Mark Tedford thinks experience can outdo a Trump endorsement

State Rep. Mark Tedford pitches himself as a pragmatic, business-oriented conservative. He thinks he can win Oklahoma’s open 1st Congressional District seat despite President Donald Trump’s endorsement of his rival Jackson Lahmeyer.

Speaking to about 50 people gathered for a free barbecue dinner at a Baptist church in Bixby, Tedford emphasized his experience as both a businessman and state lawmaker, contrasting himself with candidates who have never held elected office.

“I see myself as the coalition candidate, one that can speak to broad ranges of people,” Tedford told The Frontier before the event in May.

“There’s a difference between the idea of being a legislator and the work of being a legislator,” he told the crowd. “I went to Oklahoma City to do the work.”

The 56-year-old is running in a crowded field to replace U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern in the district, which covers most of the Tulsa metropolitan area. Lahmeyer, a Tulsa pastor and activist, entered the race later than most candidates but gained momentum after Trump’s endorsement.

Trump-endorsed candidates won 86% of contested primaries without an incumbent from 2018 to 2024. But Tedford said he is leading in internal polling and has outraised the field. Federal campaign finance filings show he raised more than $1.44 million as of May 27. That sum includes about $600,000 he loaned to his own campaign, according to figures from the end of March. Before entering politics, Tedford spent decades running​​ Tedford Insurance, a company his parents founded. He’s trying to differentiate himself from Lahmeyer by focusing on economic issues rather than culture war flashpoints.

“There’s some that want to go there and burn the Capitol down,” Tedford’s campaign manager, John Fritz, said at an event in Bixby. “And then there’s a person that wants to have a level-headed conversation.”

Lahmeyer, who is 34, has described Black Lives Matter as a “demonic terrorist organization” founded by “witchcraft-practicing lesbians,” and called Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, a “coward” for not supporting Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Tedford said he believes he was passed over for Trump’s endorsement because the president does not know him personally.

“I haven’t met the President. The President doesn’t know me,” Tedford told The Frontier. “I’m supportive of the President. I’m not running against the President. But you know, I’ve got to run my own race. It doesn’t change anything for me. I feel like things are going very well.”

Lahmeyer, who is close with Trump’s sons, told The Frontier he viewed Tedford as his strongest opponent and said Trump told him he declined to endorse Tedford because he has missed votes in the Oklahoma Legislature.

“What votes is he talking about?” Tedford said in an interview with The Frontier. “Was he talking about when I voted to ban transgender surgeries for minors? Was he talking about when I was voting to lower taxes? Was he talking about when I was voting to make trafficking the abortion pill a felony?”

Tedford said he received a 91% rating from the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs and a Conservative Achievement Award from CPAC. He said he had been in communication with the Trump administration’s legislative affairs director and that his state voting record did not come up.

According to a tally of votes on the Oklahoma House website, Tedford was marked excused for more than 400 of 947 votes during the 2026 legislative session. Only two of the House’s 101 other members were marked excused more often. In previous years, Tedford missed fewer votes but still significantly more than other lawmakers, missing more than 200 votes those years.

Tedford’s campaign said the vote totals overstate the amount of time he was absent because a single legislative day can include dozens of roll-call votes.

“The excused votes cited were approved by House leadership and fell across a small number of legislative days, concentrated in the final weeks of session, including an unusually long end-of-session floor day that ran late into the night,” Josh Wagoner, a spokesperson for the campaign, said in an emailed statement.

The campaign pointed to Tedford’s endorsement from Oklahoma House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow. According to the campaign, Hilbert has said “Mark was always present when I needed him” and called him “a strong champion for conservative values.”

Wagoner said Tedford authored eight bills that passed the House this session and co-authored more than a dozen others. “As for President Trump, we have no information indicating his decision in this race was based on Mark’s legislative voting record, and we are not aware of any evidence supporting that claim,” Wagoner said.

In Bixby, Tedford framed himself as a continuation of Hern, who is also a businessman. Tedford said his priorities are reducing inflation, creating jobs, achieving energy independence, and improving government efficiency. 

He said he has been endorsed by the three Tulsa County commissioners, four South Tulsa County mayors, half of the Tulsa City Council, Tulsa firefighters, and “many” state legislators in the area. He was introduced at the event by state Rep. Rob Hall and then-Bixby Mayor Brad Girard, who resigned later in the month amid scrutiny over his handling of his city manager’s DUI arrests. State Sen. Brian Guthrie, R-Bixby, also attended.

Tedford, a former football player with slicked-back gray hair and chamber-of-commerce mannerisms, stressed his experience in business and lawmaking.

“What I’ve told people is the America First agenda is largely economic,” Tedford said. “Someone who’s a business person is the best person to engage with that agenda.”

During a question-and-answer session, Tedford addressed Medicaid spending, infrastructure, property taxes, Social Security, veterans’ issues, and insurance regulation.

Tedford diverged from Trump on several issues. He expressed reservations about Trump’s tariffs, given their effects on inflation and the uncertainty they created for businesses. He also said he disagreed that birthright citizenship should be overturned and said he did not support sending U.S. troops to conduct ground operations inside Iran.

Tedford has served in the Oklahoma House since 2022, representing District 69 in south Tulsa County. This is his first contested election — he ran unopposed in both 2022 and 2024.

Tedford faced scrutiny for his ties to the insurance industry after he co-authored legislation the company State Farm requested in 2024. The bill, which didn’t pass, would have reduced penalties insurance companies can face when they lose lawsuits brought by homeowners over denied claims. 

Tedford told The Frontier that it is common practice in the Oklahoma state legislature for bills to have outside requestors and said he wasn’t aligned with the company, criticizing them for denying hail damage claims. 

Of the 24 measures listed as authored by Tedford in the 2026 legislative session, at least six were related to insurance. House Bill 2933 passed the House in March and would require insurers to submit quarterly reports to the Oklahoma Insurance Department while establishing a Homeowner Claims Bill of Rights. Tedford also sits on the House Insurance Committee.

His congressional campaign received $7,500 from two insurance-related political committees in March.

Tedford is competing against 11 other Republicans on the primary ballot, including Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Kim David. Dan Rooney, a lieutenant colonel in the Oklahoma Air National Guard and CEO of the nonprofit Folds of Honor, dropped out of the race in May after Trump endorsed Lahmeyer, saying he respected the will of the president, though he will still be on the ballot. 

If none of the candidates get at least 50% in the June 16 primary, the top two candidates will advance to a runoff election on Aug. 25.

This article was published in partnership with The Frontier.