Was just able to figure out a solution!
I went back and read this thread about the opposite problem (link opening in a new window) and changed the script to force to link to open in the same tab.
<script>
jQuery(document).ready(function() {
jQuery(".dropdown-links a").attr("target", "_self");
});
</script>
I pasted this in the custom code section of the page I was working on and it worked just like it was supposed to. Note, you have to make sure the script points to the class of the link you are using (in my case, the name of my class was “dropdown links”)