James Lankford

James Paul Lankford (born March 4, 1968) is an American politician who is the junior United States Senator from Oklahoma. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the U.S. Representative for Oklahoma's 5th congressional district from 2011 to 2015.

From 1996 to 2009, Lankford was the student ministries and evangelism specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, and he was director of the Falls Creek youth programming at the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center in Davis, Oklahoma. He stepped down on September 1, 2009, to run for Congress.

In January 2014, Lankford announced he would run in the 2014 special Senate election to succeed Tom Coburn. He subsequently won the June 2014 primary with 57% of the vote, becoming the Republican nominee for the November election, which he would win in the heavily-Republican state with nearly 68% of the vote.

Early life and education

Lankford was born March 4, 1968 in Dallas, Texas, the son of Linda Joyce (née House) and James Wesley Lankford. His mother was an elementary school librarian. His maternal grandparents owned a small dry cleaning business, his father and paternal grandparents a dairy farm. His stepfather was a career employee of AC Delco, the parts division of General Motors.