Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) won the Republican nomination in his reelection bid for one of Oklahoma’s U.S. Senate seats, fending off two Republican challengers, Jackson Lahmeyer and Joan Farr.
The Associated Press called the race for Lankford at 8:25 p.m. ET:
Facing the two primary challengers, after Lankford and his wife voted on Tuesday, he told the press that the primary is a job interview.
“It’s a job interview, and Oklahomans today are deciding who they’re going to hire to be the next senator, to be able to move on to November, and to be able to move on from there,” Lankford said. “So, today’s the day people start making their decisions, and I’m one of those making decisions today.”
Lankford will be starting off as the heavy favorite to win another 6-year term in November, as the state has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in over 30 years. He will go up against the winner of Tuesday’s six-way Democrat primary, along with Libertarian Kenneth Blevins and independent Michael Delaney, AP noted.
Lankford, who first was a member of the House of Representatives after winning in 2010, eventually went on to win Oklahoma’s U.S. Senate seat in 2014 to fill the remainder of the term of former Sen. Tom Coburn after he stepped down for health concerns. Lankford was reelected to a full term in 2016 with nearly 68 percent of the vote.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma is also electing a second senator to replace Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), who announced he would be retiring from the Senate effective on January 3, 2023. Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) appeared to be leading the public polling in the primary to succeed Inhofe.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.