Oklahoma Pastor Ends Congressional Bid After Texting Scandal
Jackson Lahmeyer, the Tulsa pastor endorsed by President Donald Trump in the race for an open Oklahoma congressional seat, suspended his campaign Wednesday shortly after losing the president’s backing.
The move effectively ended the prospect of an Aug. 25 Republican runoff in Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, which would have pitted Lahmeyer against state Rep. Mark Tedford.
“After prayerful consideration with my wife, Kendra, and my team over the last 24 hours, I’ve made the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for Congress,” Lahmeyer said in a statement. “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.”
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Lahmeyer is the founder and lead pastor of Sheridan Church in Tulsa, which describes itself as a non-denominational, Spirit-filled congregation. Lahmeyer is founder of Pastors for Trump and says on his Facebook page he has met several times with Trump in the Oval Office.
His announcement came within minutes of a Truth Social post in which Trump withdrew his support and endorsed Tedford, who led Tuesday’s 10-candidate Republican primary.
“I greatly appreciate Jackson Lahmeyer’s hard work under difficult circumstances — He has always been with me, and I will always be with him,” Trump wrote. “But, when it comes to the current Congressional race for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, I will be supporting America First Patriot, Mark Tedford.”
According to the Associated Press, Tedford received 32.2% of the vote. Lahmeyer garnered 25.9%, forcing a runoff because no candidate won a majority.
Two days before the primary, the Daily Mail published allegations involving text messages between Lahmeyer and Republican fundraiser Caitlin Simmons Key. Key, a former Miss Oklahoma USA winner who worked on Lahmeyer’s unsuccessful 2022 campaign against Sen. James Lankford, later joined his congressional effort.
The newspaper reported that the exchanges became increasingly intimate. It also reported that Lahmeyer invited Key to his hotel room late at night. The newspaper said he described leaving a Trump-related event at Mar-a-Lago to visit a strip club, where he was offered — but declined — cocaine.
Key told the newspaper she and Lahmeyer were never physically involved.
Before the primary, Lahmeyer, who is divorced and remarried, acknowledged inappropriate communications. He rejected the newspaper’s broader portrayal.
“This matter was already dealt with privately between me and my wife, Kendra, through counsel and prayer with God and spiritual advisors,” he wrote on X. “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.”
The Republican nominee will face Democrat John Croisant, a former teacher and businessman who ran unopposed in his party’s primary.
The seat opened when state Rep. Kevin Hern resigned after deciding to run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Markwayne Mullin, whom Trump appointed in March to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Political analysts rate the district as strongly Republican.
This article was originally published by The Roys Report.
Mark A. Kellner is a reporter based in Mesquite, Nevada. He most recently covered statewide elections for the New York Post and was for three years the Faith & Family Reporter for The Washington Times. Mark is a graduate of the University of the Cumberlands and also attended Boston University’s College of Communication.