Trump rescinds endorsement of right-wing pastor after texting scandal

US President Donald Trump rescinded his endorsement of a right-wing pastor for a House seat in Oklahoma on June 17 after a texting scandal shook up the Republican primary, throwing his weight behind the pastor’s opponent the day after both candidates advanced to a runoff.

Minutes later, the pastor, Jackson Lahmeyer, withdrew from the race.

“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,” Lahmeyer wrote on social media.

The switch-up makes Mark Tedford the presumptive Republican nominee, putting him in a strong position to win the general election. Anchored in Tulsa, the district is considered solidly red, with voters there electing Trump by 21 percentage points in 2024.

Lahmeyer leads a Tulsa church with his wife. But the image he cultivated as a religious leader took a hit on June 14 when The Daily Mail published intimate texts between him and a woman who is not his wife, in which he called her “cute” and floated an invitation to his hotel room.

In a Facebook post on that night, he acknowledged sending the messages but contended that his communications had been “carefully cherry-picked to create an impression that is not accurate”.

“I own crossing a boundary line through text messaging,” Lahmeyer wrote. “I also ended all communication.”

Trump threw his weight behind Lahmeyer in early May, calling him a “MAGA Warrior” who had “been with me from the very beginning of our Movement”.

In a Truth Social post the afternoon of June 17, the president wrote that he was reversing course but did not detail his reasoning.

“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. Mark is Pro Trump and MAGA all the way!”

Tedford is seeking to succeed Kevin Hern, a Republican who is running for the Senate seat vacated by Markwayne Mullin, who is now the homeland security secretary.

The candidate was in the middle of getting a haircut when he learned that he had won Trump’s endorsement.

“It was kind of surreal,” Tedford said in an interview. “Everything’s moving very fast.”

Lahmeyer helped mobilise evangelical support for Trump before the 2024 election, after earlier amplifying his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

The pastor has deep ties to Trump’s longtime ally Roger Stone, who backed Lahmeyer in his unsuccessful run to unseat James Lankford of Oklahoma in the 2022 Republican primary. House Speaker Mike Johnson, also endorsed Lahmeyer.

Lahmeyer repeatedly targeted Muslim Oklahomans in his campaign, writing on social media that “America is a Christian nation” and that “Islam MUST BE DEFEATED in the West.”

He has also posted on social media that he believes the Antichrist “will be Jewish,” a “homosexual” and “not a globalist.” He has denied that this view is anti-Semitic, saying Jesus was also Jewish and emphasising that he is “pro-Israel.” He did not immediately respond to a request for comment on June 17.

Tedford, a business owner who lent more than US$1 million (S$1.28 million) to his campaign and had the backing of Oklahoma’s Republican state House speaker, finished first in the runoff on June 16, according to The Associated Press.

He will face John Croisant, a Tulsa school board member and business owner, in November. Croisant, who was uncontested for the Democratic nomination, has centred his campaign on healthcare affordability, education and stopping “corruption and chaos,” he said in a recent interview with The New York Times.

Tedford said he strongly supported Trump and his agenda.

“I’m very proud to be endorsed by him,” he said. “And now we’re moving on to win this election in November.” NYTIMES

• This article originally appeared in The New York Times.