A small but cozy reception of of only six or seven tables welcomed a fervent crowd in the event center at Freddie’s Steakhouse on Saturday evening.
Gubernatorial candidate Kevin Stitt entered from the back, shaking hands and warmly embracing anyone wearing a “Team Stitt” T-shirt.
Already, the campaign team had spent a whole day traveling, having just gotten back from Guthrie and Oklahoma City. But if Stitt was fatigued, he didn’t show it. In fact, as he got up to speak to the crowd, his passion and excitement about his vision for our state began to show.
After being introduced to a solid applause, Stitt began by asking, “How many of you have already voted?” Surprisingly, about 50% of the participants in the room raised their hand.
After introducing members of his family, he began to get into his reasoning why he was standing here—a man who had never run for office of any sort, was now going for the most powerful seat in the state.
“I’m here because I believe the Lord put it on my heart to get involved,” he said.
Recounting his business trips to places in Arkansas and Texas, Stitt said that he would come home and there was a difference in the atmosphere.
“As I begin to look at some of the other candidates that were running for governor I saw that they had the same resume at the old administration.”
Stitt remarked that Oklahoma is 45th and reading and math and 1st incarceration. He blamed our state’s leaders for such poor performance in schools, as evidenced by the teacher strike that happened earlier this year. In Stitt’s mind, it’s because Oklahoma’s leaders aren’t thinking far enough down the road.
“We need someone that will focus on the next generation not the next election,” he said.
Touching on a number of subjects, including the $30 million windfall from the health department, Stitt brought up the need for not just a financial audit, but performance audits.
Explaining how when a business department starts losing revenue, you have to shrink the department; “Have you ever realized that even though the government budget shrinks, the government never shrinks? We have to put measures into place that not only measure a balance sheet, but determine how employees folks a department should have.”
Despite all that’s wrong with Oklahoma, Stitt maintains a healthy optimism of what could be: “I believe that if we can get someone to set the vision and hire the right people we can be a Top 10 State.“
Stitt’s wife Sarah also got up to speak, giving her husband ample credit for taking his time with what was undoubtedly a big decision.
“To see that he was willing to step away from this business—something we have a spent the last eighteen years in—to go fix our state, I knew it must really mean a lot to him.”
She said that as they spent the last 18 months traveling the state and campaigning, it began to mean that much more to her as well:
“If we as a state want to see the needle move on these issues, we cannot keep doing what we’ve been doing. We need an independent candidate who’ll make the decision that is best for Oklahoma, not someone who is beholden to an industry or an organization. Kevin person for the job.”
Stitt has been endorsed by Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak, as well as U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Coburn, among others. Learn more about Kevin Stitt at his website, https://www.stittforgovernor.com/
