With Oklahoma’s election for governor a few weeks away,polls are showing varying pictures of what the results could be. But many have shown a very close race.
That’s surprising in a state like Oklahoma, where President Donald Trumpwon all 77 counties in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.
Stitt touted his conservative credentials while Hofmeister continued with her moderate tone at the Will Rogers Theater in Oklahoma City.
“Folks, Oklahoma’s turnaround, it is working,” Stitt said. “We simply can’t go backwards. We know what will happen if we put Biden’s party back in charge.”
Stitt often invoked President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party throughout the night. Hofmeister touted herself as an independent thinker who joined the Democrats after her party was “hijacked,” by the governor.
“He reads off a national script and is out of touch with Oklahomans and the actual needs and solutions that are right here,” she said of Stitt.
The debate was sponsored by the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce and moderated by Tres Savage, editor of the nonprofit news outlet Nondoc and News 9 reporter Storme Jones.
The moderators asked questions related to education, healthcare access and tribal sovereignty, as well as about decisions Stitt and Hofmeister had made in office.
Here’s what the candidates had to say on those issues:
Education
Education has often been a center stage issue in the race for governor and it was again during the debate.
Stitt has modeled his campaign after that of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who handed him anendorsement Wednesday. He’s embraced school choice policies like private school scholarships and charter expansion. He also said he’s done a lot for public education.
“We've gone from budget deficits to a record savings account,” Stitt said. “From four day school weeks and teacher walkouts to now the largest investment in education and teachers in the history of our state.”
Hofmeister, the eight-year state schools superintendent, has thrown her support behind more traditional public schools. She accused the governor of not investing enough in education. Because though schools might be funded at record levels, Oklahoma stilllags behind other states in many educational funding metrics.
Hofmeister said to fight the teacher shortage, more money needs to be allocated to Oklahoma schools.
“You have to invest in people,” she said. “If we are going to meet the needs of children and see higher outcomes, we have to have teachers in school buildings.”
Tribal sovereignty
Stitt offered an invitation to tribal leaders to meet.
“Let’s do it tomorrow at 10 o’clock at my office,” he said. Stitt said he has an open door policy despite not meeting with leaders of the five largest tribessince 2021.
Stitt and the tribes have had a fraught relationship over the governor’s opposition to the Oklahoma v. McGirt decision and the state's decision to ask the nation's highest court to overturn it. In the summer of 2022, the United State's Supreme Court ruled that Oklahoma has concurrent jurisdiction and can prosecute non-Natives when they commit crimes against Native people within reservation boundaries. This decision in Castro-Huerta v. Oklahoma was seen as a blow to tribal sovereignty across Indian Country.
The gaming compacts have also been a sticking point. In 2019, the Governor said he wanted to negotiate with them to get more revenue for the state. Tribal nations said the compacts renewed in 2020 with the current rate intact. Governor Stitt tried to enter into four additional gaming compact agreements with the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees, Kialegee Tribal Town, the Comanche Nation and the Otoe-Missouria. All were ruled illegal by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2020 and 2021.
When OPMX reached out to leaders of the Choctaw, Cherokee and Chickasaw Nations, none of them knew about the meeting or the invitation. Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton is planning to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony in Calera for a new elder housing unit.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said that no meeting was scheduled or no invite extended ahead of Wednesday's debate.
"The fact that Governor Stitt thinks he can command tribal leaders to his office by simply declaring on live television speaks volumes of why he has been a failure at state, tribal relations," said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. in a statement.
Choctaw Nation Chief Garry Batton released a statement saying that the choice was clear for tribal citizens and Oklahomans.
“Tonight’s debate highlighted what we already know: Joy Hofmeister shares Oklahoma’s conservative values, and she is clearly the right choice to be Oklahoma’s next governor,” Batton said. “Joy has demonstrated time and again she understands unity is the right path forward for our state and that she values the benefits the Choctaw Nation and other tribes provide.”
OPMX reached out to the governor’s office for details on a potential meeting, but did not receive a response.
Earlier this month, leaders of the five tribes formally endorsed Hofmeister citing her support for tribal sovereignty, commitment to education and working with the tribes on economic development. Hofmeister has been seen at several tribal gatherings over the summer to campaign and talk to tribal citizens about their vote.
Healthcare
Stitt hasspent his tenure advocating to partially privatize Oklahoma’s Medicaid program SoonerCare — which would mean hiring private insurance companies to manage day-to-day operations.
Hofmeister said she’s opposed to that.
“We've got to make sure that Oklahomans have access to quality, affordable health care and that we do nothing to prevent the health decisions that should be made between a patient, an Oklahoman and their doctor,” she said.
Stitt’s plan is supposed to save money by putting healthier people on cheaper plans, rather than government-operated ones. The hope is that insurance providers would lean toward more preventative care than they’re seeking with Medicaid.
Critics, like Hofmeister, say the plan simply won’t work and will end up costing the state more for less coverage.
“The governor’s plan actually puts profit over care,” Hofmeister told StateImpact recently.
Governing record
Both Stitt and Hofmeister are no strangers to scandal. And moderators asked them about a number of controversial issues from their respective pasts.
First, Stitt defended himself from the recent Swadley’s scandal. A report found the state spentupwards of $17 million on contracts with the barbecue restaurant, and criminal investigations into the matter are ongoing. A former tourism department headresigned amid the scandal.
When pressed on if he’d take accountability, Stitt said the state was looking into holding the restaurant accountable.
“If the vendors are doing anything wrong and overcharging the state, Oklahomans want somebody to put a fresh set of eyes on every single contract,” he said. “That's what we're doing.”
“The governor repeated Harry Truman when he said, the buck stops with me at his state of the state,” Hofmeister said, referencinga 2019 speech Stitt gave. “But what we have clearly seen is the governor, please pass the buck.”
Savage subsequently asked Hofmeister about dark money funding.
In 2016, Hofmeister was accused ofcoordinating with outside groups on her 2014 election campaign. Those charges were later dropped and Hofmeister said during the debate “expunged.”
But in 2022, Super PACs and other dark money groups have spent more than $12 million on ads propping up Hofmeister and attacking Stitt, according toreporting by The Frontier.
“Who's behind all these dark money ads?” Stitt said. “I'll give you 20 million reasons why she will be beholden to special interests and not you [the public].”
Hofmeister said she didn’t know who was behind the advertisements.
“If there is a way to get money out of politics, sign me up,” she said. “Because it is what has corrupted this state.”
