Statewide — Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals retention, judge by judge

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Per-judge retention calls inside

The ballot

The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals hears civil cases the Supreme Court assigns it, usually in three-judge panels; most of its opinions are unpublished and set no precedent. Its judges are appointed by the governor from Judicial Nominating Commission lists and face retention elections every six years — an uncontested yes-or-no question. Unlike the Supreme Court justices, these judges are voted on by district: you will see only the judges for your district on your ballot. A majority of YES votes retains. The election is November 3, 2026.

Four judges are on the ballot: Stacie Hixon (District 1, Office 1), Jane Wiseman (District 1, Office 2), Deborah Barnes (District 2, Office 1), and Jim Huber (District 2, Office 2). (Two district/office pairings in the guide below follow the Oklahoma Policy Institute's roster; one commentary source swaps the Wiseman and Barnes district labels — the names, offices' courts and recommendations are consistent across sources, and your sample ballot is the controlling document.)

Oklahoma publishes no official performance evaluations for these judges. The record below is court biographies, the opinions commentators cite, and the cycle's retention commentary — printed with its stated bases and evaluated on the evidence, the same treatment the Supreme Court guide in this series gives its scorecards. One structural caution, stated by the GenXpletives voter guide and adopted here: most Civil Appeals opinions are unpublished, so a few cited cases cannot sum up a judge.

Judge Stacie Hixon — District 1, Office 1

• Appointed by: Governor Kevin Stitt, March 2020. On the court six years. Before appointment, a partner at Steidley & Neal in Tulsa, practicing insurance, employment and civil litigation.
• Credits: Every commentator in our research who takes a position recommends retaining her — Bates, Steve Fair, the open-government guide (which credits her vote "FOR THE PEOPLE" in bond-validation case #O-120619), and the Oklahoma State Capital journal, which cites her dissent from Judge Barnes's landlord-liability ruling (below) as affirmative evidence for retention.
• Dirt: None documented.

Judge Jane Wiseman — District 1, Office 2

• Appointed by: Governor Brad Henry, March 2005. On the court twenty-one years — the longest-serving judge on this ballot. Before appointment, a Tulsa County special judge and district judge.
• The case against her, printed in full: Columnist Steve Fair recommends do not retain on Wiseman (and on Barnes). The Oklahoma State Capital journal's criticism is a ruling: Wiseman wrote the decision dismissing the challenge to Governor Stitt's COVID-era business-curfew order on mootness grounds rather than reaching the merits — the journal calls it a "Pontius Pilate-type ruling" that avoided protecting the business owners' constitutional rights. That criticism is a genuine merits complaint about a real opinion, and voters who share it can weigh it.
• Our evaluation: One criticized disposition doctrine (mootness) in twenty-one years of service, with no misconduct, ethics, or performance record documented by any source in this research, is a jurisprudence dispute — the same category this page declined to price as proven cause in the Supreme Court guide. The do-not-retain case against Wiseman is thinner than the one against Justice Darby, and that one did not meet the bar either.
• Credits: Two decades on the court atop prior trial-bench service as a special and district judge.

Judge Deborah Barnes — District 2, Office 1

• Appointed by: Governor Brad Henry, 2008. On the court eighteen years. Before appointment: private practice, service as a Supreme Court staff attorney, and corporate legal work; commentators note she had no prior judicial experience at appointment — biography, printed as the commentary states it, eighteen years ago and two retentions back.
• The case against her, printed in full: Steve Fair recommends do not retain; commentator Michael Bates's past cycles' calls were likewise NO (per the Muskogee Politico guide's account of the 2020 cycle). The substantive criticism, from the Oklahoma State Capital journal, is a ruling: Barnes authored a decision allowing a negligence claim against a landlord to proceed based on the acts of the landlord's tenant — the journal argues that liability-expanding reasoning drives up the cost of doing business in Oklahoma. Judge Hixon dissented from that ruling.
• Our evaluation: As with Wiseman, the documented case is a ruling the critics disagree with — a tort-law judgment, reviewable and reasoned — plus pre-bench biography from 2008. No source documents misconduct, an ethics finding, or a pattern of refusing to follow the law. Under our standard that is not proven cause, and the recommendation pattern is worth naming plainly: the cycle's do-not-retain calls land on the two Brad Henry appointees and on no one else, which is a fact about the campaigns as much as about the judges.
• Credits: Eighteen years on the court; a Supreme Court staff-attorney background before private and corporate practice.

Judge Jim Huber — District 2, Office 2

• Appointed by: Governor Kevin Stitt, April 2023. On the court three years; before appointment, a Tulsa County special judge and district judge, after private practice. (Court sources spell the name James R. Huber; the compiled roster carries "Jim Huber.")
• Credits: The Oklahoma State Capital journal credits Huber with "a history of voting for transparency," including majority rulings requiring disclosure of government business conducted by personal text message and requiring emails to be produced in original form on open-records requests — noting the latter was later reversed by the Supreme Court, which is the appellate system working, not a demerit. Retain recommendations from Steve Fair and the other commentators in our research who take positions.
• Dirt: None documented.

OUR CALL

Our rule: Retain is the verdict for a judge with a serviceable documented record; removal requires proven cause — documented misconduct, proven activist judging that breaks faith with the law, or an evaluation failure. Oklahoma provides no official evaluation. The documented cases against Wiseman and Barnes are single-ruling disagreements and appointing-governor vintage; against Hixon and Huber there is no case at all. None of it is proven cause.

Retain: Stacie Hixon, Jane Wiseman, Deborah Barnes, Jim Huber. Do not retain: none.

For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website. Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. --- Sources - Oklahoma Policy Institute, 2026 — judges on the 2026 ballot (roster, districts and offices) — https://okpolicy.org/judges-ballot-oklahoma-need-know/ - OK Politics Today, October 2026 — "Before You Vote: Nine Oklahoma judges" (appointing governors and years: Hixon 2020, Wiseman 2005, Barnes 2008, Huber 2023; prior service) — https://okpoliticstoday.com/2026/10/before-you-vote-nine-oklahoma-judges-face-retention-decisions/ - Oklahoma State Capital journal, October 2026 — Wiseman mootness ruling; Barnes landlord-liability ruling and Hixon dissent; Huber transparency record — https://oklahomastatecapital.substack.com/p/the-november-ballot-no-one-is-talking - Steve Fair, October 2026 — recommendations (retain Hixon and Huber; do not retain Wiseman and Barnes) — http://stevefair.blogspot.com/2026/10/steves-recommendations-on-sqs-judges.html - GenXpletives, October 2026 — "Who else is on your Oklahoma ballot" (five lower-court judges; caution on unpublished opinions) — https://genxpletives.substack.com/p/who-else-is-on-your-oklahoma-ballot - Muskogee Politico, October 2026 — judge-by-judge notes (Hixon and Barnes backgrounds; past-cycle recommendations) — https://www.muskogeepolitico.com/2026/10/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about.html

AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.

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