There are an historic 11 Republicans running for the First District House seats that will be voted on in the June 16th primary. That is a record breaking number. One lone Democrat, John Croisant, 49 of Tulsa will run against the Republican primary winner in the general election in November.
Kevin Hern, the current First District U.S. Representative chose not to run for re-election but to run for Sen. Markwayne Mullins seat. Mullins was appointed by President Trump to fill the position of Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
The open House seat has attracted eleven Republicans to run. They are Kim David, 64 of Porter, Jackson Lahmeyer, 34 of Owasso, Jed Cochran, 39 of Tulsa, Paul Royse, 55 of Tulsa, State Rep. Mark Tedford, 56 of Tulsa, Lt. Col. Dan Rooney, 53 of Owasso, Nathan Butterfield, 47 of Owasso, Kelly B. Walsh, 36 of Tulsa, Courtney Gill, 33 of Tulsa, Nancy Dyson, 72 of Owasso and Todd Woods, 58 of Tulsa.
David was elected in 2010 to the Oklahoma Senate and served until term limited in 2022. In 2022 she was elected to the Corporation Commission. Her term is not up until 2028 and she was not required to resign from the Corporation Commission to run. She has a score of 60 percent on the Oklahoma Constitution Conservative Index for her time in the Senate (the score for most conservative is 100 percent). She has been a registered republican for 49 years and her three most important issues are energy dominance, a secure border and election integrity.
Lahmayer is the Pastor of Sheridan Church in Tulsa, founder of Pastors for Trump, and owner of Lahmeyer Investment Company. He has previously run for Senator against James Langford and gathered 26 percent of the vote, placing second in the primary election. He has already been endorsed by President Trump in this primary. He says he wants to bring Oklahoma values to Washington, D.C. His three most critical issues are border security, no foreign farm land, and no Sharia Law in the U.S.
Cochran has been involved in politics for quite some time. He was an intern for U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn in Washington D.C., has worked for the Oklahoma Republican Party helping Republicans gain the majority in the legislature, and was a Senior Advisor for Fifth District U.S. House Steve Russell’s campaign and was the Political Director of his Washington office. He also worked under Sen. Jim Inhofe and later worked for Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum as Chief of Intergovernmental Relations. He also leads a consulting firm on economic development.
Royse has run unsuccessfully in several primaries. He ran for Sen. Inhofe’s vacant seat in 2022 receiving less than one percent of the vote. In 2024 he ran against U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern and received 13 percent of the vote. He has been in law enforcement many years as a security guard, private detective and a police officer and has worked for the Oklahoma office of Juvenile affairs. He says it is Time for Change! He would like to prioritize helping Americans, not other countries with the budget. He supports religious liberty, term limits and the military. He is pro-life.
Oklahoma Rep. Tedford was first elected to the House in 2022 and again in 2024. He decided to run for the U.S. First District seat instead of re-election to the Oklahoma House. He has earned a 61 percent on the Conservative index of the Oklahoma Constitution (100 percent is the most conservative). He owns an insurance agency. He wants to balance the budget, secure the border, eliminate fraud and wasteful spending, rebuild American industry and champion conservative family values.
Lt. Col. Rooney has been a F-16 fighter pilot, a Class A PGA professional golfer, and CEO and founder of Folds of Honor, a nonprofit organization that provides educational scholarships to the spouses and children of fallen or disabled military service members and first responders. He is currently serving in the Oklahoma National Guard as Commander of Recruiting. Hew wants to secure the national defense and fully fund the veteran benefits, cut wasteful spending, and protect our freedoms, values and way of life.
Butterfield is from Owasso and grew up in Claremore. He owns several businesses including All-Star Disaster Restoration. He is endorsed by Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado. He says what he loves about President Trump is that he is always working. He says Trump could use more guys in Congress who can work hard.
Butterfield is a Trump conservative who will back law enforcement and rule of law, will defend the Second Amendment, and believes the government could learn a lot from small businesses. He’s a pilot, outdoorsman, a gun owner who believes in personal responsibility, local control, and defending Constitutional liberties.
Walsh is an analytical chemist who has worked in the pharmaceutical, petroleum and cannabis industries. He is currently employed by Oklahoma Cannabis Testing Laboratories, which tests medical marijuana products for safety and quality. He registered as a Republican in 2008 and his three most important issues are affordability – end the expensive War in Iran, term limits and protecting Constitutional rights – we are all equal under the law.
Gill is the youngest candidate but has a lot of foreign experience. Although born in Minnesota, she was born into a conservative family and claims she was a Republican since birth. She has stood up for her beliefs in many liberal communities. She studied economics at Cambridge and earned an MBA at Oxford. She has worked in aerospace internationally. Her three main goals are to balance the budget, establish term limits and campaign finance reform, and help determine an AI policy. She wants to protect the American Dream for the next generation.
Dyson is a retired Oklahoma Department of Corrections officer, served in the military after high school and owns and manages real estate properties. A former Democrat, the Democrat anti law and order policies switched her to Republican and she helped establish and run the Trump campaign office in Tahlequah in 2016. She desires to help Trump drain the swamp and fight corruption in Washington D.C. Her three most important issues are to help the Trump agenda and put his executive orders into law, establish term limits for Congress and bring back town halls so the people’s voices can be heard.
Woods is an entrepreneur and businessman. For the past 25 years he has been the Chief Operating Officer of Lions Gate Development that helps with recovery after hurricanes. He is a also a rancher. He wants to drain the swamp of professional politicians and fight the corruption that is so rampant in Washington D.C. His main idea is take the country back for working people. He wants to balance the budget and get a balanced budget amendment passed, get the borders (north and south) under control and defend energy and agriculture.