Drummond, Mazzei advance to Oklahoma governor runoff after crowded GOP primary

Gentner Drummond and Mike Mazzei forced Oklahoma’s Republican governor primary into an August 25 runoff, turning a nine-candidate race into a test of which kind of Republican now commands the state’s party base. NBC News projected that both men finished in the top two, with each drawing about a quarter of the vote in a contest that left no one near a majority.

The result set up a sharp contrast between two very different coalitions. Drummond, Oklahoma’s attorney general since 2022, ran as a rancher, U.S. Air Force veteran and banker from Hominy who has often cast himself as a more measured Republican. He made that posture plain in office, suing to block construction of a proposed $4 billion aluminum smelter at the Port of Inola and pushing back against efforts to bring more religion into public schools. The plant, planned for about 350 acres, would have been the country’s largest proposed aluminum smelter and was expected to produce more than 750,000 tons of aluminum a year.

Mazzei, a former state senator and financial planner, leaned into a harder-edged tax message. His campaign called for eliminating Oklahoma’s state income tax, expanding property tax relief for senior citizens and veterans, and launching a literacy initiative. President Donald Trump endorsed Mazzei on Truth Social just over two weeks before primary day, calling him a “MAGA Warrior,” a boost that reinforced Mazzei’s effort to claim the state’s pro-Trump lane.

Money underscored the split in the field. Mazzei’s campaign reported nearly $7 million in self-loans out of more than $11 million raised overall, giving him a heavily personal-finance operation. Drummond reported a $2 million loan in April, another $500,000 in late May, more than $340,000 in individual donations since April and $12,000 from PACs.

The runoff will come before Oklahoma election results are certified by the State Election Board on June 23. Kevin Stitt is term-limited and cannot seek another term, leaving Republicans to choose a successor in a state that has voted for the GOP in every presidential election since 1968 and gave Trump every county three times in a row. With the primary split almost evenly, the runoff now measures whether Oklahoma Republicans are drifting toward an establishment law-and-order figure like Drummond or a more traditional fiscal conservative like Mazzei.