Democratic newcomer scores runoff upset in Oklahoma, vows to impeach Trump if elected
N'Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, a nurse and first-time political candidate, has won the Democratic runoff for the US Senate nomination in Oklahoma, defeating lawyer and nonprofit executive Jim Priest. She has said that, if elected, her priority would be to pursue the impeachment, removal and conviction of President Donald Trump within her first 100 days in office, a stance that sets up a stark contrast with her Republican opponent ahead of November's election.
Thomas topped the June primary field of five candidates before beating Priest in the runoff, having earlier taken around 45% of the vote in the first round. She faces Republican Rep. Kevin Hern, a strong Trump ally who has raised nearly $10 million to Thomas's roughly $60,000 and holds the president's endorsement. Oklahoma has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in more than three decades, and Trump carried the state by almost 35 points in 2024; Hern has dismissed Thomas as "wildly out of touch" with Oklahoman values.
- N'Kiyla Jasmine Thomas wins Oklahoma Democratic Senate runoff as political newcomer
- She has vowed to seek Trump's impeachment within 100 days if elected
- Faces heavily favoured, well-funded Trump ally Kevin Hern in November
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N'Kiyla Jasmine Thomas is a nurse who has never held political office before, but she has just won the Democratic Party's runoff contest to become its candidate for a US Senate seat in Oklahoma this November. To get there, she first led a field of five candidates in a June primary, then beat lawyer and nonprofit executive Jim Priest in the head-to-head runoff that followed.
In America's two-party system, states often hold primary elections to decide which candidate will represent each party in the main race. Thomas will now face Republican Congressman Kevin Hern, an established politician with far greater name recognition, campaign funds and the backing of President Donald Trump. Oklahoma is a strongly Republican state that has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in more than thirty years, and Trump won it comfortably in last year's presidential election.
The contest is being watched partly because of the scale of the mismatch between the two candidates in terms of money and political experience, and partly because Thomas has been vocal about wanting to remove Trump from office, a process known as impeachment, should she win. This sets up a race with sharply contrasting positions on the sitting president ahead of the wider set of elections due in November.