Oklahoma County's marquee judicial contest for November has been wiped off the ballot entirely after challenger Warren Plunk died at his Oklahoma City home on August 29 at age 54, leaving incumbent District Judge Susan Stallings to run unopposed on paper for a seat that now cannot be decided until 2027. Under state law, when a judicial candidate set to appear on a general-election ballot dies before ballots are printed, neither name can appear on the ballot at all — nullifying the race outright rather than simply handing the seat to the survivor.
Plunk had filed against Stallings for Oklahoma County District Judicial District 7, Office 10, and the two were the only candidates to file, canceling the nonpartisan primary that had been scheduled for June 16 and sending both directly to the general election, according to Ballotpedia. As NonDoc Media first reported, Plunk and Stallings were set to appear on the November 2026 ballot together before his death intervened. Oklahoma law requires that a special election be called when a general-election judicial candidate dies before ballot printing has begun, and per the election calendar that special election would be held in 2027 if more than one candidate files. Governor Kevin Stitt will set a new candidate filing period for Stallings' seat, per the same reporting.
A Solo Defense Attorney's Long Road To The Bench
Plunk was born on May 6, 1972, in California and earned a Bachelor of History with a minor in English from the University of California, Riverside in 1997, according to the Warren Plunk Campaign. He later moved to Oklahoma, earning his law degree from Oklahoma City University School of Law in 2003 and being admitted to the bar in 2006. Per the same campaign account, he went on to run a solo criminal defense practice in Oklahoma City for nearly two decades, specializing in criminal defense work throughout his career.
Plunk was a member of Higher Plains Baptist Church, the article notes, and he was survived by his wife, Nana Xu — whom he married in 2003 — and their two sons. His campaign had been chaired by defense attorney Joe White and had raised just under $20,000, with approximately $9,000 remaining at the time of his death. Stallings' campaign, by comparison, had raised more than $26,000 and had more than $21,000 remaining, per the same reporting.
Colleagues Remember A Servant's Heart
Tom Vineyard said Plunk passed away at his home and described him as having a servant's heart, while Graham Guhl called him a selfless person devoted to his family and faith. Scott Rowland remarked that there are too damn few Warren Plunks in this business. Even his opponent offered a tribute: Stallings said Warren Plunk was a decent person, according to the same account.
Plunk's death marks the second time an Oklahoma candidate has died during the 2026 election cycle. Republican state Senate District 38 candidate Barry Christian went missing and was later found dead in rural Beckham County in an earlier Hoodline report. In August, the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's Office ruled Christian's death a suicide by gunshot after his body was discovered inside a pickup truck crashed in a remote ravine, a finding his family has publicly disputed as law enforcement investigations remain active, according to the Washington Examiner.
A High-Stakes Bench Left In Limbo
Judicial District 7 covers all of Oklahoma County, the state's most populous, where district judges hold unlimited original jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters, including felony trials and major litigation, according to Ballotpedia. Stallings joined the bench in 2018 after previously serving as an assistant district attorney in Oklahoma County. Her tenure has included presiding over the high-profile murder retrial of former death-row inmate Richard Glossip after two other Oklahoma County judges recused themselves, a case Hoodline covered in its report on the second judge to step away from the case.
In February 2024, Stallings held the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services in direct contempt of court, fining the agency $500 per day for leaving a mentally ill defendant in jail without required treatment — a ruling that reflected broader, systemic delays in the state's competency restoration system. That record now stands uncontested for at least another year, as Oklahoma County voters wait for a new field of candidates and a special election that, under state law, exists specifically so that a vacancy created by a candidate's death doesn't quietly hand a seat to whoever remains on the ballot.
