By Jake Ervin, Student Reporter
The governor’s race in Oklahoma is neck-and-neck, even though it should not be close.
The most recent polling averages show the current incumbent, Kevin Stitt, is only one percentage point ahead of his opponent, Joy Hofmeister.
It is strange for Stitt, a Republican, to have such a slim margin over Hofmeister, a Democrat. The state of Oklahoma has not had a majority vote for a Democratic nominee in a presidential election since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. The state has not elected a Democratic governor since 2006.
Stitt blames his evaporating lead in the polls to the slew of television advertisements that are attacking his character, his policies and his alleged corruption. He thinks the ads are funded by the states’ Native American tribes. Many of these advertisements have been funded through political action committees that aren’t required to disclose their donors and how much they donate.
“It’s the big casino bosses,” Stitt said to The Oklahoman. “It’s the big tribes.”
However, this is not the whole story. Stitt can continue to whine about the tribes like he has his entire term as governor, but a few campaign ads did not turn a deeply red state against a Republican incumbent. The Oklahoma governor’s race is a microcosm of the issue plaguing the Republican Party across the country.
While plenty of voters agree with principles of the Republican Party’s platform, particularly in southern states, the candidates themselves are the issue. Whether it’s the repeated scandals plaguing Herschel Walker’s campaign in the Georgia senate race or Stitt’s alleged backroom dealings, the Republican Party is increasingly asking voters to look past the failings of the weak candidates they offer and vote red anyway.
Stitt is not facing the threat of being a one-term governor because thousands of Oklahomans suddenly decided that they are now Democrats. He has become deeply unpopular within his own party because of his ineffectiveness as governor and the corruption allegations surrounding him.
The Republican Party has made the mistake of thinking Oklahomans were stupid and wouldn’t notice Stitt scratching the back of his political donors.
A glaring example of this occurred when Stitt chose not to terminate a contract with Epic Charter Schools, even after discovering the private school company had misused millions of taxpayer dollars. Not so coincidentally, many individuals associated with the company had donated more than 10,000 dollars to his campaign for governor.
Stitt’s record on schools in general is one of the major issues of this election. He seems to be determined to cut funding to Oklahoma public schools in favor of vouchers for private schools despite less than 20 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties having at least one private school.
This assault on public education is why Hofmeister, the Oklahoma state superintendent of public instruction since 2015, is the ideal candidate to run against such a flawed politician of the state’s majority party. She has repeatedly expressed her commitment to increase funding for public education instead of vouchers, which her official campaign website describes as a “rural school killer.”
Ultimately, this election is not about a Democrat versus a Republican, but a referendum on the Republican Party’s belief that their voters will show blind loyalty to terrible candidates. While other states like Georgia and Pennsylvania may make this mistake, it is important that Oklahomans show their values matter more than identity politics when casting ballots on Nov. 8.
Ervin’s personal political views do not reflect those of the Northwestern News.