He then worked as General Counsel and Vice President of External Relations for Phoenix Motorcars, an electric vehicle startup company.

[12] Balkman won the Republican nomination for District 45 of the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 2000, running against John English and Randy Boyd,[13] and defeated Collins in the general election.

[15] Balkman was subsequently named leader of the House Republican Caucus and the Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Health and Social Services.

[14] In October 2013, Governor Mary Fallin appointed Balkman to the district court based in Cleveland County, where he succeeded justice Tom Lucas.

On August 26, 2019, Balkman found Johnson & Johnson responsible for creating a "public nuisance" under state law, saying that the company's "misleading marketing and promotion of opioids created a nuisance" and that it "compromised the health and safety of thousands of Oklahomans.

[24] The Court's opinion states that Balkman "erred in extending [Oklahoma's] public nuisance statute to the manufacturing, marketing, and selling of prescription opioids."

The Court's ruling also notes that Balkman "[stepped] into the shoes of the legislature by creating and funding government programs designed to address social and health issues" in an "unprecedented expansion of public nuisance law.

[29] Balkman served as the Boy Scouts of America Assistant Scoutmaster and Chairman of the Sooner District.