Who is running for Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, District 2, Retention: Judge Robert L. Hudson in 2026?

Judge, Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, District 2

Robert L. Hudson has been the District 2 judge on the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest court for criminal cases, since Governor Mary Fallin appointed him in 2015³. He previously served as district attorney for Payne and Logan counties, first assistant attorney general, and a special judge³. This is a nonpartisan retention question: voters answer yes or no on keeping the judge, and no party is listed on the ballot⁶.

• Judge, Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, District 2, since 2015³
• Special Judge, 9th Judicial District (Logan and Payne counties), from November 2012 until his appointment³
• First Assistant Attorney General of Oklahoma, from 2011³
• District Attorney for Payne and Logan counties, appointed in 1996 by Governor Frank Keating and reelected four times; helped set up Oklahoma's first drug court³⁴
• Private law practice in Guthrie, 1983 to 1996; commissioner of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for nearly ten years³
• JD, University of Oklahoma College of Law, 1983; degree in agricultural economics and accounting, Oklahoma State University, 1980³
• Appointed by Governor Mary Fallin; the court's biography gives the appointment date as March 11, 2015³. He succeeded Judge Charles Johnson⁴. Appellate judges are appointed by the governor from three names sent by the Judicial Nominating Commission⁶. Voters retained him in November 2020⁵. His current term ends January 11, 2027, so the 2026 vote decides whether he serves a new six-year term².