The Talley Files — Which Troy Talley is running for House District 81?

Exhibit A · Talley’s pledge

He checked the box.

This wasn’t a casual questionnaire. Talley filled it out, in his own words, to get his campaign “GOP certified,” a label the Oklahoma Republican Party gives candidates who agree with at least 80 percent of its platform. The form logged 36 minutes to complete.

Question 43 of the Oklahoma Republican Party’s 2026 candidate survey lists eleven things the party wants to block in our public schools. The last one reads:

“We oppose any increased state funding for the government schools.”

Note the phrase he agreed to: “the government schools.” Edmond families call them our schools.

Troy Talley checked Agree. One click, all eleven items. In that same checkbox, he also signed on to oppose:

School districts issuing bonds to cover operating costs (item 4)
Public schools being designated “gun free zones” (item 3)

What it means for Edmond students: Every year, Edmond classrooms get more kids, costs go up, and good teachers get recruited to Texas and Kansas. Freeze state funding and the math is brutal: bigger class sizes, fewer counselors, fewer reading specialists, and less of the one-on-one attention our kids need. Troy Talley signed off on the freeze with a single click.

Question 43 of the OKGOP survey with the Agree option selected

Exhibit A · Troy Talley’s answer to Question 43, OKGOP 2026 Candidate Survey. Full survey (PDF)

Exhibit B · Talley’s “amended” pledge

Seven weeks later, in the middle of his runoff, a new answer.

Troy Talley checked Agree on May 21 and left it there through the June primary. No correction, no clarification, nothing. Then on July 7, 2026, in the middle of his runoff against Rusty Rains, he sent the Oklahoma Republican Party a note asking to change it. He has never said what changed, beyond telling NonDoc his team “reviewed it.” In his words:

“In Section 42.C. I checked ‘agree’ to those statements. I hope to change that response to ‘other.’”

The note says he opposes any spending increase “that doesn’t make its way to the classroom, or is directed to wasteful and/or liberal causes,” and that he favors funding “challenging curriculum, securing safe schools and increased compensation for our best teachers.”

Troy Talley's July 7, 2026 amendment note

Exhibit B · Troy Talley’s amendment, July 7, 2026. Full image

May 21, 2026Talley submits the OKGOP survey. Question 43: Agree.

June 16, 2026Republican primary. Talley advances to a runoff.

July 7, 2026Mid-runoff, Talley submits a note asking to change his Question 43 answer.

August 20, 2026The Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition flags his answer online.

August 25, 2026Talley wins the Republican runoff over Rusty Rains.

October 10, 2026Talley tells NonDoc his critics are “using an old copy of my first answer.”

November 3, 2026General election.

What changed, what didn’t, and what he says now

Read the amendment closely.

Asked about it by NonDoc in October, Talley said he answered early, while trying to get his campaign “GOP certified,” and “not really knowing fully what the question meant.” He said his critics are “using an old copy of my first answer,” and that “what they’re saying out there is just incorrect. It’s just false.” Here’s what the documents say.

01
The form still says Agree. The note says he “hope[s] to change” the answer. The party’s own amended copy still shows Agree checked. The “old copy” is the only copy. He didn’t retract it; he asked.
02
He still opposes new funding, with an exception he controls. The note rules out any increase “directed to wasteful and/or liberal causes.” He doesn’t say what counts. A teacher raise, a counselor, a new elementary school: any of it can be called wasteful or liberal after the fact. And the raises he does support go to “our best teachers,” which is merit pay for a few, with nothing for the teachers Edmond loses to Texas and Kansas every year.
03
He knew exactly what the question meant. It’s one sentence in plain English. The form logged 36 minutes to complete. Two pages earlier, on Question 25, he skipped Agree, chose Other, and typed his own position on 5G towers. He knew how to object to one item in a list, and he did it when he wanted to. On Question 43, he chose Agree.
04
He only amended one line. The note addresses the funding item. Everything else he agreed to on schools, elections, and government stands as submitted. It’s in Exhibit D.

Both answers are his. He stood by the first one for seven weeks, asked for a do-over mid-runoff, and when education groups and reporters raised it this fall, he called the criticism “false.” Which one shows up at the Capitol?

Talley quotes: NonDoc, October 10, 2026. His Question 25 answer: survey PDF, page 8.

Exhibit C · Talley’s Ryan Walters donation

He could have backed anyone. He backed Ryan Walters.

Troy Talley has lived in Edmond for more than thirty years. In all that time, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission shows exactly one political contribution from him: $250 to Ryan Walters’ campaign for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, March 28, 2022.

And the Walters agenda is all over this survey: no new money for “the government schools,” creationism in science class, abolish the Department of Education. Talley didn’t just donate to Ryan Walters. He signed on to the Walters agenda, line by line. It’s in Exhibit D.

His own iVoterGuide profile lists the same contribution.

Oklahoma Ethics Commission record: $250 contribution from Troy Talley to Ryan Matthew Walters, March 28, 2022

Exhibit C · Oklahoma Ethics Commission, Ryan Matthew Walters candidate committee, 2022 1st Quarter Report. Home address redacted. Verify it: guardian.ok.gov, committee #10425, 2022 Q1 contributions.

Exhibit D · It gets worse · No amendments

It wasn’t just one line.

He asked to change exactly one answer. Everything below he left standing, in the survey’s own words.

Schools and kids

What he agreed to

In plain terms

42item 4

Penalize “any district that closes its schools” for a walkout “with a funding cut equivalent to the daily payroll and expenses of the district.”

If Edmond teachers walk out again, like they did in 2018 to fight for a long-overdue raise, Edmond schools lose a full day of funding for every day they’re out.

22item 2

“We support the complete abolishment of Child Protective Services (CPS) and the Department of Human Services (DHS).”

No state agency left to investigate child abuse. None.

38item 4

“Biblical creation and intelligent design must be taught and must receive equal funding, class time, and materials as other theories such as evolution.”

Science class splits time and budget with creationism.

42item 12

“The independent testing of radiation levels in all public schools with full disclosure of the proven hazards” of Wi-Fi and cell signals, including “mitochondrial and DNA damage.”

School budgets spent testing classrooms for Wi-Fi radiation??? 🤯

Your vote

67item 6

“We urge that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 be repealed.”

Repeal the law that banned literacy tests and lets the federal government block discriminatory voting rules. Take it away and there’s no backstop left. That’s the road back to Jim Crow.

67item 1

“We oppose internet voting, the use of tabulation machines and electronic voting machines of any kind.”

Oklahoma County’s scanners, gone. Results days later, counted by hand, with every error that comes with it.

And “internet voting” of “any kind” includes the electronic ballot delivery our service members rely on to vote from overseas. Shut that down and a soldier deployed abroad is waiting on the mail both ways, with the clock running. This hurts the Oklahomans serving our country the most.

67item 2

“We oppose all motor voter laws, automatic voter registration (AVR), and all forms of electronic databases, such as ERIC.”

No more registering to vote when you renew your license at the tag agency. Fewer ways to register, fewer Edmond voters.

66item 11

“We support requiring voters to re-register if they have not voted in a five-year period.”

Skip two elections and you’re purged from the rolls.

Your government

59item 9

“The abolishment, or reduction and restructuring, of the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education, IRS, CIA, ATF, FBI, FEMA, NSA, DHS, CDC, and the Department of Labor.”

Abolish FEMA… in Oklahoma?! He signed off on gutting the agency that shows up for Edmond families after the tornado hits.

51items 2, 12

“We support abolishing the income tax entirely” and “eliminating taxation on income and property.”

No property tax. That’s the money for Edmond schools, Edmond police, and our roads, bridges, and water lines. What replaces it? He doesn’t say.

28item 3

“We support privatization of the Social Security Disability, Medicare, and Medicaid programs.”

Privatize Medicare. Everyday Oklahomans lose, shareholders win.

Every answer above is verified against the survey PDF, which shows the box he checked on each question.

He checked the box.

Seven weeks later, in the middle of his runoff, a new answer.

Read the amendment closely.

He could have backed anyone. He backed Ryan Walters.

It wasn’t just one line.

Schools and kids

Your vote

Your government

Which Troy Talley shows up at the Capitol?