Oklahoma voters will get to see the two candidates for attorney general square off in person next month, after Democrat Nick Coffey and Republican Jon Echols agreed to a general election debate billed as Burden of Proof. The event is set for 5:45 p.m. on October 22 at the Metro Tech District Center Auditorium in Oklahoma City, and it will be free and open to the public.
The debate, first reported by NonDoc Media, will feature questions written and asked by professional journalists rather than the candidates or a live audience. Coffey, nominated by the Oklahoma Democratic Party, previously worked at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Oklahoma, where he handled cases involving criminal organizations, money laundering, immigration and fraud. He also served on the Department of Justice's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and was recognized as prosecutor of the year by the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2023, becoming the youngest person to receive that award.
Two Very Different Resumes Head Into the Auditorium
Echols, the Republican nominee, brings a dozen years in the Oklahoma Legislature to the race, including eight years as House majority floor leader while representing House District 90 in southwest Oklahoma City. Outside the Capitol, he owns a slate of health care companies and co-founded Turn Key Health Clinics in 2009, later serving as its president. He has also worked at Echols and Associates and at the Crowe & Dunlevy law firm.
Nick Coffey's campaign materials describe him as a fifth-generation Oklahoman, according to the seed facts behind the NonDoc report. Jon Echols' own campaign site makes the same claim about his family history, stating he is “a fifth-generation Oklahoman whose roots go back to the Land Run,” per Jon Echols' campaign website.
How to Watch, and Where to Sit
Seating at Metro Tech will be available by reservation, with attendees able to reserve spots through a Google Form. The venue sits at 1900 Springlake Drive in Oklahoma City, with an entrance accessible from Springlake Drive west of Martin Luther King Avenue.
For anyone who can't make it in person, Griffin Media will livestream the debate on the News 9 website and Facebook page as well as on the News on 6 website and Facebook page. The debate will also stream on NonDoc's Facebook page and on Oklahoma's Own Politics' YouTube page. Co-moderators will be Tres Savage of NonDoc and Jennifer Pierce of News 9, and fact-checking efforts after the debate will be led by readfrontier.org.
The Republican Nominee
Echols was selected as the Republican nominee.
Part of a Larger Debate Series
The October 22 matchup is part of a broader effort by NonDoc, which has partnered with Oklahoma media outlets and civic organizations to host and broadcast more than 40 public political debates since 2018. This year's debate series carries sponsorships from groups including Hilliary Communications, AARP Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center, the Oklahoma Association of Realtors, McSpadden, Milner & Rott, the State Chamber of Oklahoma, Scholars Strategy Network, Civitas Strategies, Cornerstone Government Affairs and the ACLU of Oklahoma.
