2022 Oklahoma Voter Guide

Gubernatorial CANDIDATES

NATALIE BRUNO (L)

AGE: 37
WHERE SHE LIVES: Edmond
FAMILY STATUS: Married to Taylor, four children and two stepchildren
EDUCATION: Oklahoma State University OKC, associate’s degree, alcohol and substance abuse counseling
OCCUPATION: Director of digital strategy, Skyline Media Group

KEVIN STITT (R)

AGE: 49
WHERE HE LIVES: Oklahoma City
FAMILY STATUS: Married to Sarah, six children
EDUCATION: Oklahoma State University, bachelor’s in accounting, 1996 OCCUPATION: Governor, Oklahoma, 2019-present; Founder and former chairman, Gateway Mortgage

JOY HOFMEISTER (D)

AGE: 58
WHERE SHE LIVES: Tulsa
FAMILY STATUS: Married to Jerry, four children
EDUCATION: Texas Christian University, bachelor’s in education, 1988; Attended the University of Oklahoma, seeking a master’s in education administration
OCCUPATION: State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Oklahoma, 2015-present; Former owner, Kumon Math & Reading Centers, Tulsa

ERVIN STONE YEN (I)

AGE: 67
WHERE HE LIVES: Nichols Hills
FAMILY STATUS: Married to Pam, five children
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s in zoology, University of Oklahoma, 1977; M.D., University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, 1981; Residency, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 1981-1984
OCCUPATION: Anesthesiologist, INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center and St. Anthony Hospital, 1984-present; Former chief of anesthesiology, St. Anthony Hospital

THEIR POSITIONS

ECONOMY

BRUNO (L) STITT (R) HOFMEISTER (D) YEN (I)
  • Diversify Oklahoma’s industries to move beyond an overreliance on oil and gas.
  • Legalize recreational marijuana.
  • Eliminate grocery sales and state income taxes.
  • Lower individual income taxes and eliminate the grocery sales tax. Maintain discipline in state spending.
  • Lower federal regulatory hurdles for oil and gas. Support renewable energy, aerospace, and advanced mobility.
  • Use state incentive rebate funds to attract more companies that generate thousands of new jobs.
  • Proceed with ACCESS, a long-range turnpike expansion plan.
  • Better align K-12, career tech, and colleges with workforce needs.
  • Suspend the gasoline tax. Tap $2.8 billion in state reserves to aid communities and families.
  • Invest in public education for long-term economic prosperity.
  • Raise minimum wage. Invest in diverse entrepreneurs and eliminate red tape and discrimination.
  • Develop a modern infrastructure and transit plan to connect workers and companies.
  • Reduce worker shortages and better align education with workforce needs
  • Diversify the economy and types of jobs that retain college graduates and attract and grow businesses.
  • Fix a failing education system, protect the well-being of women, and diversify state leadership.
  • Increase job diversity to prevent the state dependency on oil and gas revenues

EDUCATION

BRUNO (L) STITT (R) HOFMEISTER (D) YEN (I)
  • Reduce government control of education.
  • Abolish the Oklahoma State Board of Education. Shift power to school districts, teachers, and parents.
  • Redirect Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust dollars to free meals and mental health services for educators and students.
  • Give families more school options, including charters. Consider weighting low-income and rural students to receive payments.
  • Partner with education leaders to reduce teacher and school support staff shortages. Will not appoint a secretary of education
  •  Increase salaries to six figures for the best teachers.
  • Expand “school choice.” Allow parents to spend state funds on private schools and other education expenses.
  • Hold schools accountable for spending. Enforce new transparency requirements such as posting school audits on their web pages.
  • Ensure school employees are informed of their rights to refuse to join teacher unions and pay dues.
  • Modernize an “outdated and broken” school transportation formula.
  • Make teacher salaries nationally competitive. Tap state reserves to reduce teacher shortages and improve student achievement.
  • Expand support staff in schools, including reading specialists, tutors, and counselors.
  • Opposes vouchers that channel state funds to private schools.
  • Deepen parents’ engagement with their children’s education from birth to pre-K.
  • Ensure equitable access to high-quality public education
  • Expand broadband and affordable child care.
  • Increase teacher pay and incentives to attract more educators to the state.
  • Reduce the number of school districts. Direct the savings to teachers.
  • Channel more state funds into the classroom.
  • Use federal funds to help students who fell behind during the pandemic.

HEALTHCARE

BRUNO (L) STITT (R) HOFMEISTER (D) YEN (I)
  • Find innovative ways to make healthcare more affordable.
  • Make healthcare prices transparent. Offer tax reductions to providers that publicly disclose cash prices.
  • Allow all healthcare expenses to be deducted on state income taxes.
  • Legalize abortion.
  • Complete shift from fee-for-service Medicaid to a model that saves money and incentivizes in-state providers to improve patients’ health.
  • Maintain ban on abortion.
  • Approved increased provider reimbursement rates for nursing homes, hospitals, and doctors, and more funds for physician training for rural hospitals.
  • Train all state employees in the “science of hope,” a mental-health approach.
  • Supports access to affordable, top-quality healthcare.
  • Address shortages of nurses and lower prescription drug costs.
  • Opposes privatizing Medicaid. • Is “personally pro-life.”
  • Recruit mental health professionals to work in underserved communities statewide.
  • Make healthcare accessible to all Oklahomans without privatizing Medicaid. Create incentives for people to improve their health.
  • Work with the state’s congressional delegation to lower prescription drug costs.
  • Unequivocally pro-choice

PUBLIC SAFETY

BRUNO (L) STITT (R) HOFMEISTER (D) YEN (I)
  • Protect citizens’ safety while rehabilitating criminals effectively and humanely.
  • Use more innovative police practices, with emphasis on community and inmates’ mental health and violent crimes.
  • End the militarization of law enforcement, civil asset forfeiture, and the failed war on drugs.
  • Reduce prison overcrowding. Release non-violent offenders. Decriminalize victimless offenses like drug use, gambling, and prostitution.
  • End the death penalty. 
  • Combine state’s three state law enforcement agencies into one, led by a public safety commissioner.
  • Supported criminal justice reforms, commutations for low-level offenders, and pay hikes for public safety and correctional officers.
  • Supports the Second Amendment. Condemned a White House proposal to tighten laws on homemade “ghost guns” and pistol stabilizers
  • Endorsed a 2020 criminal justice reform measure to limit sentences of certain offenders convicted of a nonviolent felony.
  • Supports the Second Amendment while favoring some limits on gun sales, including a three-day waiting period between purchase and delivery of a gun.
  • Took steps to bolster school safety, making school panic buttons available statewide and forming an office to provide threat assessment training
  • Reduce incarceration by building a strong education system.
  • Ensure prisons and jails meet a humane standard of care.
  • Favors background checks, red-flag laws for gun sales, and banning sale of assault rifles to those under age 21.
  • Opposes state’s “constitutional carry” law.
  • Supports use of nitrogen gas in Oklahoma executions.

OVERALL

BRUNO (L) STITT (R) HOFMEISTER (D) YEN (I)
Emphasizes privacy rights and rights for business owners and women. “Fight to unite Oklahoma!” is her campaign theme. Would use bold leadership to “forge partnerships and renew faith in small government,” to build consensus on policies that benefit all Oklahomans. Reaffirms his goal of producing an “Oklahoma turnaround” that elevates the state to top 10 status in key areas such as job growth, education, and infrastructure. Believes his “fiscally conservative leadership” and push for innovation are benefitting taxpayers and modernizing the economy. Advocates for “conservative, common-sense policies that put freedom first.” Describes herself as a collaborative and “aggressively moderate” leader who would restore trust in state government and can get things done. Would “stand up to both parties” to strengthen schools and bolster the economy. Would prioritize accountability and transparency. Would focus on long-term strategies instead of “short-term political pandering.” ills himself as “a moderate conservative choice for Oklahoma” with a reputation for integrity, compassion, and wide-ranging knowledge. Believes Oklahomans are weary of leaders who pander to divisiveness and chaos and want a governor who is a voice of reason, working across party lines to accomplish positive change, whether in healthcare or education.