Jackson Lahmeyer, an Oklahoma megachurch pastor who founded the faith-based group Pastors for Trump, has dropped out of a Republican runoff race for a U.S. House seat after news broke that he sent romantic text messages to a woman who was not his wife.
Just one day after securing a spot in the August runoff, Lahmeyer released a statement on Wednesday saying he had made the “difficult decision” to suspend his campaign “after prayerful consideration with my wife, Kendra, and my team over the last twenty four hours.”
“I do not want to be a distraction to my family, my church, and the great people of Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, who deserve a strong conservative voice representing them in Washington,” Lahmeyer said in the statement.
The announcement landed in email inboxes just minutes after President Donald Trump threw his support behind Lahmeyer’s runoff rival, Mark Tedford. In his endorsement, Trump wrote, “I greatly appreciate Jackson Lahmeyer’s hard work under difficult circumstances,” and described Tedford — a state representative in Oklahoma — as “Pro Trump and MAGA all the way!”
The timing was notable: just the day before Oklahoma’s primary, Trump had publicly reaffirmed his backing of Lahmeyer, whom he had first endorsed the previous month. Trump credited Lahmeyer with founding Pastors for Trump, a national coalition of faith leaders that played a role in boosting Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
The controversy began when The Daily Mail reported Sunday that Lahmeyer had exchanged thousands of romantic messages with a woman who served as a fundraiser on his campaign. Several news outlets then reported that Lahmeyer had acknowledged the behavior in a social media post that has since been deleted, writing that the situation “was already dealt with privately” and admitting to “crossing a boundary line through text messaging.”
Lahmeyer’s campaign did not respond to questions about whether he had spoken with Trump prior to ending his campaign, or why his social media accounts had been removed.
Lahmeyer serves as pastor of Sheridan Church, a congregation based in Tulsa. The church’s website lists him as a participant in an upcoming event called Remnant Rising. Among the other scheduled speakers is Gen. Michael Flynn, who served as Trump’s national security adviser during his first term. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with a senior Russian diplomat and was later pardoned by Trump.
