Democratic Nurse Wins Oklahoma Senate Primary Runoff, Promises Early Trump Impeachment
N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, a first-time candidate and nurse, defeated Jim Priest in the Democratic runoff for Oklahoma’s Senate seat and said she will pursue impeachment of Donald Trump if elected.
In a surprising upset, nurse and political newcomer N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas won the Democratic runoff for Oklahoma’s U.S. Senate race, beating Jim Priest, a lawyer and nonprofit executive. Thomas led the June primary with the largest vote share among five contenders and now faces Republican Rep. Kevin Hern in November, a candidate backed by Donald Trump and a campaign fund that once topped nearly $10 million. Thomas’s campaign website lists typical Democratic policies such as higher teacher pay, restoring Roe v. Wade and expanding Obamacare, yet she declared that her first priority would be to impeach, remove and convict Trump within her initial 100 days.
In an interview with one outlet affiliate KOSU, she reiterated her intent to “pry that pen out of my cold, dead hands” to prevent the administration’s continuation. Hern responded to one outlet, asserting that Oklahomans love Trump and dismissing Thomas as a “socialist Democrat” out of touch with state values. The race pits a well-funded, Trump-endorsed Republican against a low-budget, first-time Democratic challenger in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in over thirty years.
Why it matters
The race could break a three-decade Democratic drought in Oklahoma and pits a Trump-backed incumbent against a newcomer promising impeachment.
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