President Trump’s announcement that he will nominate Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma to be his next Homeland Security secretary throws open what could be a series of Republican contests in a deeply conservative state.
A vacancy for Mr. Mullin’s Senate seat may attract multiple members of Oklahoma’s five-member, all-Republican congressional delegation, and open seats for those districts would likely draw competitive Republican primaries of their own.
Gov. Kevin Stitt would appoint a replacement for Mr. Mullin, but state law forbids that person from remaining in the seat following the next regularly scheduled general election.
“I will be looking to appoint a strong, small government conservative voice to support President Trump and protect Oklahomans’ way of life,” Mr. Stitt wrote on social media.
Mr. Mullin’s term expires at the end of this year, so whoever Mr. Stitt appoints will be a short-termer in the Senate. Oklahoma’s filing deadline for candidates seeking to replace him is April 3, which may come before Mr. Mullin can be confirmed as a cabinet secretary.
Within hours of President Trump’s announcement that Mr. Mullin would replace Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary, Representatives Stephanie Bice and Kevin Hern signaled interest in potentially running for the Senate seat, according to two people briefed on the situation, who were granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations. Matt Pinnell, the lieutenant governor, is also considering entering the race, the people said.
There are already at least seven Republican candidates aiming to replace Mr. Stitt, who cannot seek a third term as governor, and some of them could switch to run for an open Senate seat instead.
Mr. Stitt could also run for the Senate, though his high-profile disagreements with Mr. Trump in the last year would complicate matters for him.
Mr. Trump has relished his role as kingmaker in Republican primaries. He has in the past effectively cleared G.O.P. fields by endorsing a candidate — though this year’s Texas Senate primary is a prominent case of Mr. Trump letting candidates fight it out among themselves.
The Senate seat is likely to remain in Republican hands. Democrats have not won a statewide election in Oklahoma since 2006; and the last time they won a Senate race was 1990. Mr. Trump won all 77 of the state’s counties in the 2024 presidential election. Republicans have also held all of the state’s House seats since 2012, with the exception of a single term won by Kendra Horn, a Democrat, in 2018.
Reid J. Epstein is a Times reporter covering campaigns and elections from Washington.
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