Sooner State News

Former Gov. Frank Keating said the governor's job is incumbent "Kevin Stitt’s to lose" despite prominent challengers in the Republican primary and general election.

Keating, who was governor from 1995 to 2003, told Sooner State News that Joel Kintsel's military record will help him.

"Veterans are popular," Keating said. "The military is probably the most respected group of individuals in the United States."  

Kintsel, director of the Oklahoma Department of Veteran Affairs, served in Baghdad. He is an attorney who formerly served as a judge advocate general for the Oklahoma Army National Guard. He is the most prominent Republican opponent of Stitt.

"I am running for governor because we are heading in the wrong direction here in Oklahoma," Kintsel told Sooner State News. "And specifically, I'm running on an anti-corruption, good government type of platform. There are quite a few things going on right now within the administration that I feel are the wrong things for Oklahoma. And somebody has got to take a stand, and that's going to be me." 

Other Republicans in the GOP primary include stay-at-home mom Moira McCabe and Mark Sherwood. 

Stitt has faced backlash over his handling of the state’s finances, particularly when it comes to COVID spending. He has also been accused of hooking up friends and campaign donors with sweetheart deals.  A state audit that remained buried until the State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd released the report independently of the governor said the Stitt Administration’s documentation was in "disarray," noting "inconsistency in how the purchasing documentation was maintained" and a "disconnect between the purchasing and finance process."

Keating also commented on Democratic primary candidate Joy Hofmeister's chances.

"I think the Democrats are going to have a real challenge," he said. "If you want to win, you've got to be a Republican, even in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Because, you know, Joy Hofmeister was superintendent of public instruction, she switched parties. That's her business…but the education outcomes for public school students have gone down, not up on her watch."

Hofmeister switched her party affiliation to Democratic from Republican in 2021 to challenge Stitt in the general election. "[U]nfortunately, Gov. Stitt has hijacked the Republican Party in Oklahoma," she said in announcing the change, according to the Tulsa World. My loyalty is to Oklahoma families, not to structures or party," Hofmeister said. "I am changing parties, but I haven’t changed who I am. I have the same values, and they haven’t changed."

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, standardized testing scores in reading have "plummeted."  In 2015, when Hofmeister took office, Oklahoma's reading scores were near the national average, but in 2017 and 2019 the state saw drops.