# Trump's Oklahoma Governor Pick Mike Mazzei Faces Runoff > Source: > Published: 2026-06-17 02:19:03+00:00 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](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116754016895261150) 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. ## Trending 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](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. ## Sign in Log into your free account with your email. Don’t have one? ## Check your email for a one-time code. We sent a 4-digit code to . Enter the pin to confirm your account. New code will be available in 1:00 ## Let’s try this again. We encountered an error with the passcode sent to . Please reenter your email.