Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt defeats Democrat Joy Hofmeister

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt has held off a bruising challenge to his reelection, defeating Democrat Joy Hofmeister.

The 49-year-old Stitt won despite Hofmeister’s support from many of the state’s Native American tribes with whom Stitt had feuded during much of his first term.

Stitt was aided in part by a late infusion of advertisements from the Republican Governor’s Association.

Those ads linked Hofmeister to President Joe Biden, who lost every one of the state’s 77 counties in the 2020 presidential election.

They also criticized Hofmeister for supporting a series of tax increases in 2018 that helped fund pay raises for teachers.

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