Lankford wins GOP primary in race for U.S. Senate seatU.S. Sen. James Lankford won Tuesday’s GOP primary outright in his race for reelection to another six-year term in the U.S. Senate.
Lankford, 54, defeated Tulsa pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, 30, and Joan Farr, 67, of Broken Arrow and will be a heavy favorite to defeat the Democratic primary winner in November’s general election.
A former Baptist minister, Lankford was the longtime director of Falls Creek, the nation’s largest Christian youth camp, before winning a U.S. House seat from the Oklahoma City area in 2010. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014 to fill the unexpired term of former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, who stepped down that year amid health concerns. Lankford was reelected to a full term in 2016 with nearly 68% of the vote.
Senator in 2010 deposition: 13-year-olds can consent to sexIn 2009, while Lankford worked at the camp, the family of a 13-year-old girl sued a 15-year-old boy who was alleged to have had sex with her at the camp. Lankford, who was not in Congress at the time, is not alleged to have had any direct knowledge of the alleged assault, has not been accused of any wrongdoing and was not a defendant in the lawsuit, which was settled for an undisclosed amount before it was scheduled to go to trial.
But in a 2010 deposition in the case, given a week after he was elected to his first term in the U.S. House, Lankford testified that he believed a 13-year-old could consent to sex.
“Yes, I think they can,” Lankford told Kenyatta Bethea, a lawyer for the girl’s family, according a 155-page transcript of the deposition obtained by The Associated Press.
The age of consent in Oklahoma is 16, and although there is an exception in the law for minors between the ages of 14 and 17 who have sexual contact, there is no provision under which a 13-year-old could consent to sex. When Bethea pressed if his answer was still the same “if I ask you that question in terms of your position as a father,” Lankford maintained his stance.
“Yes, they can,” he said.
