The upcoming Oklahoma state election on Tues. Nov. 8 will be a close one as candidates continue to campaign
This Tuesday, Nov. 8, citizens who are registered to vote in Oklahoma can cast their ballots. The biggest race this term is for governor. Joy Hofmeister (D) and incumbent Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) are currently neck and neck in the Oklahoma polling locations. In a recent survey of likely voters, Hofmeister was shown to be ahead by as much as 7%, while other surveys suggest that Stitt and Hofmeister are truly tied, or that Stitt is leading by as much as 9%.
Hofmeister’s campaign is revolving around attempting to convince on-the-fence Republicans to switch parties and vote for her on Tuesday. Oklahoma voters are overwhelmingly Republican, and Democrat Hofmeister is automatically the underdog in this election. She may win in the larger cities, but she will rely on rural Oklahomans to vote for her and see that the issues she actively campaigns to change are worth their support.
Her campaign is heavily focused on improving Oklahoma public schools and abortion access. She is potentially the right Democrat candidate to convince the on-the-fence republicans to support her. Hofmeister was a lifelong Republican, but in 2021, changed parties in order to run against Stitt in the 2022 gubernatorial election.
There are several big issues on which Stitt and Hofmeister have opposing views. One big thing that could potentially harm public schools in Oklahoma, a state ranked 42nd in education, is school vouchers, and Hofmeister is adamantly against the policy, while Stitt has made it an integral part of his campaign in the race for state governor. School vouchers, also known as education savings accounts, allow public tax money to be used to pay private school tuition.
During his initial campaign four years ago, Stitt was heavily anti-vouchers, but his opinion has since changed, and it is one of his top priorities this election. Stitt’s argument for school vouchers is that they would allow students to get out of low-performing schools or schools where teachers are pushing “liberal indoctrination.” When speaking to the Oklahoman, he stated “Every child and their family should be free to choose where and how their child is educated. We want to give education freedom back to parents, put parents back in charge of their kid’s education.”
Hofmeister is maintaining the position against school vouchers and has been bringing her concerns with them to parents in rural communities. Hofmeister believes that school vouchers will be a rural school killer and would put small towns in jeopardy. Taking money from these schools to follow children to private institutions would harm the education of the children left behind in a state that already is struggling with underpaid teachers and lack of funding.
One of the other majorly polarizing topics for the two candidates is abortion access in Oklahoma post Roe. Stitt has signed some of the most restrictive abortion access legislation in the country after Roe was overturned and has stated that if given the opportunity, he would make it even more restrictive. Currently, the legislation only allows some exceptions in the event that the mother’s life is at stake, and for rape or incest victims who’s case has been reported to law enforcement.
While Hofmeister has stated that she is personally pro-life, she belives that abortions are decsions that should be between a woman and her doctor, and would be in favor of some abortion access in the state. She says that Stitt’s policies are extreme and by taking this option away from women, he is taking away the ability of women to direct their own futures and their individual freedoms.
The election will be a close one and everyone who is eligible to vote should ensure they do so and should ensure that they do their research on all candidates and the issues they support and the solutions they propose to fix the problems they see in Oklahoma.
