Democratic nurse and first-time U.S. Senate hopeful N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas conceded defeat to Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern early Wednesday morning and said the election cycle would be her last run for office.
Hern defeated Thomas in Tuesday’s primary runoff, earning 57% of the vote compared to her 39%, according to near-complete unofficial returns. Voting results website Vote Beat declared Hern the victor on Tuesday night.
In a post to social network X late Tuesday night, Thomas thanked Oklahomans for their support of “an uphill battle” that saw her campaign for nearly two years against a thyroid disorder that she discovered during the process.
“Yesterday didn’t go as planned, but as I reflect on the last 22 months, I want to start by saying THANK YOU,” Thomas wrote Wednesday. “For nearly two years, I gave this campaign everything I had. And while this was my first political campaign, it will also be my last.”
“But I need everyone to understand something: WHAT WE ACCOMPLISHED WAS NO SMALL FEAT,” Thomas wrote. “I was a first-time candidate, a lifelong Democrat, a nurse, a mother, a military spouse, and a Black and Chickasaw woman from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who believed everyday Oklahomans deserved a voice in the United States Senate.”
“I didn’t come from political wealth,” she added. “I didn’t have millions of dollars in a campaign account. And I certainly didn’t have a political machine behind me. What I had was lived experience, determination, and a belief that Oklahoma deserved better opportunities.”
According to unofficial counts from Decision Desk HQ, Hern received approximately 630,000 votes in the contest compared to 431,000 for Thomas. Curtis Stinnett and Ron Meinhardt, independent candidates who lost to Thomas in previous rounds, received negligible amounts of additional votes.
Representative Hern entered the race in March after President Donald Trump appointed Senator Markwayne Mullin Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Senate confirmed Mullin unanimously the following month. After Mullin left office, Governor Kevin Stitt temporarily appointed Senator Alan Armstrong to the post.
Based on a recent opinion by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, the winner of the election may be sworn in right away, preventing Armstrong from completing his term before Hern takes office.
After winning, Hern called the runoff “a choice between common sense and communism” and said the Oklahoma electorate overwhelmingly chose the former.
N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, a democratic socialist and citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, announced her candidacy early among all the hopefuls for the position. She won a five-way primary in June with about 45% of the vote and defeated Jim Priest, a lawyer and former executive director of a nonprofit organization, in the runoff.
She campaigned on promises to improve access to healthcare in rural areas and expand Medicare to all Oklahoma residents. Mostly using small donations and social media, she was fighting an opponent who had Trump’s endorsement, won his party’s primary with nearly 70% of the popular vote, and had $ 9 million in campaign funds (NonDoc reports it was his money).
Oklahoma has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since David Boren won his third term in 1990.
When discussing how she felt about how the members of her own political party treated her, Thomas was honest:
“And while this campaign brought me some of the most meaningful experiences of my life, it also exposed me to some difficult realities about politics, including within my own party,” she wrote. “I watched other candidates receive opportunities, recognition, and support while my campaign was repeatedly overlooked and left to figure things out on our own. And I won’t pretend that wasn’t disappointing.”
“You cannot continuously talk about building a bigger tent while deciding who deserves to stand underneath it,” Thomas wrote. “I felt isolated. At times, I felt like I had the plague.”
“It wasn’t until the final stretch of the campaign that some higher profile candidates began getting to know me for themselves rather than relying on what others had said about me,” she wrote. “I appreciated that. But I also wondered why it took so long.”
While she was campaigning, Thomas informed NonDoc that the Oklahoma Democratic Party initially gave her little support and then recruited Priest because leaders thought that she would fail in the general election. The lawyer denied being recruited but was backed by both ex-Governors Brad Henry and David Walters.
“And despite all of that, I actively campaigned on behalf of other candidates because I genuinely wanted to see them win,” Thomas wrote. “I promoted them, showed up for them, and encouraged people to support them, even while knowing my own statewide race was a long shot.”
“I knew the political landscape of Oklahoma,” she wrote. “I understood the obstacles. I knew the kind of change I was advocating for would be difficult to achieve. But almost 400,000 of you believed in the possibilities we presented. And I will NEVER overlook that.”
“We won two Democratic primary elections. We became the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate,” she continued. “And we built a statewide campaign through small dollar donations, volunteers, countless miles, and people who believed in something bigger than themselves. We did that while facing an enormous financial disadvantage. That is no small accomplishment.”
Thomas also revealed one aspect of the race she hadn’t mentioned before. Again, not naming it explicitly, she talked about her health problem, which she had throughout the race.
“There’s also something personal I haven’t shared much about,” she wrote. “For nearly this entire campaign, I was dealing with health issues related to a thyroid disorder that I only recently received an official diagnosis for. I spent almost two years traveling, speaking, organizing, and fundraising while experiencing symptoms I didn’t fully understand.”
“There were days I was exhausted. Days I didn’t feel well. Days when I had to push through because I had made a commitment to show up,” Thomas wrote. “And looking back, I realize just how much of myself I gave to this campaign. I am proud of that commitment, but I also recognize that it’s time to prioritize my health and my family.”
And she reflected on her contribution to the history-making attempts.
“And I want to acknowledge something else. As a Black and Chickasaw woman, I understood the historical significance of seeking a United States Senate seat in a state that has never elected a woman, a Black person, or a Native American woman to that office,” she wrote.
“I may not have broken that barrier, but I hope I helped make the possibility feel more real for the next woman who tries,” Thomas wrote. “Especially the little girls watching, including my own daughter. You do not have to wait for someone else to make history before believing you can.”
Thomas finished by thanking her volunteers and donors.
Thomas tweeted to “every person who donated, volunteered, shared a post, put up a yard sign, brought somebody, told somebody, or hugged my neck along the way: I SAW YOU, and I will never forget you.”
She clarified that her critique of the situation was not to shift the blame away from her loss.
“I also want to be clear that sharing my experiences isn’t about blaming others for the election outcome. I take responsibility for my campaign and the decisions I made,” Thomas wrote. “But I will not pretend that the exclusion, criticism, and isolation weren’t real parts of my experience.”
“I hope the next first-time candidate, especially a working-class woman or a candidate from an underrepresented community, receives the opportunity to be heard and respected without first having to prove that they’re politically convenient,” she wrote.
She congratulated Hernandez and advised voters to monitor the newly elected senator’s actions in Congress.
“As for Kevin Hern, I congratulate him on his election,” she wrote. “And I encourage Oklahomans to remain engaged, pay attention to his votes, ask questions, and hold him accountable for the decisions he makes on their behalf. Because democracy doesn’t end when an election does.”
She stated she will still participate in political life without becoming an elected official herself.
“As for me, this was my first and last campaign for public office, but it will not be the end of my advocacy,” Thomas wrote. “I will continue working behind the scenes, supporting communities, advocating for policies, and helping people who genuinely want to make a difference. Because my commitment to Oklahoma was never conditional on winning an election.”
“And now, after nearly two years, I’m looking forward to being a mother, a wife, a nurse, and simply Jasmine again,” she wrote.
“To everyone who believed in me, especially when others didn’t, thank you,” Thomas wrote. “You gave this little girl from Ardmore something that money and political connections could never buy. You gave me your trust, and wholeheartedly too! We didn’t win the election, but these 22 months were not wasted, and the 400,000+ Oklahomans who stood with me are proof that this campaign reached people far beyond what many believed was possible.”
She signed off as “With love and gratitude, N’Kiyla ‘Jasmine’ Thomas, or as you all gave me, ‘NJT.’ Onward, OklaHOMIES.”
