Who is N'Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, the socialist nurse who caused an upset in Oklahoma and pledged to remove Trump from office if she reaches the Senate

While the Democratic Party continues to be torn between the center and the radical left, there is a new rising political star in the ranks of the Democratic Party: N'Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, a nurse with no prior political experience, won the Democratic Senate runoff in Oklahoma on Tuesday, defeating attorney Jim Priest and securing her spot as the Democratic nominee for November.

With this victory, which many considered unexpected when the race began, Thomas becomes the first Senate nominee in the state's history to openly identify as a Democratic socialist.

The victory comes just one week after state legislator Angie Nixon, also a Democratic socialist, won the Democratic nomination for the Florida Senate, and adds to a string of victories by the party's left wing in this primary cycle, where voters have consistently had to choose between moderate figures and new faces moving further to the left.

For years now, this phenomenon has been fueling an internal debate among very progressive sectors, close to figures such as Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as the moderate—and, in some cases, conservative—wing of the Democratic Party, which argues that this shift to the left is driving the party away from voters in conservative states.

Thomas led the initial race in June with 45% of the vote compared to Priest's 24% in a five-candidate primary where no one reached the majority needed to avoid a runoff. Despite being vastly outspent in campaign funds, she raised just $60,000 compared to the nearly $10 million raised by Republican Kevin Hern. Thomas ended up winning comfortably in the runoff as well. 

She will now face Hern, a U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 1st District since 2018 and a candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump, in a race where he starts at a clear disadvantage, as this state has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1990 and Trump won there by nearly 35 points in 2024. The task seems nearly impossible for Thomas, who, nevertheless, has already made a name for herself within the Democratic Party thanks to his strong performance in the primaries.

In an interview with public radio station KOSU last month, Thomas was asked how she would handle her relationship with President Trump if she won. Her response was, to say the least, defiant: "Like I said, I'm kind, not nice. So I will make sure that I work as diligently as I can to make sure that within my first 100 days that we impeach, remove and convict. They will have to pry that pen out of my cold, dead hands before I go any further with allowing this administration to continue doing what they're doing."

Who Is Thomas

Thomas, 31, was born and raised in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. Before entering local politics, she worked as a nurse, community health advocate, and full-time mother. She has been married for six years to her husband, Patrick, an active-duty member of the armed forces, and together they are raising two children.

Her platform includes the implementation of a "Medicare for All"-style single-payer health care system and the restoration of Roe v. Wade, the expansion of Obamacare, and pay raises for teachers. Thomas has emphasized that much of her focus on public health stems from her own experience as a nurse, particularly regarding access to healthcare in rural areas of the state.

Her candidacy, built largely through social media and without funding from corporate PACs, according to her own campaign, would make her the first woman, first Black woman, and first Native American woman to represent Oklahoma in the Senate, should she win in November.

Priest, 70, a lawyer and former executive of a nonprofit organization, had argued during the campaign that a more moderate profile like his had a better chance against Hern in a historically Republican state. "My personal opinion is that Jasmine Thomas cannot win in the fall, and I can because I will appeal to crossover voters," she had said weeks earlier. However, Democratic voters unhesitatingly chose her rival, who now has several more months to campaign for the grand prize: a Senate seat that is unlikely for Democrats to win.