The Oklahoma congressional delegation’s wealth lies not so much in stocks and bonds as it does in real estate and personal business interests that range from consulting firms to agriculture to McDonald’s franchises.
A NOTUS analysis of the Oklahoma delegation’s most recent annual financial disclosures reveals key details about how the state’s seven lawmakers manage their personal finances while serving the public.
Many of these lawmakers entered office with millions and remain significantly wealthier than most of their constituents.
Rep. Kevin Hern entered office with a median net worth of more than $61 million, according to his 2018 financial disclosure. Since then, his median net worth has grown to $110 million, with only two liabilities: credit cards with recurring balances of $15,001 to $50,000.
Of the tens of millions of dollars Hern brought to Congress, much of it stemmed from McDonald’s restaurants; Hern, a Republican, served for 13 years on the McDonald’s National Leadership Council and owned two dozen franchise locations.
On his 2018 financial disclosure, Hern reported the trust that “Operates 10 McDonald’s” was worth $25 million to $50 million and provided an annual income of $1 million to $5 million. “Administrative management of 10 McDonald’s restaurants” was valued at an additional $500,001 to $1 million.
The lawmaker also reported seven separate loans on McDonald’s restaurants acquired from 2016 to 2018. Three of the restaurant loans were valued $100,001 to $250,000, one was valued $250,001 to $500,000, another $50,001 to $100,000 and the final two were valued $500,001 to $1 million.
As of 2024, Hern no longer reported any outstanding McDonald’s-related liabilities, and his only reported assets tied to the fast-food chain are $101,002 to $265,000 in McDonald’s Corporation stock. (Hern did disclose up to $100,000 worth of credit card debt.)
Hern has also in the past failed to properly disclose personal stock and corporate security trades, per the requirements of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act. Hern is now running for the Senate, with President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Within the state, several Oklahoma representatives entered office with significant wealth tied to business ownership.
Oklahoma’s senior Republican House member, Rep. Tom Cole, reported a median net worth of nearly $3.2 million in 2008. A significant portion of his wealth was made up of his partnership in the political campaign consulting company “Cole, Hargrave, Snodgrass and Associates,” which he co-founded before first running for elected office in 1989.
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By 2024, Cole’s median net worth had grown to $9.4 million. Cole’s properties, a personal residence and 10 acres of land co-owned with his brother, both increased in value since he entered office. Additionally, the lawmaker owns a host of various oil and energy stocks.
Delaney Marsco, director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit focused on money in politics, told NOTUS it’s not uncommon for a candidate for office to bring some wealth to the table.
“More often than not, these very wealthy lawmakers are wealthy when they get into Congress, and that’s because it’s very expensive to run for office,” Marsco said. Every year, members of Congress are required in annual financial reports to disclose the values of each of their assets and liabilities in broad ranges, like from $15,001 to 50,000. The ranges get bigger the larger the assets or liabilities get. The biggest value range they can report is open-ended — $50 million or more. There are also assets a lawmaker doesn’t have to report, such as their primary residence.
Still, disclosures offer a window into how Oklahoma’s lawmakers are making their money. As Congress debates whether lawmakers should be allowed to own individual stocks, the financial disclosures of the Oklahoma lawmakers with the highest median net worths indicate that the stock market does play a significant, if not all-encompassing, role in their personal wealth.
NOTUS calculated the median net worth of each lawmaker by first finding each member’s minimum net worth — the sum of the minimum value of all assets minus the sum of the maximum value of all their liabilities — and their maximum net worth — maximum asset value minus minimum liabilities. NOTUS then calculated the median between the minimum and maximum net worths.
Lawmakers filed their most recent financial disclosures in 2025, and they detail the lawmakers’ finances in 2024.
Unlike annual financial reports, lawmakers must report most individual stock, bond and cryptocurrency trades within 30 to 45 days of the trade, per the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act.
Several of Oklahoma’s lawmakers have significant investments in the state’s agricultural industry, which boasts more than 70,000 farms, according to the 2022 U.S. Census of Agriculture.
In 2008, Rep. Frank Lucas reported a median net worth of just over $1 million, including a mortgage on more than 500 acres of farmland valued from $100,001 to $250,000, two tractor notes worth $25,002 to $65,000 and a farm operating loan note and four revolving lines of credit each worth $15,001 to $50,000.
Sixteen years later, in 2024, Lucas’ median net worth had grown to $2.6 million. Following the death of his mother in 2020, the congressman acquired hundreds of acres of farmland that are being drilled for oil and gas royalties, according to his disclosure.
Oklahoma’s junior U.S. senator, Republican Markwayne Mullin, had a median net worth of $5.9 million when he joined the House in 2012, according to NOTUS’ analysis of congressional financial records. Much of his wealth is tied to various personal businesses, including Mullin Farms, Mullin Plumbing, Mullin Services, Mullin Properties and Mullin Environmental.
By 2024, Mullin’s median net worth had grown to $45 million.
During his time in Congress, Mullin’s family cattle ranch has grown in value from less than $50,000 to somewhere from $1 million to $5 million. Meanwhile, “Mullin Properties LLC,” which was valued from $1 million to $5 million in 2012, now includes at least 14 different investment properties worth $3 million to $12 million combined.
Mullin joined Congress with no reported liabilities. But that’s changed of late: In 2022, he took out a 15-year joint mortgage for $1 million to $5 million, and in 2024, he opened a revolving line of credit valued from $5 million to $25 million.
Mullin was cited for violating the STOCK Act twice so far this year for failing to properly disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock and bond trades, NOTUS reported.
In July, Mullin was more than two years late to disclose seven stock purchases by his wife, each worth about $1,000, and was over a year late in disclosing three personal purchases of municipal security stock worth at least $315,000. And just a few weeks later, he violated the STOCK Act again when he was months late disclosing three stock and bond transactions worth at least $1.4 million.
A spokesperson for Mullin, who Trump this month nominated to become secretary of Homeland Security, told NOTUS the senator “uses independent, third-party operator firms” for his investments, adding, “He does not conduct nor inform individual trades. His financial reports are filed bi-weekly with Senate Ethics to ensure compliance with all federal laws.”
Since Trump nominated Mullin, his wealth has come under even greater scrutiny, including in an investigation by the New York Times.
The relatively modest wealth of Oklahoma’s senior senator, Republican James Lankford, lies primarily in stock ownership. Lankford entered the House in 2010 with a median net worth of about $217,500. Since then, his median net worth has grown to about $758,500, mainly through the trading of various stocks, according to his 2024 Senate financial disclosure.
The delegation’s newest member, Republican Rep. Josh Brecheen, had a median net worth of about $240,000 when he joined Congress in 2022, according to NOTUS’ analysis. Brecheen’s small portfolio of assets included livestock, land, a commercial trucking business and a state pension plan worth an undetermined amount.
Brecheen owned and operated a trucking company for four years before running for Congress.
The business only appears on his first congressional financial disclosure, with a value of $15,000 to $50,000, in addition to a reported annual income of $100,001 to $1 million.
Lawmakers are not required to report the sale of personal businesses the way they are for stocks, and the trucking business does not appear on any of Brecheen’s consequent disclosures.
When asked about this disclosure, Breechen told NOTUS he shut down and sold all of his shares of the trucking company shortly before assuming his role in D.C. He had no additional comment on the matter.
By 2024, his median net worth fell to about $207,500. Brecheen still claims farmland and cattle as his assets, with no evidence of stock trading.
Rep. Stephanie Bice, who is among Oklahoma’s newest delegation members, has grown her median net worth from $582,000 before entering Congress in 2020 to about $986,000 in 2024. Bice’s financial interests lie in stock investments and includes the debts of two personal mortgage loans.
For lawmakers, stock trading has become a way to gain personal wealth outside of their congressional salary or representational allowance. Many government reform organizations, including the Campaign Legal Center, argue for more reform on congressional stock trading.
“We see that a lot of members of Congress do seem to actively trade individual stocks while they’re in Congress,” Marsco said. Their investment in the market, she says, “suggests that they are really cognizant of how the climate of the country and their work affects their own personal financial interest.”
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