{"slug": "trump-s-oklahoma-governor-pick-mike-mazzei-faces-runoff", "title": "Trump's Oklahoma Governor Pick Mike Mazzei Faces Runoff", "summary": "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 tested President Donald Trump's endorsement power. Trump endorsed Mazzei, but it was not enough to beat Drummond outright. The primary also highlighted the use of AI-generated advertisements, with a PAC depicting Mazzei hugging Hillary Clinton.", "body_md": "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.\n\nIn 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.\n\n“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](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116754016895261150) on Truth Social Monday.\n\nThe 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.\n\n## Trending\n\nBoth 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.\n\nThe state’s gubernatorial primary was deeply influenced by self-funding, with Republican hopefuls injecting $22 million into their own campaigns.\n\nThe 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](https://www.notus.org/technology/ai-kevin-stitt-oklahoma-legislature) 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.\n\n## Sign in\n\nLog into your free account with your email. Don’t have one?\n\n##\nCheck your email for a one-time code.\n\nWe sent a 4-digit code to . Enter the pin to confirm your account.\n\nNew code will be available in 1:00\n\n## Let’s try this again.\n\nWe encountered an error with the passcode sent to . Please reenter your email.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-s-oklahoma-governor-pick-mike-mazzei-faces-runoff", "canonical_source": "https://www.notus.org/2026-election/gentner-drummond-mike-mazzei-oklahoma-runoff", "published_at": "2026-06-17 02:19:03+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-17 02:27:03.287041+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-ethics", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Gentner Drummond", "Mike Mazzei", "Donald Trump", "Kevin Stitt", "Cyndi Munson", "Make Oklahoma Great Again PAC", "Truth Social"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-s-oklahoma-governor-pick-mike-mazzei-faces-runoff", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-s-oklahoma-governor-pick-mike-mazzei-faces-runoff.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-s-oklahoma-governor-pick-mike-mazzei-faces-runoff.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trump-s-oklahoma-governor-pick-mike-mazzei-faces-runoff.jsonld"}}