Republican gubernatorial candidate Kevin Stitt has the endorsement of President Trump to be Oklahoma’s next governor.
Trump took to Twitter to announce his support.
“Kevin Stitt ran a great winning campaign against a very tough opponent in Oklahoma,” President Trump tweeted. “Kevin is a very successful businessman who will be a fantastic Governor. He is strong on Crime & Borders, the 2nd Amendment, & loves our Military & Vets. He has my complete and total Endorsement!”
“I am honored to receive the endorsement of President Trump,” said Stitt. “I am ready to work with President Trump to support our veterans, advance our military bases here in Oklahoma, and make much-needed investments in our state’s roads and bridges.”
Stitt faces Democrat Drew Edmondson and Libertarian Chris Powell in the November general election.
Governor Fallin and First Gentleman Wade Christensen will host Septemberfest on Saturday, Sept. 8, at the Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, just north of the Governor’s Mansion.
“It has been an honor to host Septemberfest for the past eight years,” said Fallin. “Spending time with fellow Oklahomans and celebrating our state’s history brings me great joy.”
Weather permitting, the governor and first gentleman in the early afternoon will be giving rides to children in a surrey with the fringe on top, similar to the one in the play and movie “Oklahoma!” The carriage will be parked in the circle drive area of the Oklahoma History Center.
This year’s Septemberfest theme is “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘Oklahoma!’” which recognizes the 75th anniversary of the Broadway debut of the famous musical. The exhibit is now on display at the Oklahoma History Center; it includes the surrey with the fringe on top that the first gentleman and the governor will be steering outdoors.
Septemberfest celebrates what makes Oklahoma unique. The event was founded in 1997 by Friends of the Mansion, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to preserving and improving Oklahoma’s historic Governor’s Mansion as well as its grounds and furnishings. The Oklahoma History Center began co-hosting Septemberfest with Friends of the Mansion in 2004. This is the fourth year the event has been held on the grounds of the Oklahoma History Center.
“Septemberfest has been passed down from governor to governor for the people of Oklahoma,” said Studio Architecture President Jim Hasenbeck, who is in his 16th year as chairman of the event. “The event continues to grow each year, and we love how it gathers people from all over the community together for one day of family fun.”
The festival, which will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., features more than 60 attractions for people of all ages.
With only 269 votes separating Tulsa attorney Gentner Drummond from Attorney General Mike Hunter, it wouldn’t be outrageous to ask for a recount. Instead, Drummond announced Wednesday that he has conceded the Republican nomination for the AG’s race. He and Hunter have called for unity after the contentious race.
KWTV News 9 covered both press conferences and you can view them in the videos below.
It was a medical community coalition, led by Oklahoma State Medical Association President Dr. Jean Hausheer, which appeared before the bicameral Medical Marijuana Work Group on Wednesday. The conversation ranged from establishing standards, to the dangers of smokable medical marijuana and how to regulate advertising of cannabis products.
Roughly 20 months into President Trump’s first term, our president has delivered on yet another one of his promises to the American people. When he ran for president, he committed to modernizing and updating our bad trade deals to ensure Americans and their well-being came first. Now, he has accomplished yet another feat that previous presidents failed to do: renegotiate our unfair trade deals.
Nearly 25 years ago, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was created to allow goods and services to pass throughout our continent freely. Before NAFTA was put in place, the U.S. ran a $115 billion goods trade deficit with Mexico. In 2017, that goods deficit rose to nearly $800 billion. Unfortunately, what was meant to be a fair deal among three neighboring countries resulted in closed U.S. factories and jobs being sent overseas.
This week, President Trump announced that the United States and Mexico reached an agreement to modernize the trade agreement currently governing our trade deals. This marks the first time a modern U.S. trade agreement has been successfully renegotiated. The proposed agreement establishes new “rules of origin” requirements to incentivize billions a year in the production of vehicle and automobile parts, stronger and more enforceable labor standards, improvements to trade food and agriculture more fairly, tough intellectual property protections, and the strongest transparency obligations of any U.S. trade agreement.
Our trade agreements with other nations should handle trade in a balanced and sustainable way and bring along with it a stronger American economy. The American Farm Bureau has come out in support of the Administration’s efforts saying: “In a time when the U.S. economy is booming our farmers have been left behind. Open markets and good trade agreements will give American agriculture the opportunity to be a part of this booming economy.” President Trump has followed through on his promise to put America’s farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers first.
The U.S.-Mexico Trade Agreement is a good step forward to putting our country back on the right track for trading with other countries. President Trump, who we know to be a tough negotiator, continues to keep his promises to the American people. This new proposed trade deal is a win for Americans. I am hopeful that a trade deal with Canada will follow suit so that Congress can vote to approve a modernized NAFTA in order to maintain sustainable trade practices for years to come.
Several incumbent Republican House members who were facing a runoff Tuesday night were defeated. NonDoc’s William Savage III and Ben White write nearly all of the Republican members who voted against tax increases to pay for teacher raises were voted out of office by Republican voters.
Rep. Leslie Osborn is a step closer to becoming a statewide elected official as she defeated Cathy Costello for the Republican nomination in the Labor Commissioner race. Osborn won more than 52 percent of the vote.
Osborn was the first woman House Appropriations and Budget chair. She’s represented House District 47 since 2009. While she wouldn’t face term limits until 2020, she decided to run for Labor Commissioner instead.
Osborn will face Democrat Fred Dorrell and Independent Brandt Dismukes in the November general election.
In a year where education issues took center stage and incumbents had a tough time keeping their seats, Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister defeated challenger Linda Murphy in Tuesday night’s Republican primary runoff.
Hofmeister won with nearly 57 percent of the vote.
She will face a familiar challenger from the Democrats. John Cox ran against Hofmeister in the previous State Superintendent race. Independent Larry Huff also will be on the November general election ballot.
Deputy State Auditor Cindy Byrd narrowly won the Republican nomination for State Auditor and Inspector by less than a thousand votes. Byrd received 143,941 votes Tuesday night.. Challenger Charlie Prater received 142,990.
The GOP nomination race for State Auditor was another race which “went negative.”
Byrd will face Libertarian John Yeutter in the November general election. There is no Democratic nominee for the race.
