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Jake Merrick
Jake Merrick (Republican Party) is running for election for Governor of Oklahoma. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
Merrick (Republican Party) was a member of the Oklahoma State Senate, representing District 22. He assumed office on April 14, 2021. He left office on November 23, 2022.
Biography
Jake Merrick earned a B.S. in Biblical studies and art from Dallas Baptist University in 2003 and a graduate degree in Biblical languages from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2006.[1][2] Merrick's career experience includes owning Merrick Fence Company, founding and working as the president of Paraklete, Inc., and founding True Cross Training.[1]
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2026
See also: Oklahoma gubernatorial election, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Governor of Oklahoma
The following candidates are running in the general election for Governor of Oklahoma on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Cyndi Munson (D) | |
 | Gentner Drummond (R) | |
 | Mike Mazzei (R) | |
 | Charles A. McCall (R) | |
 | Jake Merrick (R) | |
| Leisa Mitchell Haynes (R) | ||
| Kenneth Sturgell (R) | ||
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
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2022
See also: Oklahoma State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Oklahoma State Senate District 22
Kristen Thompson defeated Blake Aguirre in the general election for Oklahoma State Senate District 22 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kristen Thompson (R) | 63.6 | 19,876 |
 | Blake Aguirre (D) | 36.4 | 11,363 | |
| Total votes: 31,239 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Blake Aguirre advanced from the Democratic primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 22.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 22
Kristen Thompson defeated incumbent Jake Merrick in the Republican primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 22 on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kristen Thompson | 54.4 | 5,159 |
| Jake Merrick | 45.6 | 4,326 | |
| Total votes: 9,485 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- John Williams (R)
2021
A special election for Oklahoma State Senate District 22 was called for April 6, 2021. A primary took place on February 9, 2021. The candidate filing deadline was December 9, 2020.[3]
The seat became vacant after Stephanie Bice (R) was elected to represent Oklahoma's 5th Congressional District. Her resignation was effective December 31, 2020.[3]
General election
Special general election for Oklahoma State Senate District 22
Jake Merrick defeated Molly Ooten in the special general election for Oklahoma State Senate District 22 on April 6, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jake Merrick (R) | 65.4 | 7,418 |
 | Molly Ooten (D) | 34.6 | 3,916 | |
| Total votes: 11,334 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Special Democratic primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 22
Molly Ooten defeated Dylan Billings in the special Democratic primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 22 on February 9, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Molly Ooten | 72.5 | 1,020 |
 | Dylan Billings | 27.5 | 386 | |
| Total votes: 1,406 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Special Republican primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 22
Jake Merrick defeated Keri Shipley in the special Republican primary for Oklahoma State Senate District 22 on February 9, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jake Merrick | 58.4 | 2,328 |
 | Keri Shipley | 41.6 | 1,657 | |
| Total votes: 3,985 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Darrick Matthews (R)
- Rob Johnson (R)
2020
See also: Oklahoma's 5th Congressional District election, 2020
Oklahoma's 5th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 30 Democratic primary)
Oklahoma's 5th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 30 Republican primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House Oklahoma District 5
Stephanie Bice defeated incumbent Kendra Horn in the general election for U.S. House Oklahoma District 5 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Stephanie Bice (R) | 52.1 | 158,191 |
 | Kendra Horn (D) | 47.9 | 145,658 | |
| Total votes: 303,849 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for U.S. House Oklahoma District 5
Stephanie Bice defeated Terry Neese in the Republican primary runoff for U.S. House Oklahoma District 5 on August 25, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Stephanie Bice | 52.9 | 27,402 |
 | Terry Neese | 47.1 | 24,369 | |
| Total votes: 51,771 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Oklahoma District 5
Incumbent Kendra Horn defeated Tom Guild in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Oklahoma District 5 on June 30, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kendra Horn | 85.7 | 60,168 |
 | Tom Guild | 14.3 | 10,050 | |
| Total votes: 70,218 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Oklahoma District 5
The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House Oklahoma District 5 on June 30, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Terry Neese | 36.5 | 24,828 |
| ✔ | | Stephanie Bice | 25.4 | 17,292 |
 | David Hill | 19.0 | 12,922 | |
 | Janet Barresi | 10.0 | 6,799 | |
| Jake Merrick | 2.6 | 1,736 | |
 | Michael Ballard | 2.5 | 1,691 | |
 | Miles Rahimi | 1.4 | 967 | |
 | Shelli Landon | 1.3 | 912 | |
| Charles Tuffy Pringle | 1.3 | 908 | ||
| Total votes: 68,055 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Dan Belcher (R)
- Oakley Jacob (R)
- David Greene (R)
- Merideth VanSant (R)
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jake Merrick has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. If you are Jake Merrick, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
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2022
Jake Merrick did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2021
Jake Merrick did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Jake Merrick completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Merrick's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am also a business owner who believes in the free market and the entrepreneur spirit which is indelibly connected to freedom. I believe governments role is to provide for the common defense and ensure infrastructures are sound. Beyond this, it is the job of the individual to seize the opportunity provided and run toward success.
I am a coach, a pastor, and a teacher, and I believe in the potential of free men to rise and be all they were created to be. My greatest joy is helping people realize, understand, and walk out their destiny.- Ensure Proper Role of Government - Limited Power. Protection of Inidividual Rights to Life, Liberty, and Property.
- Ensure Government Serves to Protect the Innocent and the Vulnerable
- Ensure Government is Balanced and Prosperous
- We must ensure our government remains strong, yet limited in power. Support for an alternate form of government - socialism - grows. Yet, I believe our original form - a capitalistic republic - remains the greatest and most necessary to ensure true freedom is guaranteed for us and our children. Individual rights and individual potential must be protected and promoted.
- I will fight for our freedom to gather for worship, freedom to decide what is best for ourselves and our family (Including vaccination choice), and freedom to arm ourselves to ensure tyranny and violence is kept at bay.
Protect the Innocent and Vulnerable:
- I will fight to end abortion immediately and absolutely. Life begins at conception and must be protected.
- Along with abortion, human trafficking is an evil that must be opposed and ended.
- I will fight for our seniors to ensure social security medicare remains funded.
- Our veterans deserve the greatest respect and honor. More needs to be done to see that they receive the best medical care
and treatment for mental illness.
Ensure Government is Balanced and Prosperous:
- I will continue to insist on a balanced budget.
- Strong businesses create a strong economy. We need a strong American manufacturing infrastructure
- Tax Reform must happen. I will fight to see the end of the IRS and the institution of the Fair Tax.
In addition, I look up to others who also recognize Him are willing to follow Him regardless of how unorthodox or unpopular it may appear. These include: King David, Joan of Arc, John Q. Adams, Frederick Douglass, Harriett Tubman, and Donald J. Trump.
The Law by Frederic Bastiat
Plato's Republic
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
Integrity - the determination to follow through and keep one's word long after the promise is made and the election is over.
Faith - An understanding that there is a greater power from whom we all proceed, for whom we ultimately exist, and to whom we are all accountable.
I have great faith, and I know and understand those eternal principles, where they came from, and how they are supposed to be the foundation for all decisions.
I have great endurance because "quit" is not in my vocabulary.
I understand what it means to give all for a cause, and I am not afraid to face giants. In fact, the bigger the challenge, the more motivated I become.
I am patient and know how to work with people of differing opinion/beliefs while maintaining a firm position in what I believe is right and true.
I like what Frederic Bastiat said, "Life, liberty, and property do no exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place."
I would like to be known for doing what others said was impossible. I want to solve the big problems and fight big fights.
The conflict within the Count that moved him to develop elaborate plots to exact revenge on his enemies is not only extremely entertaining, but it points to the twisted nature of man when he takes on the responsibility of being God.
"an immediate dependence on, and intimate sympathy with, the people." Representatives are those elected officials who represent the popular will of the people. They should be the most connected with the people they represent. The fact that they are elected every two years is meant to ensure they stay in tune with the voice and desires of the people.
The House has the sole right of impeachment. We have been witness over the last year how vital it is we have representatives with integrity, morals, and common sense because of this very important responsibility. This power was abused in 2019, and we need to ensure it will not be abused again.
The House also has the unique power to originate revenue bills. Again, this is critical in this time when we are seeing massive spending and a relenting increase in our national debt. We need to ensure we have representative who can prioritize spending.
Trump has set a new precedent for having no prior political experience. We are seeing one of the greatest Presidents in our history rise and do things others with political experience have failed to do. Trump is setting a new standard and opening a new door of opportunity for those who want to contribute and fight for real change in America whether they have former political experience or not.
Values and morals connected to an awareness of a Higher Power will be the only long-term solution to save our country. Protecting innocent life does not make sense where there is a misunderstanding of life. Life can only be sacred if it comes from a source outside of nature. We have journeyed down a God-less path for far too long, and the America we see today is the result. We need prayer back in schools. We need Intelligent Design taught to our children.Generation after generation is drifting further and further from common sense. We cannot command common sense. Common sense comes from a fundamental understanding of origin. Our unalienable rights came from the Creator. To deny the Creator is to dismiss that which comes from him.
Ethics
Agriculture
Education and the Workforce
Homeland Security
He promptly stepped off his porch step, shirtless and scowling, locking eyes with me the whole way across his yard. He didn't hesitate, "I'm going to tell you one thing and then I want you to go because I'm going to get furious just talking about it. You're probably just like all the rest of them who make big promises but never do anything. But here's my question: Why doesn't the government care about old folks in this nation who are barely able to make it. Why don't they do something for the vets like me instead of sending all the money overseas to help other people who ain't even American! If you get elected, just DO SOMETHING FOR AMERICA!"
Then he turned and stormed back into his shack. I heard the inaudible slam of the invisible door, and I felt the blood leave my face. I was hearing from a true American - a veteran - who felt voiceless and ignored.
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Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Oklahoma scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2022
In 2022, the Oklahoma State Legislature was in session from February 7 to May 27.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to children's interests.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on a variety of issues of interest to the organization.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators were scored based on their votes on bills supported or opposed by the organization.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to the oil and gas industry.
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Oklahoma State Legislature was in session from February 1 to May 27.
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See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 13, 2020
- ↑ Facebook, "Jake A Merrick," accessed May 13, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Oklahoman, "Special election set for Oklahoma Senate seat held by Stephanie Bice," November 25, 2020
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Oklahoma State Senate District 22 2021-2022 |
Succeeded by Kristen Thompson (R) |
