The first-term incumbent’s race against Aaron Forst offers voters a district-level choice in the Senate GOP’s wider struggle over caucus loyalty, compromise and legislative results.
OWASSO — The Republican runoff for Senate District 34 is about more than whether first-term state Sen. Dana Prieto deserves another four years.
It has become another test of the Oklahoma Freedom Caucus after a primary season that exposed limits on the bloc’s influence and underscored its continuing struggle with Senate leadership.
Prieto, who describes himself as a co-founder of the caucus, finished first in the June Republican primary but received only 29.4% of the vote. Owasso businessman Aaron Forst followed with 27.3%, forcing the incumbent into an Aug. 25 runoff.
The result left Prieto in political jeopardy after one term at the same time the Freedom Caucus was trying to expand its reach in the Senate. The caucus backed challengers against seven Republican incumbents it viewed as aligned with leadership, but each incumbent survived. Freedom Caucus Vice Chairman Dusty Deevers also lost his own primary.
Prieto is now defending both his seat and the Freedom Caucus’ approach to advancing conservative legislation at the Capitol.
Forst has not presented himself as a Senate leadership-aligned candidate. But he has said he would not join the Freedom Caucus, making the runoff a clear choice between a caucus member and a challenger who says conservative principles do not require caucus loyalty.
Prieto, first elected in 2022, owns Everlasting Enterprises, an online marketing business. Forst is a former emergency medical technician and biomedical engineer who owns a child care center and a wedding venue. He said his businesses employ more than 30 people and that he has lived in the district for more than 12 years.
In written responses to questions from OK Politics Today, the candidates agreed on several broad Republican priorities, including lower taxes, school choice and stronger oversight of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. Their sharpest disagreement was over what Prieto’s Freedom Caucus membership has produced for the district.
The runoff winner will face Democratic nominee Amy Hossain in the Nov. 3 general election.
A referendum on caucus politics
Prieto said the Freedom Caucus exists to advance the conservative principles voters expected him to support.
“The voters elected me to be a conservative,” Prieto said. “The Freedom Caucus just simply wants good conservative principles to advance, and of course we are willing to work with leadership and negotiate with them.”
The caucus has repeatedly clashed with Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton and other chamber leaders over which bills receive hearings and floor votes. Freedom Caucus members argue that leadership prevents sufficiently conservative legislation from advancing.
Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee, who led the caucus’ effort to challenge leadership-aligned incumbents, said before the June primary that Senate leaders shield Republican senators from votes that would test their conservative credentials.
“They protect them from difficult conservative votes, so they don’t have to show their true colors,” Jett said.
Paxton sees the conflict differently. He told OK Politics Today before the June primary that the disagreement is less about ideology than about how Republicans should exercise power once elected. He described the contests as “populists versus governing Republicans.”
“Part of the governing process is you don’t always get your way,” Paxton said.
Paxton said most Senate Republicans share many of the same conservative goals but differ over how to pursue them. Invoking former President Ronald Reagan’s approach to incremental progress, Paxton said conservatives sometimes must accept an incomplete victory and return later for the rest.
“Ronald Reagan always said, if I can get 70 or 80 percent of what I want, I’m going to take it and try to get the other 20 or 30 percent later,” Paxton said. “That’s how you govern.”
That disagreement now plays out at the district level.
Prieto said the caucus has succeeded in moving bills that had been dormant because its members negotiated with leadership. He did not identify those measures in his response.
Forst said he supports limited government, lower taxes, the Second Amendment, protections for unborn children and greater accountability in government. He said those beliefs would not obligate him to join a particular group or vote as a bloc.
“My first obligation as a senator would be to the people of Senate District 34, not to a caucus,” Forst said.
He said he would work with any senator who supported a good proposal but would judge legislation on its merits.
“I’m not going to vote against a good bill simply because somebody in my caucus doesn’t like it, and I’m not going to vote for a bad bill simply because somebody tells me I should,” Forst said. “I’m not going to Oklahoma City to join a club. I’m going there to get things done.”
Competing claims about results
Forst has made Prieto’s first-term record central to his challenge.
“I don’t believe simply telling people you’re conservative is enough,” Forst said. “The question should be, what did you actually accomplish for the people you represent?”
Prieto said he has run a number of bills, passed some and co-authored others. He also cited his role in establishing the Freedom Caucus and said he has a proven record as one of the Senate’s most conservative members.
He did not identify a particular bill or district project as his most important first-term accomplishment.
Forst argued that legislative sponsorship alone is not a sufficient measure of effectiveness.
“Co-authoring a bill is not the same thing as getting legislation passed and delivering results for your constituents,” he said.
But when asked to identify a specific Prieto vote or decision he would have handled differently, Forst did not name one. His criticism focused instead on what he described as the incumbent’s lack of measurable results.
The candidates also offered mirror-image interpretations of the primary. Forst noted that about 71% of Republican voters chose someone other than Prieto. Prieto responded that most voters likewise chose someone other than Forst.
Forst advanced by a narrow margin, finishing 93 votes ahead of third-place candidate Kent Taylor. Taylor received 25.6%, while Brent Driskill received 17.7%.
Tax cuts and the size of government
Both candidates support eliminating Oklahoma’s individual income tax, but neither identified a list of specific spending cuts that would accompany repeal.
Prieto said the state has already started down that path and estimated that full elimination could take about 15 years, depending on economic and revenue growth. He said a consumption-based system would be fairer because residents would pay according to what they purchase.
Under legislation enacted in 2025, Oklahoma’s top individual income tax rate dropped to 4.5% for the 2026 tax year. Additional quarter-point reductions may occur if state revenue meets specified thresholds, but the law does not guarantee annual reductions or set a date for eliminating the tax.
Forst said he supports repeal but would not promise an arbitrary deadline. He called for reviewing state agencies, eliminating duplication and waste, and protecting core services such as education, roads and public safety. He also expressed caution about replacing the income tax with another broad-based tax that could shift the burden without reducing government.
Schools and a growing district
Forst supports allowing parents to choose among public, charter, private, virtual and career-technology programs, saying no single educational model should be imposed on every family. He said schools should be evaluated through proficiency, graduation, attendance, student improvement and readiness for college, a career or employment.
He also said Oklahoma should offer competitive teacher pay, reduce administrative burdens, emphasize reading and mathematics, and intervene earlier when students fall behind.
Prieto said lawmakers should demand accountability for the money schools already receive. He said he has almost always voted for public-school funding bills and supports school choice.
The candidates also addressed the pressure that rapid population growth places on roads, schools and public services in the Owasso area.
Prieto said transportation work should draw on federal, state and local funding and noted that he voted to put more money into bridge improvements. Public safety, he said, is a core function of government.
Forst called growth “a good problem to have, but only if we manage it correctly.” He proposed coordinating existing state and federal resources with local governments, developer contributions and public-private partnerships under a long-term infrastructure plan.
DHS oversight and child welfare
Both candidates called for stronger oversight of the Department of Human Services, although they emphasized different parts of the system.
Prieto said he has filed bills addressing anonymous child-abuse reports, child placement and the evidentiary standard used in cases. He said he has seen children removed from homes unnecessarily and others left in homes where they were unsafe.
“What I have seen is they take kids away from parents where they should not have, and I have seen them leave kids with parents they should not have,” Prieto said.
He proposed an oversight committee that would include citizens and legislators rather than leaving the agency to police itself.
“The problem now is the fox is always guarding the henhouse,” Prieto said.
Forst said his family has fostered three children and that his experience operating a child care center has shown him how state rules affect families and providers. He supports independent oversight, clearer standards, better communication and more training, supervision and manageable caseloads for caseworkers.
He said the state should protect people who make good-faith abuse reports while holding accountable those who knowingly make false allegations.
“Accountability shouldn’t mean simply blaming the frontline worker when the system itself is broken,” Forst said.
Different first priorities
Asked what each would pursue first in the next legislative session, Prieto named a ban on synthetic kratom.
“People are dying from it,” he said.
Forst said his first bill would order a comprehensive review of child care regulations and eliminate rules that do not directly improve health or safety. He disclosed that he owns a child care center and said his proposal would be informed by that experience.
“The goal would be simple: make it easier for good childcare providers to open, operate and expand while maintaining strong health and safety standards,” Forst said. “This isn’t just a childcare issue. It’s an economic issue.”
The two closing arguments return to the central question of the race: whether Republican voters want Prieto’s continued Freedom Caucus affiliation or a conservative senator who promises to remain outside the faction.
Prieto said his experience in office distinguishes him from his challenger.
“A man with experience is never at the mercy of a man with an opinion,” he said.
Forst said voters should judge the next senator by results rather than labels.
“I don’t want to be known as the senator who talked the most about being conservative,” Forst said. “I want to be known as the senator who actually got things done.”
