The runoff for the Republican nomination for governor in Oklahoma was about as close as it gets, but in the end, the candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump prevailed.
On Tuesday, former state Sen. Mike Mazzei faced off against state Attorney General Gentner Drummond for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Trump tossed his support behind Mazzei and referred to Drummond as a “fake Republican, who donated to SLEEPY Joe Biden.”
‘We won tonight! Now we finish the job in November.’
The race was practically dead even from the moment results started coming in, but with 99% of the expected votes tabulated, Mazzei ultimately won by about 2,000 votes, 50.3% to 49.7%.
Late Tuesday night, Mazzei claimed victory and thanked his supporters.
“This campaign has always been about something bigger than one election. It’s about reclaiming Oklahoma’s potential, protecting our values, cutting taxes, strengthening our schools, defending our land, and building a state our children and grandchildren will be proud to call home,” Mazzei posted on X.
“We won tonight! Now we finish the job in November.”
Drummond likewise conceded defeat. “It was not the outcome that we wanted, and it sure was not the outcome we worked for,” he told a crowd of supporters, “but … I believe deeply in the right of the people to choose their leaders. So tonight I respect their decisions.”
Oklahoma law has no automatic recount, so while Drummond could have requested a recount, he would have had to pay for it. He would have been reimbursed by the state only if the recount changed the results.
Trump supporters standing outside the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June 2020.Win McNamee/Getty Images
Drummond has been at odds with Trump and the MAGA movement as recently as this month. At a government employee summit reportedly held on August 3, he invited Democrats and independents to kill a ballot question that would “require proof of identity to vote in any election authorized by law and conducted by a county election board or the State Election Board.”
“We have to vote ‘no,'” Drummond said, according to leaked audio clips.
“Just don’t tell any legislator I said that, OK? Every Democrat, every libertarian, every independent needs to show up at the poll.”
About the audio clips, Drummond campaign chairman Matthew Parker previously told Blaze News, “These clips are a few seconds long, stripped of context, and selectively edited to manufacture a false narrative. We’re not going to pretend that spliced snippets on X are a serious representation of Gentner Drummond’s views.”
As in the runoff, Drummond did not get his desired result regarding the voter ID ballot question. With over 75% of precincts reporting, it “was coasting to an easy victory with more than 56% of the vote,” the Oklahoman reported.
Mazzei represented Tulsa in the Oklahoma Senate from 2004 until 2016, when he was term-limited. He also spent about a year and a half as the secretary of budget under current Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.
Mazzei will face Democrat state Rep. Cyndi Munson in November.
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Donald trump, Gentner drummond, Oklahoma, Voter id, Politics