While Hofmeister occasionally led the polls in the weeks before the election, the race wasn’t close on Tuesday night. The Associated Press called the race for Stitt, with unofficial results showing the incumbent with 56% of the vote. 

“This hard-fought election has proven that Oklahomans with different political perspectives can carve a path built on common sense, respect for one another and working hand-in-hand to get things done,” Hofmeister . She congratulated Stitt and said she would “work with him in whatever capacity I’m able.”

With Stitt’s appointed education secretary Ryan Walters for state superintendent, the governor has a unified front to push forward on his agenda to create  and restrict lessons on race and gender. Stitt’s school choice plan —  allowing state education funds to flow directly to families to spend at private schools — became a defining issue in the race. Stitt said parents should be able to escape low-performing schools, and blamed Hofmeister for a lack of improvement during her tenure.

Hofmeister, meanwhile, argued that his proposal would wipe out rural schools that anchor their communities. 

Hofmeister won two terms as a Republican state superintendent. In switching parties last year, she picked up some support from those who view Stitt as too far right and question his integrity.

A  little over a week before the election, former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts appeared in a supporting Hofmeister. 

“I was a Republican then, and I’m a Republican now, and, friends, I’m voting for Joy Hofmeister,” Watts said in the video. “All this scandal and corruption is just too much. Joy is a woman of faith and integrity. She’ll always put Oklahoma first. I know Joy personally, and I trust her, and you can too.”

While charges of corruption dogged Stitt during the campaign, the accusations proved not damaging enough to cost him the election. The governor’s relationship with the owner of a barbeque restaurant chain has been because of a contract the company received for renovating restaurants in state parks. The head of the state’s tourism agency after a legislative investigation found overspending on the projects. 

In another case, found that the state mishandled $650,000 in federal COVID relief funds when the company it hired to oversee a grant program for low-income families approved expenses for items such as video games and Christmas trees. 
Stitt about those issues in recent interviews and attributed the accusations to “special interests trying to buy this election.”

But then Hofmeister, a former teacher and onetime owner of a Tulsa tutoring company, put half a million miles on her car traveling throughout the state. She listened as educators spoke of the challenges facing small-town schools. 

“She was willing to listen and learn by getting out into our districts,” Ford said.

Educational options in those communities are now center stage as voters prepare to choose their next governor. Incumbent Gov. Kevin Stitt is campaigning on a statewide platform and promises to “support any bills … that would give parents and students more freedom to attend the schools that best fit their learning needs.”

A that died in the Senate earlier this year would have opened them to children in families that earn roughly three times what it takes to qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, with most awards ranging from $5,900 to about $8,100. Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, a Republican, has pledged to if Stitt wins.

But Hofmeister, who switched parties to challenge Stitt as a Democrat, has called the proposal a because it would pull funding from traditional districts.

“I have gone to those communities that have lost their school, and then they lose their town,” Hofmeister told The 74. 

As the leader of one of the reddest states in the country, Stitt fully embraces the GOP education agenda, from how teachers discuss race and gender to a policy that allowed students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. In his State of the State this year, he said, “God gave kids to parents — not the government!” He , who is finishing her second term, for a lack of improvement in Oklahoma schools, while she points to financial scandals under his watch.

show Stitt’s lead over Hofmeister shrinking — a reflection, some say, of the power of her message about rural schools. 

“We’ve hit on an issue that strikes at the heart of a community’s identity,” said Amber England, a public affairs and political consultant who previously ran an education nonprofit. 

A Hofmeister supporter, England said Stitt might roll into a rural town “with a hat on and cowboy boots,” but doesn’t grasp that his proposal won’t help students in remote areas without private schools.

Rural schools depend more on state funding than those with a larger tax base, said Ford, executive director of the Organization of Rural Oklahoma Schools. Vouchers, he said, could translate to an annual loss of $350 million in funding for public schools.

“We’re worried about money,” he said. “Anytime you take money out of the formula, how are you going to replace it?”

But Trent England, a fellow at the conservative Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, accused Hofmeister of seeking to preserve a one-size-fits-all system and “trying to scare people” by implying vouchers will shutter rural schools — often the largest employers in these towns. 

“There are serious problems in public schools, and that’s not limited to urban areas,” said England, who is not related to Amber England. 

‘Hard feelings’

On his campaign website, Stitt said Hofmeister hasn’t done enough to fix Oklahoma’s schools, which have ranked low for decades. The 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress put the state among those performing the U.S. average in math and reading. 

Hofmeister said one way to improve schools is to address the state’s teacher shortage. She has proposed a $5,000 as part of a budget request for next year’s legislative session. Meanwhile, Stitt proposed a bill that would push some teacher salaries to as high as . But the only legislation that passed was a new incentive and scholarship to push high schoolers to major in education when they go to college. 

Oklahoma teachers haven’t had a substantial raise since 2018, when the legislature passed a $6,100 increase, falling short of the $10,000 they asked for. They walked out for nine days, part of the wave of “Red for Ed” demonstrations across the country. Walking out even after lawmakers boosted their pay, Ford said, “created hard feelings between the teachers and legislators” that linger today. 

“Our teachers don’t feel respected,” he said. 

Those feelings have only increased with Republicans’ efforts to clamp down on lessons and educator training that address institutional racism, . In July, the state board of education the Tulsa district’s accreditation after a state prompted by Stitt concluded the district’s training materials violated the state’s law banning critical race theory. 

“I firmly believe that not one cent of taxpayer money should be used to define and divide young Oklahomans by their race or sex,” he said in on the audit. “Let’s teach students, not indoctrinate them.” 

Ryan Walters — the state’s education secretary, a new position created by the governor — has tweeted calling out teachers he says push far-left ideology. Walters, who is running for state superintendent, trails Democrat Jena Wilson, a middle school teacher in Oklahoma City, according to a released last month.

“Many teachers state they don’t know how they will be able to remain teaching should the outcome of the race be a win for both men,” said Stacey Woolley, president of the Tulsa Board of Education. “Many have directly said they will resign immediately.”

‘Overseeing the money’

In addition to decrying Stitt’s culture war focus, his critics draw attention to the misuse of $650,000 in federal relief funds distributed through ClassWallet, an online payment system for educators. Walters oversaw the $8 million program, which offered $1,500 grants to low-income families for educational expenses. 

But some spent the money on video games, Christmas trees and cookware, a . that in his role as executive director of an education nonprofit, Walters helped ClassWallet secure the contract. The ClassWallet’s parent company, Kleo Inc., for breach of contract.

Stitt’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment. 

With Hofmeister and Stitt scheduled to debate on the 19th and the election still weeks away, the race is expected to be close. 

Kenneth Hicks, a political science professor at Rogers State University, said the results might hinge more on voter reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in , which took away the constitutional right to abortion and returned the decision to the states. 

“It was easy as a campaign issue for Stitt to say he would sign any ,” Hicks said “Republicans may be finding themselves regretting jumping on that issue with both feet.”

Regardless of the reason for the race’s narrowing gap, some of Stitt’s supporters are nervous.

“For Republicans, it’s certainly closer than it should be,” Trent England said, but added Oklahomans are “staunchly pro-life” and support the governor’s opposition to transgender females using girls’ locker rooms. 

In a state that was solidly Democratic until its Congressional delegation began to shift in the 1980s, Amber England is hoping for an upset. As someone who led a successful campaign in the state in 2020, she’s seen surprises on Election Day.

“Voters don’t get enough credit for making good decisions at the ballot box,” she said. “If we’re able to run a race in Oklahoma on the issue of protecting public schools, that’s a game changer for our friends across the country.”