3 highlights from Tuesday's primary elections
1. Oklahoma pastor implicated in scandal advances to runoff in congressional race
In Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, Mark Tedford and Jackson Lahmeyer are advancing to a runoff election since no candidate emerged from the Republican primary with a majority of the vote. The winner of the race will face Democrat John Croisant. Unofficial results show Tedford taking 32.9% of the vote to Lahmeyer’s 25.9%.
Lahmeyer, endorsed by Trump, is a Christian pastor who admitted to inappropriately texting a woman who was not his wife over the weekend in response to a Daily Mail story published last week.
The publication shared text messages documenting Lahmeyer's invitation to Caitlin Simmons Key to join him in his hotel room.
“I own crossing a boundary line through text messaging. I also ended all communication,” he said in a Facebook post over the weekend. “The British Tabloid tried to paint me out in a way which is not the case.”
“At the same time, we must ask the question if this story was paid for and why our communications were carefully cherry-picked to create an impression that is not accurate,” he added. “This matter was already dealt with privately between me and my wife, Kendra, through counsel and prayer with God and spiritual advisors.”
The runoff election for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District is scheduled to take place Aug. 25. As for the general election, it is not expected to be competitive, as Trump carried the seat by more than 21 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
