Former House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts of Oklahoma is crossing occasion strains to help the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in his state, Joy Hofmeister.
In a video launched by the gubernatorial marketing campaign of Hofmeister, state superintendent of public instruction, Watts took an implicit dig at GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt, who’s in a surprisingly tight race in normally 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 mentioned.
How a lot, if in any respect, Watts’s endorsement boosts Hofmeister is an open query. After all, Watts retired from elected workplace practically 20 years and has largely saved out of the political highlight whereas constructing a enterprise profession.
Still, it’s notable {that a} onetime high Republican official is backing a Democrat. Watts, from 1995-2003, represented a House district based mostly in southern Oklahoma City, stretching all the way down to the Texas state line. Watts turned probably the most outstanding black Republican of his period and infrequently was a frequent public GOP face in political and coverage fights with President Bill Clinton and congressional Democrats.
For the second half of Watts’s House profession, he headed the Republican Conference, the fourth highest management place when his occasion was within the majority.
A former star quarterback on the University of Oklahoma who then performed within the Canadian Football League, Watts was elected to the House within the historic “Republican Revolution” class of 1994, which ushered within the first GOP majority in 40 years. Watts, in an interview with the podcast Pro Politics with Zac McCrary, mentioned he at all times noticed himself as a Jack Kemp-style Republican targeted on financial progress and alternative for all folks.
But Watts has taken concern with the populist nationalist model of the occasion exemplified by former President Donald Trump. And his backing of Oklahoma’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee is his second act of apostasy from occasion orthodoxy in lower than per week.
In the Pro Politics episode launched on Oct. 25, Watts mentioned Trump’s presidency degraded Republicans’ ethical authority. He blasted the Republican National Committee and particularly its chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, over a February decision accepted by occasion regulars that arguably known as the Jan. 6 Capitol revolt an “act of legitimate political discourse.”
Watts used related language condemning the previous president as he did in boosting Hofmeister.
“I still believe character matters. I think character will trump strategy every time,” he mentioned.
Hofmeister, within 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’re — a determined try to take care of energy,” she tweeted together 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 is also focusing her marketing campaign on elevated funding for public schooling. It’s a delicate concern in a state the place schooling funding cuts below Stitt and his GOP predecessor have pressured some faculties to be in session solely 4 days per week quite than the same old 5.
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Hofmeister at one level led in a number of polls over Stitt. But the incumbent’s marketing campaign acquired some good news Monday with an Emerson poll of “very likely,” taken Oct. 25-28, that confirmed Stitt main Hofmeister 49% to 40% (margin of error plus or minus 3.02%).
Democrats haven’t gained an Oklahoma governor’s race since 2006, when voters awarded Gov. Brad Henry a second time period. And on the presidential stage, Oklahoma is among the nation’s most Republican redoubts. In 2020, Trump crushed President Joe Biden there by 65%-32%. Trump gained all 77 counties in Oklahoma, the fourth straight presidential race wherein the GOP nominee captured each.
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