finding reasonable candidates to run for state office, the lawmakers said finding people who have a willingness to govern is key, as is offering an occasional pat on the back to existing legislators. 

“The colleagues that we have in the Senate and House who are doing a good job, please encourage them because one of our challenges in addition to recruiting candidates is retaining candidates,” Hilbert said. “This job is tough.” 

Hilbert cited as an example the time a person attacked him on a social media platform on Christmas. 

“That’s the job I signed up for as Speaker,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean that all our members need to go through that.”