N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas won the Democratic Senate runoff in Oklahoma, beating Jim Priest and turning a little-known first-time candidate into the party’s nominee for November. Thomas, a nurse who had never run for office before, now becomes the Democrat carrying the race into a state where voters have not sent one of her party to the Senate in more than three decades.
Her campaign has become a search term for a reason. Thomas did not just win; she did it after taking the highest percentage of votes in the June primary contest that drew five candidates, then finishing Priest in the runoff race. That path put her in position to challenge Rep. Kevin Hern, the Republican nominee who already has Donald Trump’s endorsement.
What has drawn the most attention, though, is what Thomas said she would do if elected. Last month, in an interview with a NPR affiliate, she said she would work as diligently as she could to make sure that within her first 100 days Trump would be impeached, removed and convicted. She also said, “They will have to pry that pen out of my cold, dead hands before I go any further with allowing this administration to continue doing what they’re doing,” and added, “But I am going to remove, impeach, remove and convict. That’s it. Like that’s all. That’s the answer.”
Thomas has also put policy goals on her campaign website that go beyond the fight with Trump: teacher pay, restoring Roe v. Wade and expanding Obamacare. But the contrast in the race is hard to miss. Donald Trump won Oklahoma by nearly 35 points in 2024, Hern has touted his desire to pass the SAVE America Act, and his campaign war chest has at one point peaked at nearly $10 million this cycle, while Thomas has raised just shy of $60,000.
That is the race Thomas now has to make. Her nomination is a real achievement, but it came in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in more than three decades, against an opponent backed by Trump and money that dwarfs her own. The runoff gave her the party label; the general election will show whether her message can travel any farther than that.
