Gov. Kevin Stitt’s reelection victory solidifies the sturdy grasp the Republican Party has in Oklahoma the place hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in spending from opposition teams didn’t make a lot of a dent.
Outside teams spent greater than $14 million against Stitt in his re-election bid, in response to media monitoring companies and state marketing campaign filings. And but Stitt nonetheless gained by a wider margin than in 2018.
The hundreds of thousands that darkish cash teams pumped into the race towards Stitt present that such assaults have restricted worth in relation to overcoming voters’ loyalties to political events, stated Pat McFerron, an Oklahoma City based mostly Republican advisor and pollster.
“Politics — whether right or wrong — it’s become a team sport. You’re either red or blue. You’re either R or D,” McFerron stated. “And there are people that are upset with things within their own party but at the end of the day it’s kind of like ‘this is family, I’m still gonna support them.’”
In an interview after his victory, Stitt stated he believes his decisive win shows Oklahoma is poised to be a Republican state for years to come back.
“Overwhelmingly they’re supporting our policies,” Stitt stated. “Part of being a governor is running the state like a business, we’ve got the largest savings account and we cut taxes and that’s what people want. Voters don’t want their government to grow and grow like some of these other states.”
Every different statewide Republican candidate additionally gained their race handily, with a mean margin of almost 32%. About 480,000 Oklahomans forged straight-party ballots, and 69% of these ballots went straight Republican.
Republicans outnumber Democrats in Oklahoma by over 480,000 registered voters however Joy Hofmeister believed her average stances may siphon votes away from Stitt. But on the finish of the day, Hofmeister didn’t even excite Democrats, fewer of whom voted for her in 2022 than voted for Drew Edmondson within the 2018 gubernatorial election.
The solely areas Stitt misplaced had been the principally city Oklahoma, Tulsa and Cleveland counties. Stitt additionally flipped Muskogee and Cherokee counties, locations the place Edmondson gained in 2018.
Even with the endorsement of Oklahoma’s 5 largest tribes, Hofmeister nonetheless misplaced a lot of the counties in jap Oklahoma that cowl tribal lands.
Hofmeister additionally underperformed in bluer Oklahoma County, receiving fewer votes there than Edmondson did in 2018. The county additionally noticed voter turnout lower by about 4% from 2018.
Following the pattern from 2018, rural counties confirmed the heaviest assist for Stitt.
“There is a live free or die kind of mindset in rural Oklahoma,” stated Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, a former chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party who gained his re-election bid by 33 factors. “So, I think, when push comes to shove 72 hours before an election, most of the time I’ve seen those conservatives start to rally. It may not be until then, but at the end of the day they rally behind those conservative candidates.”
And rally they did. Hofmeister had hoped to make some positive factors in rural areas by campaigning on Stitt’s support of school vouchers, saying the plan would “defund rural schools,” however the message didn’t ship many votes.
Instead of training, 55% of Oklahoma voters surveyed stated inflation was high of thoughts, with 75% of them voting Republican, in response to APVote Cast, a survey of the voters carried out by NORC, Fox News, University of Chicago, The Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal.
In an interview Tuesday evening, Stitt sought to reassure voters that rural faculties could be protected as he goes ahead together with his voucher plan and promised to supply inflation aid, beginning with slicing taxes on groceries.
“We’re going to have a budget surplus next year and we have to give some of that back to the taxpayer,” Stitt stated.
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