Oklahoma congressional candidate drops out amid texting infidelity furor

The Oklahoma congressional candidate Jackson Lahmeyer announced on Wednesday that he was suspending his campaign, after the Christian pastor once endorsed by Donald Trump, who had advanced to a Republican primary runoff, was reported to have sent extramarital, intimate text messages.

“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,” the Christian nationalist and Pastors for Trump founder wrote in a statement on Wednesday afternoon. “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.

“I sincerely appreciate all the support along the way,” Lahmeyer added. “I will never forget those who stood by me and fought alongside us when I needed them the most.”

Lahmeyer’s announcement came one day after he and fellow Republican Mark Tedford advanced to a runoff election in their party primary to replace Kevin Hern, who vacated his House seat to run for the US Senate.

Lahmeyer’s withdrawal makes Tedford the presumptive Republican nominee.

Lahmeyer’s decision also followed a report by the Daily Mail over the weekend that he had sent intimate text messages to a former campaign fundraiser who was not his wife and had previously won the Miss Oklahoma USA beauty pageant.

In a social media post on Sunday, Lahmeyer described the Daily Mail report as “distorted” but acknowledged sending the messages.

“This matter was already dealt with privately between me and my wife, Kendra, through counsel and prayer with God and spiritual advisors,” he wrote. “I own crossing a boundary line through text messaging. I also ended all communication. The British tabloid tried to paint me out in a way which is not the case.”