One day after advancing to a Republican congressional runoff in Oklahoma, pastor Jackson Lahmeyer ended his campaign amid reports of illicit texts he sent to a woman who was not his wife.

Lahmeyer dropped his bid minutes after President Donald Trump rescinded his endorsement. Lahmeyer was set to face state Rep. Mark Tedford to represent Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District in deep-red Tulsa.

“After prayerful consideration with my wife, Kendra, and my team over the last twenty four hours, I’ve made the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for Congress,” Lahmeyer wrote on social media before deleting his accounts.

“I do not want to be a distraction to my family, my church, and the great people of Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, who deserve a strong conservative voice representing them in Washington,” he added.

Prior to the primary, the Daily Mail published intimate text messages between Lahmeyer and the woman.

Lahmeyer called the woman cute and invited her to his hotel room. He admitted to sending the texts on his since-deleted Facebook account, but said the messages were “carefully cherry-picked to create an impression that is not accurate.”

“I own crossing a boundary line through text messaging. I also ended all communication,” Lahmeyer wrote.

In early May, Trump called Lahmeyer a “MAGA Warrior,” noting he founded Pastors for Trump and “has been with me from the very beginning of our Movement to MAKE AMERICA GREAT.”

“HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” Trump wrote.

But Trump sang a different tune in a post Wednesday.

“I greatly appreciate Jackson Lahmeyer’s hard work under difficult circumstances — He has always been with me, and I will always be with him,” Trump wrote.

“But, when it comes to the current Congressional race for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, I will be supporting America First Patriot, Mark Tedford. Mark is Pro Trump and MAGA all the way,” Trump added.

Lahmeyer was running to replace Rep. Kevin Hearn, R-Okla., who is running for the Senate seat vacated by Markwayne Mullin upon his appointment to homeland security secretary.

Tedford told The New York Times he was getting his hair cut when he found out he received Trump’s endorsement.

“It was kind of surreal,” Tedford said. “Everything’s moving very fast.”

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Tagged: Elections BACK TO HOMEPAGE