Kirkpatrick Policy Group Names 2026 Legislators of the Year

July 8, 2026

Kirkpatrick Policy Group, a non-partisan, independent, 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization announced the results of its 2026 Oklahoma legislative scorecard.

Senator Julia Kirt was named Legislator of the Year for the Oklahoma Senate and Representative Ellyn Hefner was named Legislator of the Year for the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

Kirt was chosen for her tireless support of policy that protects animals, reproductive health, the arts and art education, and the initiative petition process during her time in office. Hefner was chosen because she has actively supported bills and hosted interim studies that directly relate to these policies.

The scorecard evaluates how lawmakers vote on KPG-tracked bills during session. The data measures the impact each member makes on policy areas that affect every Oklahoman. Out of 147 legislators on the scorecard, thirteen received perfect 100-percent marks, including Kirt, Hefner, Senator Regina Goodwin, Senator Nikki Nice, Representative Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, Representative Meloyde Blancett, Representative Amanda Clinton, Representative Mickey Dollens, Representative Michelle McCane, Representative Ellen Pogemiller, Representative Melissa Provenzano, Representative Trish Ranson, and Representative Ron Stewart.

KPG’s final bill tracking list included fourteen bills in the House and eight in the Senate. Most of KPG’s positions on tracked bills received bipartisan support in both chambers.

While women represent just 23.6 percent of the Legislature’s membership, this year, they made up 100 percent of the scorecard award recipients.

KPG’s policy work focuses on social causes championed for decades by the Kirkpatrick family.

In conjunction with this year’s scorecard release, the group is rolling out its free app, KPG Connect, to help Oklahoma voters keep track of aligned legislation. Users on the app not only get information, they can also provide feedback that KPG can take directly to legislators.

“Just as we evaluate the legislators in our scorecard based on how closely their floor votes align with the positions we support, the app opens the floor to all Oklahomans,” said KPG’s Brendan Hoover. “Politics is a team sport, and we want all voters to engage in the process.”

This year, KPG successfully helped defeat HB 4335, which would have given legal protections to retail pet stores that source animals from puppy mills; helped defeat HB 4128, which would have expanded black bear hunting season in Oklahoma to unsustainable levels; opposed efforts to remove Medicaid expansion from the State Constitution; and, opposed efforts to call a Constitutional convention, which could have resulted in the loss of citizen-led initiative petitions. KPG also opposed a number of sex education restriction bills, all of which failed.

“With more voters on KPG Connect, increasing their personal knowledge on issues and even learning some of the hidden truths buried between the sheets of legislation, we hope to see more engagement by voters with their representatives,” said Hoover. “We fully believe that more engagement at the lawmaking level means even stronger KPG Legislative Scorecard results in 2027.”

Legislators of the Year 2025 winners were Senator Mark Mann and former Representative Forrest Bennett and in 2024, the title went to Senator Mary Boren and Representative Trish Ranson.

Click here to download the KPG Connect app.

Click here to view the complete 2026 scorecard.

Click here to view KPG’s 2026 legislative tracker.