Via The Express Star
It is finally the year of the Oklahoma governor election, and the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma will host the first Meet the Governor Candidate Forum of 2018.
Kevin Stitt, a businessman from the Tulsa area, has owned his own company since January 2000 and is going for the Republican nomination for governor.
In the last 20 years, Stitt, a Norman native, comes from a family that has six children and has been married for 19 years. With his business, he has traveled and owned offices in several states.
Stitt said one of the things he has noticed from his travels around the country is that Oklahoma has some work to be done, and his background as a business man has shown him some examples.
“As I traveled the country, I have about 155 offices, and as I go to visit our offices in Texas, Arkansas, Colorado and all the states around us, I get so frustrated,” Stitt said. “I see the momentum and the positivity, the growth, the jobs and the economy booming, and I come back to Oklahoma and I just feel down in the dumps.”
Traveling around the state for the campaign, Stitt has talked about his position as a businessman — not a politician. He is campaigning on the fact that he is different from others who are running.
“First off, I am so much different than the career politicians, and I have never hired anybody or set strategy or led and made a tough decision,” Stitt said. “I will certainly be focused on the next generation and what is best for Oklahoma in the next 10 years and not the next election.”
Stitt said he also believes it is important to be an independent governor with no ties to special interest and has a five-pillar plan on points of emphasis that he will work on if he is elected to office.
Along with Stitt’s position in several key areas, he has taken the time traveling the state to listen to residents and is passionate about finding out what the people think about the state.
“We are really excited about the position in the race … and are starting to hone our message,” Stitt said. “I want to find out what the issues in rural Oklahoma and urban Oklahoma and hear them so I can get there and lead well at the Capitol.”
Stitt will appear on campus starting at 7 p.m. Jan.9 with the forum at the student center on the USAO campus in Chickasha.
The forum will be an hour and half and will give audience members a chance to ask the candidate questions and also hear his message on the race for Oklahoma governor.