Part of Kevin Stitt’s campaign is to portray himself as a successful businessman – not a career politician – that can do for Oklahoma what President Donald Trump is doing for America.
That theme was reinforced October 18 when Vice President Mike Pence spoke to a crowd of more than 4,000 Stitt supporters at the Mabee Center on the ORU campus.
Stitt, the Republican nominee for governor, faces traditional Democrat Drew Edmondson and Libertarian Chris Powell in the November 6 general election.
“Think of the progress we’ve made over the last two years with President Trump in the White House,” Pence said. “I really think it’s a foreshadowing of what you’re going to see here in Oklahoma.”
Pence was joined on the stage by Stitt, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, U.S. Sen. James Lankford, U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, Republican Lt. Gov. nominee Matt Pinnell and First District Republican candidate Kevin Hern. Pinnell is up against Democrat Anastasia Pittman and Independent Ivan Holmes while Hern faces Democrat Tim Gilpin for the seat vacated by former U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine.
Inhofe, Lankford, Mullin, Pinnell and Hern all praised Stitt and compared him favorably to Trump – a highly successful businessman who had never held public office before being elected president in 2016.
“He’s one who knows how to get things done,” Inhofe said of Stitt.
“His simple straightforward businessman’s perspective,” said Lankford.
“He’s somebody that understands what its like to create those jobs,” said Mullin.
Pence said Stitt would mirror Trump’s success here in Oklahoma.
“Just look at what’s happening all across the country under the leadership of President Donald Trump, and you’ll get a good idea of what it will be like after Kevin Stitt becomes governor of Oklahoma,” Pence said.
Inhofe said one of the greatest impacts of the Trump administration was the appointment of conservative federal judges to replace activist liberal judges. Inhofe said 29 federal appeals court judges have been appointed over the past two years – a new record. And that includes two conservative Supreme Court justices.
Inhofe called Edmondson a “has–been.” He described the former attorney general as a “failed liberal.”
Oklahoma is a “red state” and voted for the Trump-Pence ticket in 2016. Edmondson supported the failed campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton. The Oklahoman newspaper stated that Edmondson sounds “more like (U.S. Rep. Nancy) Pelosi than an Oklahoma Democrat.”
Stitt founded Gateway Mortgage in 2000. It is now a national mortgage company that employs about 1,200 people with 164 field offices in 41 states. The company has a loan servicing portfolio of more than $16 billion.
This is the first run for office for Stitt.
Edmondson is part of a family that has been embedded in Democrat politics in Oklahoma for generations. He was attorney general from 1995 to 2011 and his brother James Edmondson is a justice on the Oklahoma Supreme Court. James Edmondson will be on the November 6 ballot for a retention vote.
Edmondson was Muskogee County District Attorney for 10 years before he unsuccessfully ran for U.S Congress against former U.S. Rep. Mike Synar in 1992. In 2010, Drew Edmondson lost to Jari Askins in the Democrat primary for governor.