Maxine Edwyna Cissel Horner was one of the first African American women to serve in the Oklahoma Senate, serving from 1986 to 2004, along with Vicki Miles-LaGrange. Horner held the position of Democratic Caucus Chair, as well as Chair of Business and Labor and Government Operations, and Vice-Chair of Adult Literacy.
The Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction, sometimes called the Oklahoma State School Superintendent, is the chief executive officer for the Oklahoma State Department of Education and the president of the Oklahoma State Board of Education. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction is responsible for overseeing, implementing and reviewing the policies of the Oklahoma's public school system.
Judy Eason McIntyre is an American politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. A Democrat, McIntyre served as an Oklahoma state Senator from 2004 to 2012 representing District 11, which includes Osage and Tulsa counties. She also served as State Representative from 2002 to 2004 representing District 73 where she was the first freshman appointed to the Speaker's Leadership Team. For the 16 years before her election to the Oklahoma Legislature, she was an elected board member for the Tulsa Public Schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Patricia W. "Pat" Jones is an American politician from Utah. A Democrat, she was a member of the Utah State Senate from 2006 to 2014, and currently runs the Women’s Leadership Institute in Utah. She is also senior adviser at Cicero Group, a research and strategy firm in Salt Lake City.
Nancy C. Riley represented Oklahoma State Senate District 37 which is located in Tulsa County and includes Bixby, Jenks, Lotsee, Tulsa and Sand Springs from 2000 to 2008. Riley grew up in Tulsa and graduated from Edison High School. She attended Oklahoma Christian College for three years, then married and started a family. Riley's first husband died from a brain tumor. During that time, Riley was forced to live on food stamps. She later graduated from Langston University, and began teaching elementary school in the Tulsa Public Schools system.
Debbe Leftwich is a politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Leftwich was a member of the Oklahoma Senate from 2003 until 2010. She won the vacant seat through a special election after the death of her husband and former senator Keith Leftwich. She was a key figure in the 2010 Oklahoma political corruption investigation for her role in a bribery scheme in which she was accused of agreeing to not run for re-election in 2010 in exchange for a state job with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME).
Constance Nevlin Johnson is an American politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. She served in the Oklahoma Senate, representing District 48, which encompasses portions of northeastern and northwestern Oklahoma County until 2014. She was first elected to the state senate in a special election in September 2005.
Kathleen Wilcoxson is an American politician from Oklahoma. Wilcoxson represented Oklahoma State Senate District 45 from 1996 to 2008, serving the twelve years allowed under term limits.
Susan Winchester was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives to represent District 47 in 1998 where she served until 2008. She was elected Whip for the Republican Caucus after her first term, and in 2005 became the first woman to serve as Speaker Pro Tempore, the second highest position in the House.
Odilia Mary Russo Dank was an American educator and politician from Oklahoma City who served as a Republican member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, from District 85. Dank was elected in 1994 and served until she was term limited in 2006.
Mary Bernice Shedrick is a politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Shedrick represented Oklahoma State Senate District 21 from 1980 to 1996. In 1994 she was a candidate for Governor of Oklahoma. Shedrick is now a part-time Administrative Law Judge in Payne and Logan counties and is a member of the Oklahoma Ethics Commission.
The 2010 Oklahoma elections were held on November 2, 2010. The primary election was held on July 27. The runoff primary election was held August 24.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Oklahoma on November 4, 2014. All of Oklahoma's executive officers were up for election, as well as the state's five seats in the United States House of Representatives and both of the state's United States Senate seats. Primary elections were held on June 24, 2014, and primary runoffs were held on August 26, 2014.
Janet Barresi is a former dentist and former Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction who was elected on November 2, 2010 and began her term of service on January 10, 2011. Her term in office followed former Superintendent Sandy Garrett who chose not to run for re-election in 2010. In 2014, Barresi was defeated in the Republican primary by Joy Hofmeister. Hofmeister went on to defeat Democrat John Cox in the general election Barresi's term ended in January 2015.
Angela Z. Monson is an American politician from Oklahoma who served in the Oklahoma State House of Representatives, representing District 99 from 1990–1993, as well as the Oklahoma Senate, representing District 48 from 1993–2005. In 2003, she became the first African American woman assistant majority floor leader in the Oklahoma legislature. Monson defeated incumbent Kirk Humphreys, a former Oklahoma City mayor, for the school board chairman's position in 2009, serving until 2013.
Penny Baldwin Williams was an American Democratic Party politician from Oklahoma. Williams served as a legislator in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1981 to 1988, representing District 70. She later was elected to the Oklahoma Senate, representing District 33, from 1989 to 2004. Senator Williams authored important bills on education during her time in the legislature, including the historic education reform act. Williams also authored a series of bills to strengthen math and science, and the bill creating the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics. A supporter of the arts, Williams influenced art education in public schools, and was instrumental in the creation of the Art in Public Places Act.
Carolyn Thompson Taylor is an American academic and politician who served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1984 to 1992. Before running for office, Taylor taught AP government at Norman High School from 1979 to 1984. While in the House, she was chair of the Education Committee and Appropriations Sub-Committee on Education. She was a principal author of numerous landmark education bills involving both higher education and public schools. She also authored legislation concerning health care for children and family leave. While in office she was an adjunct professor at Oklahoma Baptist University and the University of Oklahoma. After leaving office, Taylor was vice president of academic affairs at the University Center of Tulsa and later a distinguished professor of political science at Rogers State.
Ann Coody is a politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. A member of the Republican Party, she was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 2004, and represented the 64th district until she was term limited in 2016. Before serving as Oklahoma State Representative, Coody was a longtime educator, counselor, and assistant principal for Lawton Public Schools. To date, Coody is the primary author of 125 bills.
Joy Lynn Hofmeister is an American educator and politician who served as the Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2015 to 2023. Hofmeister was sworn in as Oklahoma's 14th State Superintendent on January 12, 2015, after defeating the incumbent Republican candidate, Janet Barresi, in the primary election and Democratic candidate John Cox in the general election. Hofmeister was re-elected on November 6, 2018, and sworn in for a second four-year term as State Superintendent on January 14, 2019. Hofmeister won re-election after facing Democrat John Cox a second time, as well as independent candidate Larry Huff.
Antonia Hernández is an attorney, activist, and philanthropist. She currently serves as president and CEO of the California Community Foundation. Hernández worked as a prosecutor in Madrigal v. Quilligan (1975), a class-action lawsuit filed by ten women of Mexican descent who were involuntarily sterilized at the Los Angeles County Hospital. She is also the first Latina woman to serve as staff counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee from 1979 to 1980. In addition, Hernández served on the campaign team for Senator Ted Kennedy in his 1980 presidential campaign. She served as president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) from 1985 to 2004.
