OK-GOV: Republican Supt. of Instruction becomes a Democrat, announces run for Governor.
State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister is running for governor — as a Democrat.
The 57-year-old lifelong Republican told the Tulsa World in an exclusive interview that she is changing her party registration on Thursday in order to launch a bid to unseat Republican incumbent Kevin Stitt.
“Governor Stitt is running the state into the ground,” said Hofmeister. “Through extremism, partisanship, ineffective leadership, he is hurting our education system, our health care, our infrastructure.
“And unfortunately, Gov. Stitt has hijacked the Republican Party in Oklahoma.”
The former public school teacher and longtime owner of Kumon Math & Reading Centers in Tulsa was a political novice when she decided to quit as a Mary Fallin-appointee to the Oklahoma State Board of Education and challenge the unpopular Janet Barresi in 2014.
Hofmeister beat Barresi in the GOP primary, carrying all 77 counties, and defeated John Cox, superintendent of a small Cherokee County school district, in the 2014 and 2018 general elections.
Changing parties and running for governor first crossed her mind, she said, this spring after a full year of being privy to Stitt’s behind-the-scenes handling of a crisis.
https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/joy-hofmeister-to-flip-parties-challenge-kevin-stitt-for-governor-in-2022/article_2393799a-263a-11ec-93c6-8fcf1a60c90c.html
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