Lahmeyer text messages exposed

Congressional candidate Jackson Lahmeyer canceled his sermon this morning at Sheridan.Church. Hours later, the London-based Daily Mail published an expose of Lahmeyer's flirtatious texts with a former Miss Oklahoma USA. Although the texts indicate no sexual involvement had yet occurred, the reaction from Lahmeyer's wife shows that she saw her husband moving toward the exits with Caitlin Simmons Key, a single mom who worked as a fundraiser for the campaign.

Jackson Lahmeyer, 34, the Tulsa megachurch pastor whom Donald Trump anointed a 'MAGA Warrior' last month, faces a torrent of his own text messages obtained by the Daily Mail ahead of Oklahoma's 1st District Republican primary on Tuesday.

In them he professes his love for the former pageant queen, invites her to his hotel room, and recounts leaving Mar-a-Lago to visit a strip club at 1am after being offered cocaine, which he declined.

Her reply now reads as prophecy: 'Jackson if u become congressman & if ever got caught u would be headlines.' Then, one word: 'Pastor.'

Caitlin Simmons Key, a 40-year-old single mom who worked as a fundraiser for Lahmeyer's campaign, tells the Daily Mail they shared inappropriate texts before his wife learned of the relationship on the eve of Mother's Day.

'You are a home wrecking whore. Did you enjoy ruining our family?' Lahmeyer's wife Kendra wrote to Key on May 9: 'He has 5 kids.'...

Key first met Lahmeyer in 2022, when he was a political newcomer mounting a long-shot Republican primary challenge to incumbent US Senator James Lankford.

She was active on the Oklahoma conservative scene; he was the pastor who had refused to shut his church during Covid. She signed on to raise money for the campaign.

Lahmeyer lost to Lankford in a landslide. But the two stayed in touch, and, Key said, grew closer as she went through a bruising divorce. She said he would call to check in. It became an intense friendship that went too far, she says.

'Eventually the conversations crossed the line of probably what most people would consider appropriate for a married man and a single woman,' she said.

Through that period Lahmeyer's national profile climbed. He founded Pastors for Trump and was brought into the president's new White House Faith Office. Key worked as a media contact for Lahmeyer's organization. He was in Washington constantly, she says, and repeatedly encouraged her to join him: 'You gotta come to DC.' She declined every time.

Key posting about Trump's endorsement started the ball rolling toward exposure:

On May 6, the president endorsed Lahmeyer on Truth Social telling Oklahoma's 1st Congressional District: 'HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!'

The next day, Key shared the endorsement on Facebook with a header vouching for the candidate: she wrote that she knew him well, knew his family, and was ready to 'get to DC.'

It was that public revelation, she says, that undid them. The morning after the post, she got a call from campaign manager Killian. 'She's pissed,' Key said he told her, meaning Kendra Lahmeyer. 'She got into Jackson's messages.'

That led to Mrs. Lahmeyer's "home wrecking whore" message quoted above.

Here's the May 7 Facebook post that reportedly triggered Mrs. Lahmeyer:

A couple months ago people kept asking me, "Why would Jackson even run for this?"

"Do you realize how many people are in this race?"

"That's impossible."

"That's going to be HARD."

And honestly? They weren't wrong. Politics is brutal. Crowded races are brutal. Public opinion changes by the hour and everyone with a Facebook account and a WiFi signal suddenly becomes an expert. America's favorite Olympic sport: confidently yelling from the comments section.

But impossible and difficult are not the same thing.

Today, Jackson Lahmeyer received President Donald Trump's endorsement, and regardless of where anyone lands politically, that is a huge moment in this race.

I support Jackson because I actually KNOW him. I know his family. I see the conversations people don't see, the work people don't see, and the heart behind all of it.
If there's one thing I've learned over the years working around politics, it's this: politics can be ugly... but not every person in politics is.

There are good people trying to do good things, and Jackson is one of them.

And also... let this be your reminder that people will always tell you something can't be done right before it starts happening.

Later, Jackson Lahmeyer texted Key:

Kendra wanted to recover all of our messages. I deleted them. I told her I got way too close to you and became emotionally attached. She lost it on me. [...]

I've been very clear with her that I got way to close to you and shared too much about myself... but we were not romantic. I deleted all her texts and she thinks there is way more going on. She is flipping on me because I will not share more. [...]

I did not see this coming. She came home and wanted to read our texts and I had deleted them and then she lost it. Saying I had something to hide. And so I have shared with her that you and I have gotten close and that I crossed the line and etc... but was very clear we had nothing romantic or etc... but she doesn't believe me.

The morning after Mother's Day, he then instructed Key to delete messages:

Ok send me a screenshot of our last several texts and I'll show which ones to remove.

Kendra has really shifted now. I think the hurt and wine caused yesterday

Archive link to the story.

MORE: Key's public political posts on Facebook since May 7 have been in support of Chris Merideth for Insurance Commissioner.

Jackson Lahmeyer posted the following response on Facebook at 9:07 pm Sunday evening, June 14:

Today, a distorted story from a British Tabloid was released just two days before my election.

This matter was already dealt with privately between me and my wife, Kendra, through counsel and prayer with God and spiritual advisors. I own crossing a boundary line through text messaging. I also ended all communication. The British Tabloid tried to paint me out in a way which is not the case.

At the same time, we must ask the question if this story was paid for and why our communications were carefully cherry-picked to create an impression that is not accurate.

I am beyond grateful to have Kendra's support. I am fully committed to my family, church and Oklahoma's 1st Congressional District.

I have little doubt that those in the political establishment who oppose my America First Candidacy will attempt to make more of this than it is. My wife Kendra may have more to say on this subject in the coming days.

If the messages were cherry-picked to create a misleading impression, Lahmeyer would be in a position to provide the context he says is lacking, assuming he didn't delete those messages.

THE OTHER SHOE HAS DROPPED: After the initial story, Lahmeyer's limited-hangout response, and Trump's reaffirmation of his endorsement, the Daily Mail has a second story, in which Key claims that the two kissed several times, and a text from Lahmeyer seems to corroborate the claim. (Archive link.)

THE THIRD AND FINAL SHOE: In a story published by the Daily Mail on June 17, Lahmeyer admitted that he had had an alcohol-fueled sexual encounter with Key during his 2022 Senate campaign:

He denied any physical relationship ahead of Tuesday's primary.

Key then went on the record, describing multiple kisses throughout the spring and warning the pastor to stop lying as she hinted there was more to the story.

Pressed by the Daily Mail on the gap between his account and hers, Lahmeyer finally cracked.

Asked directly whether Key was lying, he said: 'No, she is not lying.'

Asked if the two ever had sex, he replied: 'We kissed and in 2022 I had an affair on my wife and I've owned that. But Caitlin Key and I did not have sex during this election. There's plenty of text messages to prove that.'

Pushed on whether he was admitting that in 2022 it crossed the line into sex, he said simply: 'In 2022 I cheated on my wife.'

He cast his withdrawal from the race as a moral reckoning, telling the Daily Mail he was 'heading down a very, very bad path' and that the implosion of his campaign 'may have spared my life and my family.'

(Archive link.)

This is conjecture, but if Kendra Lahmeyer was already aware of the 2022 affair, it would explain why she was triggered by Key's social media post about the Trump endorsement, and why she texted Key to ask her to change it. It would also explain why Kendra demanded to see Jackson's text messages shortly thereafter.

Shortly after this revelation, Lahmeyer suspended his campaign, and Trump switched his endorsement to Mike Tedford.

Lahmeyer filed papers by the deadline to withdraw from the runoff, making Tedford the nominee. This also happened in 2001, when John Sullivan finished first in a December 11, 2001, special election to fill the vacancy in the 1st Congressional District after Steve Largent resigned to run for Governor. First Lady Cathy Keating finished second with 30.5% well behind Sullivan at 45.5%, and she opted to withdraw from a runoff she was highly unlikely to win. That allowed the general election to occur on the scheduled runoff date, on January 8, 2002.