Former House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts of Oklahoma is crossing party lines to support the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in his state, Joy Hofmeister.
In a video released by the gubernatorial campaign of Hofmeister, state superintendent of public instruction, Watts took an implicit dig at GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is in a surprisingly tight race in usually deep-red Oklahoma.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS FROM OKLAHOMA GUBERNATORIAL DEBATE BETWEEN KEVIN STITT AND JOY HOFMEISTER
“All of this scandal and corruption is just too much. Joy is a woman of faith and integrity. She’ll always put Oklahoma first,” Watts said.
How much, if at all, Watts’s endorsement boosts Hofmeister is an open question. After all, Watts retired from elected office nearly 20 years and has largely kept out of the political spotlight while building a business career.
Still, it’s notable that a onetime top Republican official is backing a Democrat. Watts, from 1995-2003, represented a House district based in southern Oklahoma City, stretching down to the Texas state line. Watts became the most prominent black Republican of his era and often was a frequent public GOP face in political and policy fights with President Bill Clinton and congressional Democrats.
For the second half of Watts’s House career, he headed the Republican Conference, the fourth highest leadership position when his party was in the majority.
A former star quarterback at the University of Oklahoma who then played in the Canadian Football League, Watts was elected to the House in the historic “Republican Revolution” class of 1994, which ushered in the first GOP majority in 40 years. Watts, in an interview with the podcast Pro Politics with Zac McCrary, said he always saw himself as a Jack Kemp-style Republican focused on economic growth and opportunity for all people.
But Watts has taken issue with the populist nationalist version of the party exemplified by former President Donald Trump. And his backing of Oklahoma’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee is his second act of apostasy from party orthodoxy in less than a week.
In the Pro Politics episode released on Oct. 25, Watts said Trump’s presidency degraded Republicans’ moral authority. He blasted the Republican National Committee and specifically its chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, over a February resolution approved by party regulars that arguably called the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection an “act of legitimate political discourse.”
Watts used similar language condemning the former president as he did in boosting Hofmeister.
“I still believe character matters. I think character will trump strategy every time,” he said.
Hofmeister, in the Oklahoma governor’s race, has been unsparing in her criticism of GOP Gov. Stitt.
“Conservatives like Congressman Watts see Stitt’s lies about me for what they are — a desperate attempt to maintain power,” she tweeted along with the Watts video. “I oppose new taxes on energy companies. And of course I oppose sanctuary cities. Stitt has created a sanctuary for Chinese land deals. Those are the facts.”
Hofmeister also is focusing her campaign on increased funding for public education. It’s a sensitive issue in a state where education funding cuts under Stitt and his GOP predecessor have forced some schools to be in session only four days a week rather than the usual five.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Hofmeister at one point led in several polls over Stitt. But the incumbent’s campaign got some good news Monday with an Emerson poll of “very likely,” taken Oct. 25-28, that showed Stitt leading Hofmeister 49% to 40% (margin of error plus or minus 3.02%).
Democrats have not won an Oklahoma governor’s race since 2006, when voters awarded Gov. Brad Henry a second term. And at the presidential level, Oklahoma is one of the nation’s most Republican redoubts. In 2020, Trump crushed President Joe Biden there by 65%-32%. Trump won all 77 counties in Oklahoma, the fourth straight presidential race in which the GOP nominee captured each one.
