Oklahoma Republican Party chief under fire for endorsement

OKLAHOMA CITY – The head of the Oklahoma Republican Party is under pressure to either withdraw her endorsement in a Congressional race or resign.

Four former leaders of the state GOP say the current chair, Charity Linch, inappropriately used her position to endorse Jackson Lahmeyer in the race for the open seat in Oklahoma’s First Congressional District.

Nathan Dahm, A.J. Ferate, Pam Pollard and Gary Jones wrote in a statement that the state GOP has a decades-long custom for sitting chairs to stay out of primary elections for open seats to let voters pick the nominee.

Eleven Republicans are seeking the open Tulsa area seat.

Linch decided to endorse Lahmeyer after prior pledges not to do so, the former party leaders said.

“We object to the use of her office and official letterhead to put her thumb on the scale of this, or any other race,” the statement said. “And while none of the undersigned completely agree on policy or leadership of the Party, we are united in our request that Ms. Linch withdraw her endorsement or resign.”

In a social media post earlier this week, Lahmeyer, pastor of Sheridan Church in Tulsa, said Linch had endorsed him. His post included a letter that Linch allegedly wrote to President Donald Trump and signed by her as state chairman.

In a social media post Thursday, Linch did not deny she had endorsed Lahmeyer. She wrote that “when Oklahoma overwhelmingly elected me to be their Chairwoman, I did not agree to lose my voice.”

GOP party leaders are elected by delegates and are not a statewide election ballot. 

“There are always going to be those who try to silence our voices,” she wrote. “I will not silence the voices of those that disagree with me, either.”

Linch said Oklahoma is a place where Republicans hold statewide office, and the winner is decided in the primaries. Party rules do not prohibit her from endorsing, she said.

“Our nation is fighting the onslaught of communist ideology, and we need strong voices who will stand against this at every level of our government,” she wrote.

It was not clear from her post what ‘communist ideology’ she was referring to. Linch did not respond by deadline to calls seeking comment.

Lahmeyer is founder of Pastors for Trump. In 2022, he made a failed bid for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Sen. James Lankford.

Lahmeyer could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Jones, who headed the party from 2003 to 2009, said it was permissible for Linch to endorse as an individual, but not to use party resources to do so.

Pollard, who headed the GOP from 2015 to 2019, said use of party resources to endorse in an open seat has never been done before.

She said some candidates have called her about the endorsement and were very upset. She questioned whether party resources would be used by Linch in an effort to get Lahmeyer elected.

State Rep. Mark Tedford, R-Tulsa, is among the 11 candidates seeking the congressional office. He said he was “shocked” to learn about the endorsement, adding that Linch did not reach out to him in advance.

The seat became open when U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern decided to run for the U.S. Senate to replace Markwayne Mullin. Trump appointed Mullin as Homeland Security Secretary.

The Republican primary is June 16. The runoff primary is Aug. 25. The general election is Nov. 3.