Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) and his Democratic challenger, Joy Hofmeister, clashed during their only scheduled debate on Wednesday evening at the Will Rogers Theater in Oklahoma City.
In a zany event that began with softball questions on hobbies, was plagued with online livestream glitches, and featured a live audience that was asked by the moderators to remember to tip their bartenders, Oklahomans saw their gubernatorial choices face off in a heated debate that pitted the state’s incumbent governor against a Republican-turned-Democratic state superintendent of public instruction.
Hofmeister announced her decision to leave the GOP last year out of frustrations that Stitt is engaged in “cronyism” and claims that he is more loyal to the Republican Party than to the citizens of the Sooner State.
Stitt sought to defend his reputation on the debate stage while alleging that dark money groups had spent “$20 million on lies and confusion and chaos attacking me and promoting her.” His defense comes at a time when several polls claim the candidates are running a tight race.
Here are five moments from the debate that stood out:
Hofmeister seeks to distance herself from Biden and Democratic Party and brands herself as ‘aggressively moderate’
When asked whether the candidates believe humans contribute to climate change, Hofmeister sought to commit to Oklahoma’s oil and gas sector, while Stitt touted the state’s “all of the above” approach.
Hofmeister said she was critical of President Joe Biden for not doing enough to support Oklahoma energy, arguing there is “no such thing as good or bad energy.” She also repeated that she was “aggressively moderate.”
Stitt spoke about his attempts to bring new renewable energy industries into Oklahoma on top of its oil and gas industry, which employs nearly 90,000 workers in the state.
Earlier this year, state lawmakers put together a $700 million rebate package to lure Panasonic to establish a vehicle battery plant in the state. The bid ultimately went to Kansas, and Hofmeister criticized Stitt on Wednesday for attempting to chase after “short-term gains.”
However, Panasonic is in negotiations to build an additional roughly $4 billion electric vehicle battery plant in the United States and has reportedly been eyeing Oklahoma as a location for the new plant. There are no guarantees that an agreement has been reached, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Candidates clash on whether school vouchers hurt rural education
The candidates clashed on the issue of school vouchers, which Hofmeister called a “rural school killer.”
“This governor says just now that he’s going to preserve rural Oklahoma, but we all know that his voucher scheme is a rural school killer. You kill the school, you kill the community,” Hofmeister said.
Stitt countered with his claims that school vouchers would help bring private schools into rural areas of the state where there aren’t any. Stitt holds that he is “proud to stand with parents over big unions.”
Hofmeister attacked the state’s funding of public schools, saying, “We are 46 lowest in the nation in what we invest in the children of Oklahoma.”
Stitt sets date and time to meet with tribal leaders amid Supreme Court standoff
Stitt has been vehemently against a 2020 Supreme Court decision ruling that a large eastern half of the state is Native American land.
After being pressed about a lack of communication with tribal leaders in the state, Stitt said he would meet with them on Thursday at 10 a.m. at the state capitol.
But Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., one of the leaders in the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday evening that there has been no meeting scheduled for Thursday.
“The fact that Gov. 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,” Hoskin added.
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.”
He also reiterated that he does not believe McGirt applies to civil issues, asking, “Can you imagine a bank CEO in eastern Oklahoma not paying taxes but a single mother having to?”
Hofmeister said it was “breathtaking” how Stitt “processes and sees” the McGirt decision.
The state succeeded in a lawsuit brought to the high court earlier this year that sought to rein in one portion of the 2020 ruling that Stitt claimed was leading to lawlessness in areas legally designated as “Indian country.” The Castro-Huerta v. Oklahoma ruling allowed state law enforcement to have jurisdiction over criminal cases when a non-Native offender victimizes a member of one of the state’s tribal members on reservation land, which makes up more than 40% of the state’s total territory.
Federal and tribal law enforcement must handle criminal cases that involve tribal members against other tribal members under the rules McGirt established.
Hofmeister says Stitt shows ‘no mercy’ on abortion as Stitt reveals new exceptions
Stitt was pressed by a moderator on whether he would support a bill that provided exceptions for rape and incest victims in response to the state’s strict abortion law, saying he would if the bill was brought to his desk.
Stitt has repeatedly said he believes “life begins at conception” in response to criticism over the state’s strict abortion ban that went into effect just before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Stitt noted that there are already such exceptions in the law, but the state only allows exceptions to save the life of a mother.
“We have a governor who has shown no mercy for victims of rape or incest,” Hofmeister said, who considers herself personally “pro-life.” She said she would build a relationship with the Republican legislature to repeal the abortion ban.
Stitt hit Hofmeister for not specifying where she draws the line on abortion, asking, “Is she going to side with the Biden party and allow abortions all the way up until the time of birth?”
Stitt admits to using marijuana
While Stitt said Tuesday that Oklahomans will vote on March 7 to decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana, he does not support the measure himself.
The governor admitted that he has used marijuana, lamenting that his parents are “gonna be very disappointed” at his response.
But he stopped short of supporting decriminalizing marijuana at the state level because it would conflict with federal law.
Hofmeister said she has not consumed marijuana and whether she supports recreational marijuana depends on who wins the election, claiming that medical marijuana under Stitt is a “mess.”
But Stitt countered, saying he has passed laws to crack down on illegal marijuana operations.
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Stitt is endorsed by Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin and former President Donald Trump. Hofmeister received the historic endorsement earlier this month by leaders of the Five Tribes and has gained support from the state’s former two-term Democratic Gov. Brad Henry.
The debate was moderated by reporters from the nonprofit news outlet NonDoc and News 9, a local CBS affiliate.
