Jackson Lahmeyer is a Tulsa pastor, the founder of Pastors for Trump, and a man Trump described as a “MAGA Warrior” when he endorsed him for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District in May. He is also, as of this week, a man who was caught exchanging flirtatious messages with a former campaign aide who was also a former Miss Oklahoma USA while married with five children, which is the kind of extracurricular activity that sits awkwardly alongside the Christian Nationalist brand.
The campaign aide, Caitlin Simmons Key, told the Daily Mail she and Lahmeyer had kissed on several occasions and exchanged thousands of text messages. After the story broke, Lahmeyer posted on Facebook that he had crossed “a boundary line through text messaging,” which is a phrase that acknowledges wrongdoing while describing it as though it were a property dispute. His wife Kendra responded on social media by calling Key “a home wrecking whore” and adding “He has 5 kids,” which is the kind of statement that simultaneously confirms every relevant fact and communicates exactly where the marriage stands.
Trump switched his endorsement to Lahmeyer’s opponent, Mark Tedford, on Wednesday afternoon at 2:23 p.m. At 2:32 p.m., nine minutes later, Lahmeyer announced he was suspending his campaign. He told Fox News Digital that he had made the decision the night before and had nothing to do with Trump’s switch. “I made my decision to drop out of the race last night,” he said. “I decided to choose my wife over my ambition.” The nine-minute gap between the endorsement switch and the suspension announcement was either a remarkable coincidence or the fastest pivot in Oklahoma congressional history.
Lahmeyer’s statement said he did not want to be “a distraction to my family, my church, and the great people of Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District.” His church is called Sheridan.Church and had been functioning as a campaign stop, with MAGA merchandise distributed to congregants and politics preached from the pulpit. The great people of the district will now be represented in the primary by Tedford, the CPAC 2026 Achievement Award winner who finished first in the initial vote at 32.2 percent to Lahmeyer’s 25.9 percent, and who was described by Trump moments after dropping Lahmeyer as “Pro Trump and MAGA all the way.”
The endorsement switch required Trump to write “I greatly appreciate Jackson Lahmeyer’s hard work under difficult circumstances,” which is a phrase that does real diplomatic work given the circumstances, and “He has always been with me, and I will always be with him,” which is a statement that proved false within nine minutes.
When the founder of Pastors for Trump drops out of a congressional race within nine minutes of losing Trump’s endorsement, and the stated reason is choosing his wife over his ambition, what exactly was the ambition for?
Sources
Fox News: Trump switches support in Oklahoma congressional race
Washington Examiner: Trump-backed pastor drops out of GOP runoff in Oklahoma
