A Midwest City couple said they had never been to the State Capitol before, but they felt compelled to join other Oklahomans there to call for the ouster of state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters.
Valerie and Lance Carter were among an estimated crowd of 300 who attended an Impeach Ryan Walters Rally held by a group called the Sooner State Party.
“This is important,” Valerie Carter said, as she walked inside the Capitol building. “I can’t believe our education is where it is at. It should be going up, not down.”
Community activist CJ Webber-Neal, a Sooner State Party spokesman, spoke briefly to the crowd gathered on the second-floor rotunda, thanking them for showing up to the rally on a Saturday afternoon to voice their concern for education in Oklahoma and their disapproval of Walters’ leadership at the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
More: Protesters to call for Ryan Walters’ impeachment at Oklahoma state Capitol on Saturday
“We as Oklahomans are tired of what’s going on at the Department of Education,” Webber-Neal said. “We have a variety of Oklahomans here that are saying, ‘Ryan, it’s time for you to go.”
Many of the demonstrators said they wanted Walters impeached because of several controversies, most notably for a recent firestorm surrounding images of nude women on a television screen in the state official’s office. Several protestors also held up signs calling for Walters’ ouster because of the state’s next-to-last-place education ranking.
Protesters gather at the Oklahoma state Capitol to call for the impeachment of state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters during a demonstration organized by the Sooner State Party in Oklahoma City, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025.
Walters has been embroiled in controversy in recent weeks after two members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education said they saw the images on a television in Walters’ office during one of the board’s executive sessions. Walters denied the allegations as several state leaders called for an investigation. House Speaker Kyle Hilbert said last week his research vindicates both sides in the dispute. The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation continue to investigate what happened.
“Ban boobies not books” and “Impeach porn-obsessed Ryan Walters” were among the signs that referred to this latest controversy, and others.
Kris Lackey of Norman held a sign that displayed the number “50.” He said he attended the rally mostly because he was troubled by the state’s low education ranking and because he felt Walters did not support educators.
Meanwhile, at one point during the rally, demonstrators loudly booed when they saw several people standing on the third floor above the rally speakers, holding up signs with messages of support for Walters.
One of the Walters’ supporters, Linda Woodrow of Oklahoma City, said she didn’t learn about the rally until the last minute, but she decided to attend to champion Walters.
“He’s helping our students,” she said.
Eventually, Woodrow and two others with their signs in support of Walters left the area. An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper was later seen accompanying the group to the parking lot. In their absence, people with anti-Walters signage went to the third floor to display their messages above the rally stage.
Other speakers at the rally included Garland Pruitt, leader of the Oklahoma NAACP; Alicia Andrews, former chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party; and Jennettie Marshall, a Democrat who has declared her candicacy for state superintendent.
Protesters gather at the Oklahoma state Capitol to call for the impeachment of state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters during a demonstration organized by the Sooner State Party in Oklahoma City, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025.
Andrews told the crowd the rally was nonpartisan and she urged them to get out and vote and get behind a candidate for state schools superintendent who cares about Oklahoma’s children.
Andrews said people are not talking about the issues they should be talking about under Walters’ leadership.
“We’re talking about prayer and Trump Bibles and what we need to be talking about is our students,” she said, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Marshall, a former member of the Tulsa School Board, also alluded to Walter’s plan to place Bibles in every Oklahoma school.
“In my culture, we were taught that the first Bible was the way that we walked and lived the Bible,” she said.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Impeach Ryan Walters rally draws crowd of about 300 to State Capitol