Lankford Wins GOP Nomination in US Senate Race

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — U.S. Rep. James Lankford has won the Republican nomination for Oklahoma’s open U.S. Senate seat.

By capturing more than 50 percent of the vote Tuesday in the seven-man GOP primary field, Lankford avoids a runoff and faces the Democratic nominee and an independent in November.

The seat was open because U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn decided to forego the final two years left on his term amid a recurrence of cancer. The state’s other senator, James Inhofe, also was on the ballot and easily won his GOP primary.

A two-term congressman and Baptist minister from Edmond, the 46-year-old Lankford faced a fierce challenge from tea party-backed T.W. Shannon. Shannon last year became both the youngest and the first African-American speaker of the House.