U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern easily won Oklahoma’s GOP nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, and the race for a new governor in the deeply conservative state began with Republicans Gentner Drummond and Mark Mazzei advancing to a runoff.
Both Hern and Mazzei were backed by President Donald Trump in a primary that again tested his status as Republican Party kingmaker.
The primary had Republicans picking their preferred successor to outgoing Republican Gov. Kevin
Stitt and a nominee for the Senate seat once held by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
Hern's most serious potential GOP rivals stayed out of the Senate race after Trump endorsed him even before Mullin was confirmed as a replacement for fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Hern received more than 50% of the primary vote to avoid a runoff.
Trump endorsed Mazzei, a former state senator, last month in a hotly contested race that also had other major candidates, including former Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall and Chip Keating, a former state public safety director who is the son of a former two-term governor.
Drummond, the state's attorney general, told reporters at his watch party that he had expected a runoff after Trump endorsed Mazzei and suggested that Trump could reconsider his endorsement of Mazzei, saying, “who knows?”
“Mr. Mazzei got a bump, but now he's got to earn the rest,” Drummond said.
Trump repeated his endorsement of Mazzei on his Truth Social platform on Monday. Mazzei told supporters Tuesday night, “All I can say is, ‘Wow.
“Eighteen months ago when we started this adventure, no one thought this was possible,” he said. “The political insiders said we had no chance. We started at zero, but who in here actually had faith we could get the job done and get in the runoff? You did.”
Mazzei also boosted his campaign with personal funds — nearly $10.9 million, or almost 95% of the $11.5 million he raised, according to campaign finance reports. Drummond put $2.5 million from his own pocket in raising about $7.2 million. Together, Drummond, Mazzei, Keating and McCall contributed $22.5 million of their own funds to their campaigns, or 72% of their combined fundraising of more than $31 million.
The winner of the GOP runoff will face Oklahoma House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, who won the Democratic nomination Tuesday by a wide margin.
In a solidly Republican state, the races for two of Oklahoma’s biggest offices set off a political scramble. To replace Mullin in the Senate through this year, Stitt appointed Republican Alan Armstrong, an energy executive, but state law prohibited him from seeking a full term.
In November, Hern will face the winner of a Democratic runoff between N’Kiyla Thomas, a nurse and community activist, and Jim Priest, an attorney and minister.
The governor's race is open because Stitt is finishing his second four-year term and cannot serve a third under the state constitution. Trump has seemed eager for him to go.
As head of the National Governors Association, Stitt drew Trump’s ire earlier this year over a dispute over invitations to White House events at the group’s annual meeting. The fallout led to Trump attacking Stitt on social media as a “RINO,” meaning Republican in Name Only.
