Former Oklahoma State Senator Mike Mazzei narrowly defeated state Attorney General Gentner Drummond in Tuesday’s Republican gubernatorial runoff election, securing victory by a margin of just 1,985 votes after President Donald Trump mounted an intensive late campaign push for his endorsed candidate.
With more than 95 percent of the vote counted, Mazzei captured 50.3 percent to Drummond’s 49.7 percent in the decisive contest. The razor-thin victory came in a race that had been virtually deadlocked between the two candidates for months.
Mazzei will face Oklahoma House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, the Democratic nominee, in November to succeed term-limited Republican Governor Kevin Stitt.
Drummond narrowly led Mazzei in the June 16 Republican primary with 26.25 percent to 25.97 percent, a margin of about 1,100 votes among over 403,000 ballots cast. Neither candidate achieved a majority, necessitating the runoff.
A Sooner Survey poll released on August 11 found both candidates deadlocked at 44 percent among 600 likely Republican voters.
Trump endorsed Mazzei, a 61-year-old Tulsa businessman, in May and repeatedly reaffirmed his support. In the final days of the campaign, the president sharply criticized Drummond during a telephone rally on Monday night, stating: “You can forget about this guy — everybody I know dislikes him. Gentner Drummond does not stand for the values of Oklahoma, and he’s a guy that would be, I think, a disaster.”
Drummond, a 62-year-old rancher, former Air Force pilot, and attorney general since 2023, maintained throughout the campaign that he supported Trump despite the president’s opposition. “I respect the president,” Drummond said during the campaign. “He’s a great leader.”
The runoff marked an extraordinarily expensive Republican contest. According to AdImpact data, more than $14 million was spent on advertising during the runoff following approximately $40 million in expenditures ahead of the June primary. Mazzei largely self-financed his campaign while outside groups contributed millions.
