Oklahoma Republicans Vote Tuesday in a Senate Primary Trump Tried to Settle for Kevin Hern
Rep. Kevin Hern enters the June 16 primary as the front-runner, backed by the president and $8.2 million, for the seat Markwayne Mullin gave up to run Homeland Security.
Oklahoma Republicans head to the polls Tuesday for a U.S. Senate primary that President Donald Trump and the party's Washington leadership have spent months trying to lock down for Rep. Kevin Hern. The June 16 contest will fill the seat vacated by Markwayne Mullin, who left the Senate this spring to become Trump's secretary of homeland security.
Hern, who represents Oklahoma's 1st Congressional District, enters as the clear front-runner. He won Trump's endorsement on March 13 and has raised about $8.2 million for the race, dwarfing the rest of the field. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Sen. Tim Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have also lined up behind him, part of a coordinated effort to clear the primary and avoid a costly intraparty fight in a deep-red state.
The Republican ballot is nonetheless crowded. Hern faces former real estate broker William Sean Buckner, country singer Gary Ty England, 2024 congressional candidate Nick Hankins and paramedic Brian Ragain, among others. Under Oklahoma's rules, if no candidate clears 50 percent of the vote on Tuesday, the top two finishers will advance to a runoff on Aug. 25 — a scenario the Hern campaign is working to avoid by winning outright.
The seat came open through an unusual chain of events. Mullin had initially announced plans to seek a full term before Trump tapped him in March to lead the Department of Homeland Security, a post Mullin took over after Senate confirmation with a promise to overhaul immigration enforcement. His departure left an open seat in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in decades, making the Republican primary the contest that will effectively decide the winner.
Whoever emerges will be heavily favored in November, when the seat is considered safely Republican. The primary is one of the first marquee tests of Trump's clout in the 2026 midterm cycle, with all races culminating in the general election on Nov. 3. A decisive Hern victory would hand the president an early win in his push to install loyal allies across the Senate map; a runoff would signal that even a Trump endorsement does not guarantee a clean sweep in his own party's strongholds.
Originally reported by Fox News.