N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, a 31-year-old nurse and Chickasaw Nation citizen from Ardmore, won the Democratic Party primary runoff for U.S. Senate in Oklahoma in another win for the party’s far-left faction.
With nearly all votes counted, Thomas received 61.2 percent (79,201 votes) to 38.8 percent (50,238 votes) for attorney and minister Jim Priest.
Thomas and Priest had advanced after the June 16 primary, in which Thomas led a five-candidate field with 45.2 percent (76,330 votes) and Priest finished second with 23.9 percent (40,290 votes). Neither reached a majority, which triggered the runoff.
Thomas, a political newcomer, worked as a nurse and community health worker before entering the race. Her campaign raised about $57,000 and was conducted largely through social media and grassroots organizing. Priest, 70, spent approximately $315,000 and received support from former Oklahoma governors Brad Henry and David Walters, as well as former Attorney General Drew Edmondson
Thomas has described herself as a self-proclaimed democratic socialist but said she is not yet a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. She told NBC News that democratic socialists represent “the next generation” seeking to “change the system.”
She has also claimed that most socialist countries are “thriving.”
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JUST IN: N’kiyla Jasmine Thomas has won the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. Senate in Oklahoma.
Onward! pic.twitter.com/bjTec0OIJn
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) August 26, 2026
Her stated positions include Medicare for All, universal childcare and parental leave, and requiring that “everyone pays their fair share.” She supports abolishing or ending ICE as it currently operates, ending qualified immunity for ICE agents in cases of civil rights violations, and freezing expansion of the agency’s funding.
Additional positions include protecting women’s healthcare rights, restoring Roe v. Wade, expanding House representation by uncapping the number of seats, supporting LGBT protections, and opposing state laws restricting transgender students in sports. In a July interview with NPR affiliate KOSU, she said that if elected she would work in her first 100 days to “impeach, remove and convict” President Donald Trump.
Thomas will now face Senator Kevin Hern, who was appointed to the seat to replace Markwayne Mullin after he was elevated to Homeland Security Secretary by President Trump. Hern is widely favored to win the seat given the state’s partisan lean and recent electoral history, as a Democrat senator has not been elected since 1990.
Thomas’s nomination occurs amid a series of 2026 primary wins by DSA-endorsed or democratic socialist-aligned candidates, including several against incumbent Democrats. DSA-endorsed candidates recorded 35 primary victories by late June, including upsets of House incumbents.
In New York, DSA member Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, while DSA-backed Melat Kiros defeated 30-year incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado.
Multiple DSA-backed candidates also defeated incumbent state legislators in New York. And just last week in Florida, Angie Nixon, who joined DSA during her campaign, won the Democratic Senate primary over a better-funded opponent
