Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and former state Sen. Mike Mazzei are projected to advance to a runoff in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary, a race that has become a test of President Donald Trump’s endorsement power.
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary, the race in the solidly Republican state got busy — candidates saw a flood of endorsements, AI-generated advertisements and spending by dark money groups. Trump boosted Mazzei two weeks before the primary, passing over Drummond and seven other candidates in the race to replace term-limited Gov. Kevin Stitt, who did not endorse a successor.
“Mike knows the AMERICA FIRST Policies required to Grow our Economy, Create GREAT Jobs, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Promote MADE IN THE U.S.A., and Unleash American Energy DOMINANCE,” Trump posted on Truth Social Monday.
The president’s endorsement significantly boosted Mazzei’s candidacy in a state where every county voted for Trump in the last three presidential elections, but it was ultimately not enough to beat Drummond outright.
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Both candidates will vie for the Republican nomination on August 25, and the winner will face Cyndi Munson, a former state House Democratic leader, in the November general election.
The state’s gubernatorial primary was deeply influenced by self-funding, with Republican hopefuls injecting $22 million into their own campaigns.
The Oklahoma gubernatorial primary also showed some of the early implications of artificial intelligence use in state campaign advertisements: Mazzei was depicted as hugging and being friendly with Hillary Clinton in AI-generated ads from the Make Oklahoma Great Again PAC. Last week, Stitt said he was considering calling the state legislature back for a special session to address the use of AI in political campaigns, which he views as extremely misleading to voters.
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