By John Dobberstein, Editor
TULSA — Rev. Jackson Lahmeyer, the prominent Tulsa pastor and confidante of President Trump, announced Wednesday he would “suspend” his campaign for the U.S. House.
The somewhat shocking announcement came just a day after Lahmeyer finished second in the GOP primary for U.S. House in District 1 and locking in for a runoff election in August against the first-place finisher, state Rep. Mark Tedford (R-Jenks). Tedford garnered 32% of the votes to Lahmeyer’s 26%.
“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 posted on social media.
“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, who founded the nationwide Pastors for Trump organization comprised of faith leaders, garnered the endorsement of President Trump earlier this month. But a London tabloid publication broke a story Sunday alleging that Lahmeyer had crossed a line by texting a woman who is not his wife — Caitlin Key.
“This matter was already dealt with privately between me and my wife through counsel and prayer with God and spiritual advisors,” Lahmeyer said Sunday on his Facebook page. “I own crossing a boundary line through text messaging. I also ended all communication.”
Lahmeyer acknowledged the texts were inappropriate but added the way the texts were presented painted him in a distorted light. Trump reaffirmed his support for Lahmeyer yesterday in a lengthy Facebook post but did not address the texting controversy directly.
After the story came to light, Trump had re-affirmed his endorsement for Lahmeyer on Facebook. But Wednesday afternoon, Trump switched his endorsement to Tedford.
“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. In his endorsement of Tedford of Tedford, Trump called him an “America First patriot” who was pro-Trump and pro-MAGA.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) released the following statement on Oklahoma’s First Congressional District:
“President Trump-endorsed Mark Tedford is a business leader and conservative lawmaker with a rich history of delivering real results for Oklahoma. Tedford is set to win in November and hit the ground running to restore the American Dream while always putting Oklahoma families first,” said NRCC spokesman Zach Bannon.
Leave a Reply