GOP, Democratic contests on tap for governor in Oklahoma

Jun. 24—Incumbent Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will be on the ballot Tuesday with three GOP challengers in the primary, but his attention most likely will focus on which of the two Democrats with familiar names he most likely will face in the November general election.

He will be challenged then by either Constance Johnson, who wants to be the first Black-Indigenous governor in the U.S., or Joy Hofmeister, who has served as state superintendent of education from 2015 to the present.

—Stitt, 49, founded Gateway Mortgage in 2000 in Tulsa and turned it into a nationwide company. He graduated from high school in Norman and holds a bachelor's degree from Oklahoma State University at Stillwater.

He came in second in the gubernatorial primary in 2018, but won a runoff that year, and then handily defeated Democrat Drew Edmondson in the general. He was endorsed by President Donald Trump.

In the primary Tuesday, his GOP opponents will be Joel Kintsel, Mark Sherwood and Moira McCabe.

—Kintsel is the director of the state Department of Veterans Affairs. He holds a journalism degree from Oklahoma State University and a juris doctorate from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

—Sherwood, 57, is a naturopathic doctor who owns a practice in Tulsa.

—McCabe cites her experience as a home-school mom.

DEMOCRATS

—Johnson was born in Oklahoma and was a state senator for District 48 from 2005 to 2014. She cites work experience as a consultant and advocate. She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a graduate degree from Langston University, and a doctorate from Larry Love University in Muskogee.

—Hofmeister has served as superintendent of education since 2015 when she defeated the GOP incumbent in the primary and then a Democrat in the general. She was reelected to her post in 2018. She announced in October 2021 that she planned to change her party affiliation to Democratic to run for governor this year.

The ballot in the general election will also include an independent and a Libertarian candidate.