By Emma Murphy, Oklahoma Voice
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s secretary of energy and environment has entered the race to be the state’s next attorney general.
Jeff Starling said his private sector background and experience as a litigator at the national level sets him apart from other candidates running for statewide office.
“I am not a career politician looking for the next rung in the ladder,” he said. “For example, I want to go in and have a long term, four year view of the office. And if I still have something to give after four years, run for reelection. My intent is to get out of the office, I’m not using it as a rung in the ladder to keep climbing politically.”
Starling, originally from Virginia, is set to face former legislator Jon Echols in the 2026 Republican primary. Both hope to succeed Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who is running for governor.
Starling has experience as a partner at a multi-national law firm’s litigation department. He’s worked as an in-house attorney and assistant general counsel at Devon Energy, served as the chief legal and administrative officer at Lagoon Water Midstream, a water management solution group, and as a clerk for a federal judge.
Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Starling as Oklahoma’s Energy Secretary in 2024.
Starling said he decided to run for attorney general because he wants Oklahoma to be a state where his wife and two daughters can feel safe and build their lives. After a successful career in the private sector, he said he “owes” something back.
“I also firmly believe in sort of a Founding Fathers’ vision, that private sector people need to lend their voice to public sector service, and that the public service is a service, it’s not a career,” Starling said. “And if you’ve been blessed with successful private sector experience and you’ve done well, then you owe something back.”
Starling said his priorities would include eradicating illegal marijuana grows, ensuring all people are treated equally under the law, and protecting the “unborn” and the Second Amendment.
Rather than eliminating illegal marijuana grows one by one, Starling said his approach would be to utilize federal tools like the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to “pull out these criminal enterprises root and branch and end them once and for all.”
“We have some of the strongest laws in the nation protecting the unborn and defending our Second Amendment rights, and it’s very important that the Attorney General stand in defense of those rights, and I will do that,” he said.
