'It was weird': House Dems react to State Superintendent Walters calling for his own impeachment proceedings

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Some Oklahoma House Democrats say they were left speechless and confused by State Superintendent Ryan Walters calling for his own impeachment proceedings Friday.

Walters made the announcement during a press conference with media at the state capitol, claiming calls to impeach him at all were motivated by House Speaker Charles McCall's political ambitions for Governor.

It's important to note that neither McCall or Walters have announced they're running in 2026.

"The speaker wants to impeach me for political advantage in the 2026 Governor's race, so let's start the impeachment proceedings," said Walters.

News 4 sat down with Democratic Representatives Cyndi Munson and Mickey Dollens.

Munson said Walters announcement was unprecedented.

"This is not something I don't think any of us in Oklahoma politics have seen," said Munson. "A sitting statewide elected official calling on his own impeachment, but here we are."

Dollens said the announcement disturbed him.

"It was weird and it was an emotional attempt to continue distracting from what we really need to do, which is investigate," said Dollens.

The topic of calling for impeachment proceedings is nothing new for House Democrats. Last week they called on the Republican Supermajority to issue a special bipartisan committee to investigate Walters for the fifth time. Previous calls for the same investigation were made in May 2024, March 2024, December 2023 and August 2023.

Democrats say they want to know how Walters has handled funds allotted to school districts and verify whether or not his actions rise to the level of impeachment.

"We have been asking this for over a year now, and we stand firm and committed in our request because we believe it's our job to hold the state superintendent accountable," said Munson.

Dollens echoed Munson's statements and criticized the amount of public Republican infighting recently, saying that students and teachers should be the priority. He also criticized Walters for linking potential impeachment proceedings to any candidate's political ambitions.

"Any time someone is trying to hold him accountable or ask for some type of transparency, all of a sudden he plays the victim and makes it into a personal attack that has nothing to do with it," said Dollens.

Munson called the public displays that led to Friday's news conference dysfunctional and said that it's not an example of elected leaders doing the jobs they're elected to do. Munson said she wouldn't speculate on Walters' or McCall's political ambitions, bringing the focus back to education.

"Who knows what what they plan to do with their future," said Munson. "There are always rumors, but I know we're living in 2024 today and the focus right now should be on our public school system. Where our tax dollars are going and making sure that we're protecting our our students and our teachers."