Kevin Stitt, the Republican Governor of Oklahoma, confronted a tricky query about his alleged corruption throughout an look on Fox News Sunday.
A former businessman, Stitt is the twenty eighth governor of Oklahoma, having received the workplace within the 2018 midterms. He is currently seeking reelection and is dealing with Democratic nominee Joy Hofmeister, the state’s longtime Superintendent of Public Instruction. Previously a Republican, she switched events final 12 months previous to saying her run for governor.
Hofmeister not too long ago acquired a big and sudden endorsement from J.C. Watts, a former congressman who represented Oklahoma’s 4th District from 1995 to 2003, in addition to chairing the House Republican Conference from 1999 to 2003. In a brand new advert, Watts defined that he stays a Republican however can’t put belief in Stitt as governor.
“I was a Republican then, and I’m a Republican now, and, friends, I’m voting for Joy Hofmeister,” Watts mentioned within the advert. “All this scandal and corruption is just too much. Joy is a woman of faith and integrity. She’ll always put Oklahoma first. I know Joy personally, and I trust her, and you can too.”
Screenshot/Fox News
During Stitt’s Fox News look, host Shannon Beam pressed him for a response to the allegations of corruption in opposition to him, together with that his authorities mishandled $31 million in COVID reduction funds. Additionally, there’s a legal investigation underway into state contracts with a barbeque restaurant, and Hofmeister has additionally accused Stitt of funneling taxpayer cash into his personal companies.
In a clip shared to Twitter by journalist Aaron Rupar, Stitt fails to instantly deal with the allegations in opposition to him as laid out by Beam. Instead, he decried “special interests” that he mentioned try to spice up Hofmeister’s candidacy, whereas additionally claiming that Paycom, an organization that Watts is an element of the Board of Directors for, is an element of the group trying to “buy this election.”
He additional likened them to the “George Soros company of Oklahoma,” echoing right-wing conspiracy in regards to the famous left-wing businessman and philanthropist. Conspiracies about Soros have turn into more and more mainstream in conservative politics lately, owing to his appreciable donations made to progressive and liberal causes, and have continuously been criticized as anti-Semitic.
“Again, Oklahomans are too smart,” Stitt mentioned. “This is an election season. With $50 million in special interests trying to buy this election for my opponent, of course they’re gonna be coming out with that stuff… But Oklahomans can see through that, and I think that’s why Americans are so disappointed with the lies, the chaos, and the distrust of some of the polls and some of the things that are going on.”
When pressed a second time for a selected response to every allegation, Stitt merely expressed satisfaction in his previous enterprise successes.
Newsweek reached out to Stitt’s workplace for remark.
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