Guest column: Stitt may try to appeal to rural voters atop his horse, but he's out of touch

As a rural Oklahoman, I do not believe the article “Stitt’s ‘rural wall’ could be a significant edge this election” presents a comprehensive view of the population defined as “rural” or our values.

Predictions are only as good as the assumptions we make. The article claims: “If Stitt’s support in the rural counties is similar to what it was in 2018…” and I would state that the claim is flawed. So much has changed in rural counties since 2018.

Gov. Kevin Stitt may try to appeal to rural voters atop his horse at his ranch, but what I see is someone who is out of touch with what smaller farms face every year, especially the last few. This year, the floods in May tore down fences and flooded our barns. The drought in July meant we had to start feeding early and risk running out of hay later this year. Last year, we lost so many animals in the February blizzard of 2021, many were barely able to keep going. Stitt wasn't addressing us or our concerns in his TV interview.

While he was boasting about $2.8 billion in savings for a “rainy day” fund, we were praying for rain and relief. Maybe he heard from enough of us, prompting him to sign the drought relief bill on Sept. 12, but after getting my hopes up, my first reading just leaves me feeling disappointed. It won’t likely benefit small farms like mine with a special commission that “shall have the sole power to determine the appropriate agency or entity to receive” the relief.

Predicting things about a population is also only accurate if the population in the sample is representative of the true population. Stitt can claim “these are my people” at a rodeo in Lawton, population 93,535. And this population may also meet the article author's definition of rural, but it obviously doesn’t represent all rural voters very well, especially smaller communities.

Here is what I know about my rural community in Woodall, Oklahoma, population 1,004. When I had a flat tire on a rural road, every person who passed by stopped to help. We show up for one another after every tornado and flood. We have a “waste not, want not” attitude, and we do not like the waste we see in Stitt's government. We live by the commandment to love our neighbors, and we are exhausted by divisive politics and corruption.

Gov. Stitt may claim “rural” as his people, but I do not think he knows my people. And I think the article's author missed hearing some of our “rural” voices in his interviews. We want the kind of leadership that reflects our values, and I hope that people like me will vote our values and make our voices heard in November.

Andrea Cull is a resident of Woodall, a rural community near Tahlequah, where she tends a small farm.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Guest column: Gov. Stitt is out of touch with rural Oklahomans