Oklahoma election results now send Mike Mazzei and Gentner Drummond into a Tuesday Republican primary runoff for Oklahoma governor. Mazzei, a 61-year-old Tulsa businessman, is trying to turn Donald Trump’s endorsement into the GOP nomination after finishing second in the June 16 vote.
Drummond led the first round by about 1,100 ballots out of 403,000 cast, with both men drawing about 26% of the vote. The runoff winner will face Oklahoma House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson in November, when the GOP is heavily favored to keep the governor’s office.
Mike Mazzei and Donald Trump
Trump endorsed Mazzei in May and then sharpened his case against Drummond last week, calling him a “FAKE Republican” in a Truth Social post. During a Monday evening call for Oklahoma Republicans, Trump said, “You can forget about this guy — everybody I know dislikes him.”
He also said, “Gentner Drummond does not stand for the values of Oklahoma, and he’s a guy that would be, I think, a disaster.” Drummond responded during the same stretch of the campaign after Trump criticized him for saying in a 2024 congressional hearing that he had no opinion on Trump’s 2021 impeachment after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Gentner Drummond’s lead
Drummond’s narrow first-round lead gives him the advantage going into the runoff, but the margin was small enough that Mazzei stayed close throughout the first round. Drummond, a 62-year-old northern Oklahoma rancher and former Air Force pilot, was elected attorney general in 2022.
Mazzei has his own record to lean on. He founded an investment management firm and served 12 years in the state Senate, a résumé he is now taking into the final round of the Republican primary runoff.
Cyndi Munson in November
The runoff decides the Republican nominee to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, and that nominee will then move into a general election against Cyndi Munson. A Democrat has not won the Oklahoma governor’s race since 2006, which is why the Tuesday result matters beyond the party contest itself.
For voters in Oklahoma, the immediate choice is between Trump’s preferred candidate and the first-round leader. The ballot on Tuesday settles which of them carries the GOP banner into the November race.
