Oklahoma pastor drops out of runoff for Hern’s House seat after Trump withdraws endorsement

Tulsa pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, who was previously endorsed by President Trump, has withdrawn from the GOP primary runoff for Oklahoma’s solid red 1st Congressional District after being exposed in a texting scandal that derailed his campaign.

“After prayerful consideration with my wife, Kendra, and my team over the last twenty four hours, I’ve made the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for Congress,” Lahmeyer said in a statement on Wednesday.

“I do not want to be a distraction to my family, my church, and the great people of Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, who deserve a strong conservative voice representing them in Washington,” he continued.

His statement came minutes after Trump rescinded his endorsement of Lahmeyer and instead backed the pastor’s opponent, state Rep. Mark Tedford (R), the day after both candidates advanced to an Aug. 25 runoff for the seat currently represented by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.).

“I greatly appreciate Jackson Lahmeyer’s hard work under difficult circumstances — He has always been with me, and I will always be with him,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday. “But, when it comes to the current Congressional race for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, I will be supporting America First Patriot, Mark Tedford.”

Lahmeyer told The Hill that his decision to drop out of the race was not because of the president’s switch up.

“I made my decision to drop out of the race last night. I decided to choose my wife over my ambition,” he said. “I informed my wife about my decision late last night and then my campaign team early this morning. My decision did not take place because of the decision of POTUS this afternoon.”

Lahmeyer, who runs a church in Tulsa visited by the president’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, was seen as close to the MAGA movement and has deep ties to MAGA allies. He helped support Trump’s campaign in 2024 by mobilizing evangelical voters and has backed the president’s false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

But the Pastors for Trump founder’s campaign took a hit on Sunday after The Daily Mail published intimate text messages between Lahmeyer and Caitlin Key, who is not his wife, where he called her “cute” and invited her to his hotel room.

Key, who was Miss Oklahoma USA 2007, reportedly worked as a fundraiser for Lahmeyer’s congressional campaign, and told The Daily Mail that the two met in 2022.

Lahmeyer acknowledged the reporting and admitted to “crossing a boundary line through text messaging,” in a post on Facebook and said he “ended all communication,” but argued that the messages were “carefully cherry-picked to create an impression that is not accurate.”

Lahmeyer’s exit from the race leaves Tedford as the Republican nominee and in a strong position to win the general election. Trump won the Tulsa-anchored district in 2024 by 21 percentage points, and it is rated as solid red by The Cook Political Report.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also threw his support behind Tedford, saying he “will help us continue to deliver safe streets, secure borders, a strong economy, and peace through strength” in a joint statement with House GOP leadership released shortly after Trump’s post.

Tedford is looking to succeed Hern, who won the Republican primary for the state’s open Senate seat after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin vacated his seat to join Trump’s Cabinet.

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