Incumbent Gov. Kevin Stitt, State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister prepare to face off this November

TULSA, Okla. — Attacks are already ramping up between Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and his Democratic opponent, State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister as they both work to convince Oklahomans to vote for them as governor.

“I think there’s a lot of things that set us apart,” Stitt (R-Okla.) told FOX23 during a live interview Wednesday morning. “You know, I want to, I believe in freedoms.”

After winning his primary, the governor did not waver in branding himself as the conservative choice for Oklahoma.

“Friends, let’s keep Oklahoma red,” Stitt told the crowd during his victory speech Tuesday night.

On the other end, Hofmeister is billing herself as the “aggressively moderate” answer to increasingly polarizing politics.

“We are really excited to see a focus, not on party, but on people,” Hofmeister said during her victory speech Tuesday night.

During his live interview on FOX23 Wednesday, Stitt said his main focus will be continuing to make Oklahoma a top ten state in all categories.

“And Oklahoma has got a lot of momentum right now,” Stitt said. “Oklahomans can feel it. We’ve got the lowest unemployment in our state’s history. We cut taxes for all Oklahomans last year. I’ve got the largest savings account.”

In his victory speech Tuesday night, the governor claimed he and his administration have and will continue to work to improve public schools.

“We’ve made historic investments in education,” Stitt said. “We’ve raised teacher pay to top in the region. We put more money into rural schools.”

And that’s an area where Hofmeister has issue with her opponent.

“The governor has a voucher scheme which is a rural school killer,” Hoffmeister told FOX23 after casting her vote Tuesday morning.

She said the governor’s support of the movement to use state school funds to pay for private school education in the form of vouchers would end if she wins in November.

“We are a state that has education funding at 47th lowest in the nation,” Hofmeister said. “And we absolutely cannot siphon away funds for for-profit management companies that would take away and deplete the resources for Oklahoma kids.”

Hofmeister had been a Republican up until this campaign. She switched to the Democratic party to take on Governor Stitt in this election. She told FOX23 even though her party has changed, her views have not. With that in mind, FOX23 asked where that puts her on the issue of overturning Roe v. Wade.

“I’m personally pro-life,” Hofmeister said. “But I haven’t walked in every woman’s shoes. I don’t favor extremes on either side of this issue. Ultimately it’s a healthcare decision between a woman and her doctor and it needs to stay that way.”

For details on upcoming Oklahoma elections, you can click here.

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