An unusual campaign moment has thrust an Oklahoma Senate race into the national spotlight months before voters head to the polls.
Democratic candidate N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, 31, is seeking the Senate seat once held by Markwayne Mullin, who now serves as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security under the Trump administration.
Video footage posted to TikTok in September 2025 captured Thomas cutting Mullin’s photograph out of a frame and placing it inside a book labeled as a “Burn Book.”
The gesture closely followed a scene from the 2004 movie “Mean Girls,” in which character Regina George cuts a photo of protagonist Cady Heron and places it into an identical prop.
A follow-up TikTok post expanded on the theme, revealing further pages of the “Burn Book” containing additional material referencing Mullin.
Thomas now advances to a general election matchup against Republican Rep. Kevin Hern, who currently represents Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District in Congress.
The Senate seat opened after Mullin left his post to join the Trump administration’s cabinet as head of the Department of Homeland Security.
NBC News confirmed Thomas’s primary victory in a report published Monday, identifying her as a “self-proclaimed democratic socialist.”
The same report noted Thomas is “not yet” a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, despite her public alignment with the movement’s messaging.
Speaking with NBC News, Thomas offered her assessment of the American economic system, stating that “capitalism is what’s destroying our country right now.”
Financial disclosures obtained by NBC News reveal a wide gap between the two campaigns’ resources heading into the fall election.
Thomas’s campaign reported holding just $456 in available funds as of August, according to the NBC News report.
Hern’s campaign, by comparison, reported $2.6 million in its coffers as of late June, per the same disclosures.
The two candidates will compete for the seat in November’s general election, with Oklahoma voters set to determine Mullin’s Senate successor.
Mullin’s transition from senator to Homeland Security secretary created the vacancy that both candidates are now vying to fill.
Thomas’s social media posts have continued to draw attention in the weeks following her primary win, as clips from the September 2025 videos have resurfaced online.
The race pits a first-time statewide candidate with minimal campaign funding against an incumbent congressman backed by significantly larger financial resources.
