Via Tulsa World
Jenks businessman Kevin Stitt raced away from former Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett on Tuesday to take the Republican nomination for governor.
Stitt was ahead by about 10 percentage points in early, incomplete results in the primary runoff race where he had spent $6.5 million on his campaign through Aug. 13.
Stitt will face Democrat Drew Edmondson on the Nov. 6 general election ballot for governor.
Stitt loaned his campaign at least $3.7 million, according to reports candidates file with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. As of late Tuesday, Cornett did not show any loans.
Stitt billed himself as a political outsider who could fix the state’s budget mess. He also aligned himself with the policies of President Donald Trump.
In television commercials, he questioned Cornett’s stance of immigration and loyalty to President Trump, something Cornett disputed, calling it “Bull Stitt” in rebuttal ads.
Cornett was the top vote earner, followed by Stitt, in the June 26 Republican primary, which featured 10 candidates, including Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, who came in third.
Edmondson, a former Oklahoma attorney general and Muskogee County district attorney, easily bested former state Sen. Connie Johnson in the June 26 Democratic primary to secure the nomination.
A Libertarian, Chris Powell, also will be in the Nov. 6 general election. Powell received 59 percent of the vote Tuesday against Rex Lawhorn in a race that had less than 1,000 votes.