Oklahoma State Capitol Welcomes Leadership Changes As New Session Approaches In 2025

There will be some big changes at the state capitol when lawmakers return for the 2025 legislative session. For the first time since 2016, there will be new leadership in both the Senate and House.

Kyle Hilbert and Lonnie Paxton are scheduled to step into their new leadership roles. They both need to be officially confirmed, but both Republicans say they have exciting goals for the new year.

While all eyes right now are on the presidential race, local state politics are about to see a big change. For the first time in eight years, Oklahoma will have new Senate and House leadership at the same time. Current House Speaker Charles McCall and Senate Leader Greg Treat are term-limited, meaning new faces and new ideas.

Bristow Republican Kyle Hilbert is in line to become the new Speaker of the House. At just 30 years old, he would be the youngest House leader in state history.

“For me, I just really worked hard and talked to some people who served in the state legislature to say, 'Hey, even at a young age can I make a difference?' Because I don’t want to just fill a seat,” Hilbert said.

First elected when he was 21, Hilbert has held a variety of roles and had 40 of his own bills signed into law. For three years, he served as Vice Chair of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, helping craft the state budget. In 2022, he was chosen as the Speaker Pro Tempore, presiding over the chamber.

“For me, in the legislature, I’ve been in for eight years, we have 12-year term limits. And so, I’m excited as well about the opportunity with Governor Stitt — it’ll be his final two years as Governor. What can we go get accomplished on his way out,” Hilbert added.

Hilbert’s goals include focusing on mental health funding and public education. As a parent, Hilbert says he wants to make child care affordable and accessible and make Oklahoma an appealing place for workers to move to.

“We have some big issues. You know, one of them being child care. As we look at the workforce issues and try to bring more and more companies to the state of Oklahoma, that’s great, but we also have to make sure those workers have a place to live and that they also have a place where their children are safe and protected and in a good place to grow up, and that we have a strong education system,” Hilbert said.

On the other side of the chamber, Sen. Greg Treat is leaving the legislature after serving as President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma Senate since 2019. His successor was supposed to be Sen. Greg McCortney from Ada, but McCortney lost the Republican primary for reelection in June. Republican Sen. Lonnie Paxton from Chickasha will take over.

“It’s one of those deals where if things are working really well, there’s no need to change them just because somebody new is coming in. But, you know, when you have new people coming in, you’re going to see some new things in the House and new things in the Senate just because there’s going to be new people that are running things. That’s just natural. And there are some ideas that I have that I want to try out and hopefully they’ll be good ideas,” Paxton said.

Paxton is a fifth-generation Oklahoman raised on his family’s farm. An insurance agent for most of his career, he was first elected to the Senate in 2016. He was chosen as the new Senate leader just weeks ago but says he’s already hard at work.

“I know right now my main thing is to try to understand this job. There’s a lot of transition to it, a lot of things — a lot more than I knew is entailed in this job than I first thought there was. So, right now I’m in that process where I’m working with Pro Tem Treat to kind of figure everything out,” Paxton explained.

As the designated Senate Pro Tem, Paxton would become second in the line of succession for Governor after the Lt. Governor. While Sen. Greg Treat had some very public disagreements with Governor Kevin Stitt, Paxton says he has a good relationship with the Governor.

“I really enjoy working with Governor Stitt. We’ve worked together since he came here six years ago, and I look forward to working with him some more. We’ve talked about some of the issues that we’ve had in the past, and we have a great working relationship,” Paxton said.

Paxton says he’s passionate about making the state’s roads safer. He’s been a volunteer firefighter for 33 years and says he’s seen dangerous and poor roads throughout rural Oklahoma while responding to calls.

“If we have extra money in the state, we need to really look at continuing to overfund the roads programs so we can make sure these roads get safe because it’s simply going to save lives,” Paxton said.

Paxton agrees with the Governor on cutting taxes if the state has the money for it and is proud of the grocery tax cut lawmakers passed earlier this year. He says he also has a good relationship with Hilbert, having known him since before both were lawmakers.

“Kyle Hilbert’s coming in, I’ve known Kyle before he was actually in the legislature, so we have a long-standing relationship. My oldest son and Kyle competed against one another in a speech contest when they were in high school,” Paxton said.

It’s that relationship both new legislative leaders hope will help get things done as they work together, along with the Governor, to pass new laws. Paxton is running unopposed in November’s general election. The Senate will vote again to confirm Paxton in November. Hilbert is also running unopposed. His final vote by the full House will be in early January 2025. The new legislative session begins on Feb. 3, 2025.