Oklahomans are a step closer to having a new governor and U.S. senator following primary elections where they also rejected raising the minimum wage on Tuesday.
In Oklahoma, Republicans have dominated statewide races for more than a decade.
Congressman Kevin Hern claimed the Republican nomination for a Senate seat vacated by Markwayne Mullin after President Donald Trump tapped him for U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security.
GOP governor hopefuls Mike Mazzei and Gentner Drummond advanced from a crowded field and will face off against Democrat Cyndi Munson.
Top-level statewide offices were up for grabs this year. All races drew multiple Republican candidates, and Democrats voted in several competitive primaries. The Libertarian Party of Oklahoma is able to hold primaries but did not have multiple candidates for any state-level office.
For the first time in a decade, Oklahoma voters registered as independent were not allowed to vote in any primary. The Democratic Party opened its primaries to independents in 2016, but did not meet the State Election Board’s paperwork requirements to do so for the 2026-2027 elections.
Primaries in which no candidate received more than half the votes will head to a runoff Aug. 25, where voters will decide between the top two candidates for their party. The general election will be held on Nov. 3.
U.S. Senate
U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern, who represents Oklahoma’s First Congressional District, significantly outpaced the four other Republican candidates for the state’s U.S. Senate seat. Hern was endorsed by President Donald Trump and captured 63.7% of the vote.
He will face off against the winner of a Democratic runoff between nurse and Chickasaw citizen N'Kiyla “Jasmine” Thomas and employment lawyer Jim Priest. Independents Ron Meinhardt and Curtis Stinnett, as well as Libertarian Sevier White, will also appear on the ballot.
The winner will replace Alan Armstrong. Armstrong took over for Markwayne Mullin after Trump tapped him to be the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security.
U.S. House of Representatives - Congressional District 1
Jackson Lahmeyer and Mark Tedford will advance to an August runoff in the race to represent Oklahoma’s first district in the U.S. House of Representatives. The winner will face Democratic candidate John Croisant in the fall.
Lahmeyer was endorsed by President Donald Trump last month. Lahmeyer, who founded Pastors for Trump, is a pastor at Sheridan Church in Tulsa. He told The Oklahoman he embraces the term “Christian nationalist.”
Lahmeyer faces reports of infidelity, according to British tabloid The Daily Mail. He addressed the rumors on X Monday morning.
“This matter was already dealt with privately between me and my wife, Kendra, through counsel and prayer with God and spiritual advisors,” Lahmeyer wrote. “I own crossing a boundary line through text messaging. I also ended all communication. The British Tabloid tried to paint me out in a way which is not the case.”
Mark Tedford, R-Tulsa, has served as a representative in the state legislature since 2022. He is the owner and CEO of Jenks-based Tedford Insurance, according to his LinkedIn profile, and describes 30 years of real-world “business experience on Main Street” on his campaign website.
Other U.S. House races
Oklahoma’s four other congressional seats are also up for reelection this year. Republican incumbents Josh Brecheen (CD2), Frank Lucas (CD3) and Tom Cole (CD4) all defeated primary challengers.
Those races each drew two Democratic hopefuls.
Republican Incumbent Stephanie Bice had no primary challengers in CD5. In the Democratic primary, former educator and Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Jena Nelson received 57% of the vote. She beat union leader Trey Martin, despite his endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont).
Attorney general
Jon Echols will move on to the general election for Oklahoma attorney general after beating Jeff Starling with 55% of the vote. He’ll face Democrat Nick Coffey.
Echols represented southwest Oklahoma City in the state House of Representatives from 2012-2024. He served as the house majority leader during the last eight years of his tenure.
Echols told Oklahoma Voice he supports working with tribal governments, the death penalty and transparent governance. He also said he would support religious charter schools “in theory,” such as the proposed taxpayer-funded St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School that was canceled last year.
Attorney general candidates have raised and spent approximately $3.9 million during their campaigns, making the race the second most expensive in the state, behind the governor’s race.
Treasurer
Cindy Byrd will face Libertarian Kiefer Perry in November’s general election after Byrd took more than 60% of the vote in the Republican primary. No Democrats ran for the office.
“The voters have spoken and they have given us a mandate,” Byrd said in a statement. “That mandate is to implement an unparalleled level of transparency, oversight, and accountability for every tax dollar the state collects and for every tax dollar it spends.”
Byrd is finishing up her term as the state’s State Auditor and Inspector. She announced earlier this year that she was running for lieutenant governor, but she pivoted to the treasurer's race on the final day of candidate filing.
Byrd beat incumbent Todd Russ. Since taking office in 2023, Russ has prioritized investing in Oklahoma community banks rather than larger financial institutions. He has vocally opposed environment-social-governance policies at banks, which he says are discriminatory against the fossil fuels industry.
He has clashed multiple times with Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who is still in the running for governor. Their most recent dust-up concerns an investment contract the state awarded to a fledgling firm with connections to Gov. Kevin Stitt’s former chief of staff.
Superintendent of Public Instruction
The race for state Superintendent of Public Instruction will come down to a runoff on the Republican side between Robert Franklin and James Taylor. Franklin is endorsed by the group Oklahomans for Public Education, and is a member of the Oklahoma Educator Hall of Fame with more than four decades of teaching experience.
James Taylor teaches U.S. history and government in Little Axe. He’s also a pastor. Taylor supported former Superintendent Ryan Walters’ push to get bibles into schools, and was adamantly anti-mask during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to his firing from Oklahoma City Public Schools. He recently told Oklahoma Voice “we know that almost every single thing they told us about COVID was an absolute lie.”
On the Democratic side, pastor and former Tulsa school board member Jennettie Marshal took more than 50% of the vote, and will be the candidate for the Democratic Party in November.
The position is currently held by Lindel Fields, who was appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt after Ryan Walters left his controversial post to lead a national anti-teacher’s union group. Fields did not run for the post this cycle.
Lieutenant governor
T.W. Shannon beat out five other Republicans vying to be Oklahoma’s next lieutenant governor. After securing an endorsement from President Donald Trump, Shannon received around 54% of the votes in the Republican primary.
Shannon is a former speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, the first Black and Chickasaw person to hold the position.
In November, he will face Kelly Forbes, the lone Democratic candidate for the position.
Commissioner of Labor
Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, and Rep. John Pfeiffer, R-Orlando, will head to a runoff in the Republican primary for commissioner of labor. They received 42% and 35% of the vote, respectively.
The commissioner of labor is responsible for enforcing state labor laws and promoting the welfare of wage earners. The elected officer also inspects rides at the Oklahoma State Fair.
The winner of the GOP primary will face off against unopposed Democratic and Libertarian candidates, Kevin Dawson and Mike Hall in November. The winner will replace Republican Leslie Osborn, who has led the Oklahoma Department of Labor since her first election in 2018.
Insurance Commissioner
Republican candidates Marty Quinn, a former state Senator from Claremore, and Bob Sullivan, an insurance professional from Tulsa, head to a runoff on August 25.
Small business owner and insurance actuary Craig McIntyre is the sole Democrat in the race.
Oklahoma has some of the highest home insurance rates in the nation. Whoever fills the state’s Insurance Commissioner spot will be tasked with regulating the insurance industry and enforcing state laws.
The winner will replace Republican Glen Mulready, who has served in the role since 2019.
Corporation Commissioner
State lawmaker Brad Boles, R-Marlow, and Democrat candidate Rhonda Eastman won their primaries for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission Tuesday night.
The commission — which oversees utilities, oil and gas and some transportation — is made up of three elected officials who regularly vote on electricity and natural gas rate increases.
Whoever wins the general election in November will replace Commissioner Todd Hiett, who did not run again because of term limits. Hiett has served on the commission since 2015.
Boles recently authored legislation intended to ensure average households don’t pay higher utility bills as more data centers are built in Oklahoma. The bill was signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt in May.
Eastman, who lives in Spiro, is running on issues including addressing abandoned oil and gas wells, data center concerns and what she calls “lax regulation” within the commission. She has worked in trucking, utilities and construction, according to her candidacy announcement.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
