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The race for Governor in Oklahoma is a tight one, with polls showing the top two candidates just a few percentage points ahead of one another but within the margin of error depending on the poll.
FOX23 recently sat down for one-on-one interviews with both Republican Governor Kevin Stitt and Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Joy Hofmeister.
Hofmeister currently serves as Oklahoma’s State Superintendent. She switched from the Republican party to run against Gov. Stitt.
Here are some of the discussions from that interview.
Inflation
Q: “Inflation is something that hits every household, whether you’re living paycheck to paycheck, or whether you’re earning a really good paycheck, it still hits every single person. So, what can you do if you are re-elected to a second term to try to combat that?”
Governor Kevin Stitt/(R) Oklahoma: “Well, first off, I’m advocating to the D.C. politicians, the Democratic politicians in D.C., ‘hey, let’s have an honest conversation about meeting the needs of Americans. Let’s make sure that we, that we unleash Oklahoma companies, Pennsylvania companies and North Dakota companies to meet the needs.’ Oklahoma is also number two in wind energy production. We don’t shy away, we need more of everything in Oklahoma. That’s why our electricity price is so good. We’re a net exporter of clean energy. It’s why Google is located in Oklahoma, because they love our cheap energy. And that’s a huge advantage for us, recruiting companies. But you know, what I’m going to do is I’m going to keep advocating for the taxpayer, I represent the taxpayer. And I’ve asked, I’ve had to ask the legislature to get rid of the grocery tax, it’s a regressive tax. In other words, people in the lower income, they spend more of their money on groceries than people at the higher income bracket. So, I’m trying to get rid of that we’re one of only 13 states that taxes groceries, I’m really pushing the legislature to do that. I also want to lower income taxes. Well, it is not prudent to have a huge savings account and billion dollar surpluses every year and our economy’s booming. Are we just going to figure out ways to spend it? Are we going to give it back to the taxpayers? I will absolutely lower taxes for Oklahomans. I’m trying to get rid of the grocery tax for working Oklahomans and also trying to advocate to change policy. So we’re not having these 40 year highs and inflation.”
Q: “What will you do if elected governor to try to help Oklahomans, families with this inflation? It keeps going up.”
Joy Hofmeister/(D) Candidate for Governor: “I called for a moratorium, a temporary suspension of the gas tax, as did many Republican governors as well. The governor did not, he didn’t address it while we were paying over $4 a barrel, or $4 a gallon, excuse me. And now that we see rising costs, the grocery tax is now on the table to be discussed by the governor. This has been a decade’s long pursuit. And I’m critical of the governor for not pursuing this four years ago, three years ago, two years ago, just now, a month before election, we are seeing a real push. I am aggressively moderate, I always have been, I like to say, meet me in the middle, and let’s get something done that actually moves the needle for Oklahoma families, schools and those mid and small size businesses across the state. When we do that, we build the pipeline, and the workforce development has to be a top priority, it is for me, and then we will see a more robust economy for the long run.
Abortion
Q: “When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, you enacted a near complete ban on abortions here in Oklahoma. You said you’re proud to call yourself the most pro-life governor. Do you think some women who supported you previously may not do so this time around because of that? Or, do you think your stance will actually win over more support?”
Governor Kevin Stitt/(R) Oklahoma: “You know, I hope it would. I told Oklahomans during the election in 2018, that I would sign every piece of pro-life legislation to hit my desk, and the legislature overwhelmingly, about 80%, put legislation on my desk to protect life. And we believe life begins at conception in Oklahoma. But I recognize, you know, the Supreme Court, unlike what people think, did not ban abortion in the United States, it simply gave that back to the states. Every state is going to do something differently. Some states will ban it at six weeks at a heartbeat. Some states might do 14 weeks, like the country of France, most European countries ban in between 2 to 14 weeks. But we can have an honest conversation about when life begins. And at the same time, I’ve set up the HELP Task Force. The HELP Task Force was to promote adoption and give the services to you know, crisis pregnancies and whatever a young mother would need help during this, you know, during the time when she finds herself pregnant, maybe in a situation where she didn’t plan on it. But at the same point, we signed that piece of legislation because that’s when we believe life begins in Oklahoma, and I don’t know how much clearer I can be about it.”
Q: “Would you consider putting that to a vote of the people?”
Governor Kevin Stitt/(R) Oklahoma: “If the legislature sent that to a vote of the people? Absolutely.”
Q: “When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, Governor Stitt enacted a near complete ban on abortions in Oklahoma. Will you keep that in place? Or do you think abortion rights should go to the vote of the people?”
Joy Hofmeister/(D) Candidate for Governor: “Certainly, I would always support any kind of measure going to the people. This is our right. And we and a governor should not interfere with that. But I will tell you, I am personally pro-life. I have not walked in every woman’s shoes. And I don’t favor extremes on either side of this issue. Ultimately, this is a health care decision between a woman, her doctor and her faith. It is this governor who has extreme abortion bans that have no mercy for victims of rape or incest, that are criminalizing standard healthcare. And it is something that should be reversed.”
Q: “So is this something would you then try to work with legislators and bring this to the vote of the people?”
Joy Hofmeister/(D) Candidate for Governor: “I certainly could work with legislators on this. I think that we are all examining what opportunities will make that change that’s needed. Also, it is, you know, it is up to the legislature if they were to modify that language or if it is going to require a vote of the people but certainly, again, I can’t support the governor’s extreme position, especially with no, no exception for rape or incest.”
Death Penalty
Q: “What is your stance on the death penalty?”
Joy Hofmeister/(D) Candidate for Governor: “I, you know, I feel that it is very important that this be reserved for the most heinous of crimes. And I also know that the Governor has not been listening to those who are doing the work of making recommendations at the Pardon and Parole Board. It is a governor’s role to very carefully pour over the details when there is an individual that’s been recommended for commutation. And we saw our governor also with some of his changes that he made to release hundreds of people in one day, did not do the work that every other Governor before him has done to ensure that he is not releasing someone… unfortunately, what we saw was someone released that then murdered innocent people. It is important for a governor to take every step to do their due diligence before they either sign that pardon and parole or whether or not they listen to their Pardon and Parole Board.”
Governor Kevin Stitt/(R) Oklahoma: “Some people are in the cheap seats and they don’t see the evidence. And I get to see the bullet holes in people’s heads and talk to the family members that lost their father, their brother or their husband or their wife, who were brutally murdered. And, and the other thing people don’t realize is the Governor doesn’t just say yes or no on that. It has to go through a five person Pardon and Parole Board before it even comes to my desk to give me that opportunity. So some of them, a lot of them never make it to my desk for clemency.”
Q: “Well, speaking of that, why did you reject the recommendation of your own Pardon and Parole Board and reject clemency for death row inmate James Coddington back in August?”
Governor Kevin Stitt/(R) Oklahoma: “Yeah, so those are all those are tough, all tough, tough situations. And I have a process I go through on every single one of them. And I talked to previous governors and what their process was. And so, I meet with the defense attorneys, we meet with the family of the victim, and we meet with the prosecutors, and then we weigh the evidence. And my job is to determine does is, is is the person guilty or innocent? Or is it, is the person worthy of any kind of mercy at this point? Or is justice, was there a mess up in the system in other words? Because I didn’t sit through the whole trial like the jurors did, the 12 jurors. And so, I’m just trying to analyze whether there was a mess up or there’s something that the governor needs to go in and change what happened from those 12 jurors 20 years ago. And in that case, I didn’t think there was, the person who admitted guilt, that no doubt about it, that he did the crime. And the jury, I just stayed with their original conviction.”
Election Security
Governor Kevin Stitt/(R) Oklahoma: “I’m sure there’s some kind of fraud that’s happening in other states, I feel very confident in Oklahoma’s election. I’ve been digging into that and making sure that we have a fair election. Everybody can vote that is registered to vote. But it is really peculiar that some of these states can’t get their counting in for two weeks, and Oklahoma, we get ours done. I mean, when the polls close at seven, we’re releasing precincts right then, immediately. So, I have confidence in Oklahoma’s election. And in you know, scratch my head a little bit at some of the other states.”
Q: “How confident are you in Oklahoma’s election boards and the systems that we have in place here?”
Joy Hofmeister/(D) Candidate for Governor: “I am very confident in Oklahoma’s election system, we actually have, I think, a very good model. And Oklahoma was ahead of many states in our system, it’s reliable. I would like to see voter registration online for more people. But of course, in order to access that you have to have internet and broadband access, which goes to another area that that we have great need, but I do think all of those who have a long history of volunteering make sure we have fair elections in Oklahoma, and we certainly do.”