Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) defeated his Democratic challenger, Joy Hofmeister, winning a second term as governor of the Sooner State.
The race stunned election watchers last month when several private polls showed Stitt was trailing Hofmeister despite early 2022 polling that showed he was leading her by double digits in the historically conservative state.
Hofmeister changed her political orientation from a member of the GOP to a Democrat in October 2021 in order to run against Stitt, saying at the time that she was opposed to his “partisanship and ineffective leadership.”
FIVE TAKEAWAYS FROM OKLAHOMA GUBERNATORIAL DEBATE BETWEEN KEVIN STITT AND JOY HOFMEISTER
Hofmeister led Stitt by 7 percentage points in a poll released on Oct. 17 by the Oklahoma-based political consulting firm Ascend Action. There were 638 likely primary election voters surveyed.
Still, an Oct. 31 Emerson College poll surveyed 1,000 likely voters and showed Stitt leading his Democratic opponent by 9 points. The divergence in polling results brought national attention to the race.
During the candidates’ first and only debate last month, Stitt sought to defend his reputation while alleging that dark money groups had spent “$20 million on lies and confusion and chaos attacking me and promoting her.” On top of that, leaders of the five largest Native American tribes in the state united to endorse Hofmeister, the first time such a coordinated move had occurred, according to the leader of the Cherokee Nation.
Stitt has been vehemently against a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that led to the eastern half of the state being deemed Native American land.
The governor, who is also a Cherokee Nation citizen, contended that the 2020 McGirt v. Oklahoma decision was a federalization of eastern Oklahoma and that it gave eastern Oklahoma over to the federal government or, in his words, “Biden.” The state scored a small victory that restored some of its criminal jurisdiction on land that is legally considered “Indian country,” though Stitt has maintained the McGirt decision was a mistake by the high court.
While most of Stitt’s rivals have pushed allegations of corruption, such as a delay in the distribution of millions of federal COVID-19 relief funds that were intended for education purposes, Hofmeister is also no stranger to controversy.
Hofmeister was criminally indicted in 2017 for campaign finance violations and conspiracy after allegedly raising money illegally while running against the incumbent Republican Superintendent Janet Barresi and colluding with a dark money group. Charges were later dismissed.
