Who is running for Oklahoma Supreme Court, District 6, Retention: Justice Dana Kuehn in 2026?

Vice Chief Justice, Oklahoma Supreme Court, District 6

Dana Kuehn has been the District 6 justice on the Oklahoma Supreme Court since Governor Kevin Stitt appointed her in July 2021⁴, and she was elected Vice Chief Justice for the two-year term that began January 1, 2025³. She previously served on the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals and as a Tulsa County associate district judge⁴. This is a nonpartisan retention question: voters answer yes or no on keeping the judge, and no party is listed on the ballot⁹.

• Justice, Oklahoma Supreme Court, District 6, since 2021; Vice Chief Justice for the two-year term beginning January 1, 2025³
• Judge, Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, 2017 to 2021; Vice Presiding Judge 2018 to 2020 and Presiding Judge in 2021⁴
• Associate District Judge, Tulsa County, 2006 to 2017, including chief of the civil division from 2010 to 2012³⁴
• Felony prosecutor in the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office for ten years, where she headed the Crimes Against Children Unit; associate at Steidley and Neal, 1999 to 2000³
• JD, University of Tulsa College of Law, 1996; BA in political science, Oklahoma State University³
• Appointed to the Court of Criminal Appeals in 2017 by Governor Mary Fallin³ and retained on that court in November 2018⁵. Appointed to the Supreme Court by Governor Kevin Stitt on July 26, 2021³⁴, succeeding Justice Tom Colbert⁵. The Judicial Nominating Commission had named three finalists for that vacancy: Kuehn, Stacie Hixon and Rebecca Nightingale⁶. Voters retained her on the Supreme Court in November 2022⁵. Her current term ends January 11, 2027, so the 2026 vote decides whether she serves a new six-year term².
• Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice v. Drummond (March 21, 2023): in a 5 to 4 decision, the court's majority held that the Oklahoma Constitution protects a woman's right to end a pregnancy when necessary to preserve her life. Kuehn was one of the four dissenting justices. In her separate dissent, joined by Vice Chief Justice Rowe, she wrote that the Oklahoma Constitution does not include a right to abortion and that the question belongs to the people or their elected representatives⁸⁷.