Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma on Red State Leadership

CLAY: We are joined now by the governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt. Good to talk to you again, Governor. I want to start here because I know this is something that you’ve been having to deal with a large amount of time. Buck and I have been teeing off on the idea that we are losing any of our National Guard troops as well as any of our fighting men and women at all in the armed forces over this covid shot requirement, which every single week and month gets more and more ridiculous. How frustrating is it to you? I’m sure there are a lot of Oklahomans out there in the services that are raising this issue with you, and I know you fought it yourself. How incredibly bad of a decision is this by the Biden administration?

GOV. STITT: Well, first off, thanks on for having me on, and again it’s just one more example of this administration just having zero common sense. We sued. I wanted to protect the National Guard that report directly to me as the commander-in-chief in Oklahoma. We said we’re not gonna dishonorably the discharge anyone. We think it’s absolutely ridiculous to force someone to get a shot that may have a 30-day effective rate of getting covid.

And if you think about it, there’s 60,000 people that will be discharged from the Army. We lost 58,000 soldiers in Vietnam. In one day, we’ve lost more people from just an absolute political stunt by this administration, and it’s just unbelievable. It’s a national security issue, and I just think about these brave men and women that are serving our country and serving our states in the National Guard and are paying for college and want to serve their state, and now they’re being forced to get out of the military because of a political stunt, and it’s just ridiculous as far as we’re concerned in Oklahoma.

BUCK: Hey, Governor Stitt, it’s Buck. Thanks again for being with us. You know, we talk a lot on this show about some of the policies in the larger population red states like Florida and Texas — and then ’cause Clay is a Tennessean, obviously we hone in on that one too. I mean, you’re speaking to people all across the country, but certainly in your home state of Oklahoma as well. We’ve got KTOK Oklahoma City and KAKC in Tulsa.

Great stations, heritage stations there with big audiences. We wanted to just give you an opportunity to tell folks: What have you been doing in your state when it comes to covid, when it comes to getting the economy back on track, when it comes to rule of law and the protections therein? What should people know about what Oklahoma’s been doing? Because they know about Florida and Texas if they listen to this show.

GOV. STITT: Yeah, well, we’re glad Florida and Texas can be following Oklahoma’s lead through this entire process.

BUCK: (laughing)

GOV. STITT: (chuckles) But, basically, here’s the deal: A lot of the conservative states and us in Oklahoma, you don’t put your Constitution in the attic when there’s a pandemic and just because someone in Washington, D.C., says that you should act a certain way. And so we’ve believed in freedoms, personal responsibility. I was one of the few governors that did not declare a mask mandate statewide. We kept our schools open, we kept our businesses open all through the pandemic, and we kept people safe. I was transparent with all the data.

We gave all of our hospitals the PPE, everything that they needed. But we weren’t going to shut our schools down. Now people are waking up to the learning loss that happened from some of these blue states that closed down their schools. And now Oklahoma, just like Texas and Tennessee and South Carolina and Florida, our economy’s booming. We have to lowest unemployment in our state’s history. I have the largest savings account we’ve ever had. We’ve got some business principles that we’re making Oklahoma the most business-friendly state. I cut taxes last year for every business, every single individual, and just could not be more proud of the migration that’s moving to our state, and the economy’s booming here.

BUCK: You mentioned something that I think is reason alone to vote red in November, and I know many of our listeners are still fired up about it all over the country. You’re seeing now… I saw Joe Biden tweet, I think it was yesterday or the day before, “Due to the pandemic we saw a great amount of reading and math learning loss among students.” I know there are certain public-school districts in your state — Tulsa, for example — that shut down for a long time. I think Tulsa was down like 300 days. How infuriating is it to you as the chief executive of a state like Oklahoma to have these teachers unions and these left-wing city mayors and administrators in these schools who took this opportunity to take away learning from kids who needed it the most, frankly?

GOV. STITT: Well, that’s exactly right, and the hypocrisy from the folks from the left — and I mean, governors of certain states literally closed their schools down while their kids were in private schools the whole time. We got the same thing happen in some of our big school districts. But, yeah, Tulsa public schools was closed for over 300 days. I hammered them every single day, had to fight my own superintendent of education because they were siding with the unions and keeping things closed.

And I’m telling you, if any of your listeners were the governor and had to talk to the single moms, the single dads, the parents that called me office and would say, “Governor it’s not fair. My first grader is not learning how to read via Zoom,” and across the street, at a different school district, they were in school the whole time! And it just broke your heart. That’s why we need parents to have more choice.

That’s why I stand with parents to give them options to move to schools that better fit their needs and maybe are just simply open. But we want to fund students, not systems in Oklahoma, and you’re seeing that move all across the country right now. And, you know, people want to educate their kids, not indoctrinate their kids, and so we want to — we are trying to — lead the way in Oklahoma and I know a lot of other common-sense states are doing the same thing.

BUCK: Speaking to Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma. Governor Stitt, are you the first governor of a state who is a registered member of a Native American tribe? Do I have that right?

GOV. STITT: Yeah, that’s what I’ve been told. Yeah. We’re proud of our heritage. I’m a member of the Cherokees here in Oklahoma. And, you know, so proud of that. About 10% of our population is part of native here in the great state of Oklahoma.

BUCK: It’s just interesting. I feel like I haven’t seen the Washington Post do a cover story on our first Native American governor, which seems kind of strange.

GOV. STITT: Yeah, well they —

CLAY: That means you have a lot in common, Governor, with Elizabeth Warren, right —

GOV. STITT: (laughing)

CLAY: — I mean, pocahontas herself.

GOV. STITT: Yeah. You know, I think she was born in Oklahoma City, but that’s about as far as our connection goes, that’s for sure.

BUCK: So what are you planning going forward, governor? Since your state is going well right now, when things are going well, you want to run up the scoreboard, right? You want to get things done — and I know there are a number of Republican governors and hopefully incoming Republican governors who are seeing how much state governance can really help, folks. At a time when they’re having trouble paying for their gas for their cars and food bills and rent and mortgage and everything.

Because of many decisions made at the federal level by the Biden administration, feels like it’s going against them, what are you planning to do here at the state level? And I know there’s some other red states, you’re talking to those governors, too, to see how we can show that things can work for you, things can get better. What are the plans?

GOV. STITT: Yeah. In Oklahoma, things are going well. Inflation is hurting us like it is wherever across America. Everyday working families are paying more at the gas pump, at the grocery store, and really — if we could just spend just a minute to talk about that, why that happened — really, we were energy independent. It’s a national security issue. We were energy independent a couple years ago. This administration is so far removed from common sense, it’s amazing to us because they choke off supply.

They kill the Keystone pipeline. They make it impossible to drill. But here’s the problem: Demand is the same. We’re still driving to work, driving our kids to soccer practice and to school every day, we’re heating our homes and our businesses. So, when you choke off supply, the price at the pump is gonna go up; the price of everything at the grocery store goes up. We need inflation relief. I’ve asked… I’ve called my legislature back for a special session to lower the taxes again, to remove the grocery tax.

So we’re doing some things to help Oklahomans, but we need to put pressure on the federal government to make sure that they unleash companies in America and in states like Oklahoma to meet the needs of our citizens, because every president of the United States since 1973 has had an energy independence policy until this administration — and their solution is to buy oil from Russia to meet the demands of Americans! And so, again, it just doesn’t make sense if you have a logical conversation. But you can’t with some of these folks that literally, it feels like, they’re just trying to harm America.

CLAY: We’re talking to Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma. Governor, I’m sure you saw that Gavin Newsom bought ads in Florida saying that California was the real home for freedom in the United States. Now, you are in Oklahoma right smack-dab in the middle part of the country, pretty much, almost, equidistant from California and from Florida. What do you think your constituents think about Gavin Newsom selling the idea that California is the home of freedom and Florida is the home of basically confinement?

GOV. STITT: That’s how delusional the left is, because everybody knows that Florida is one of the freest states in the country. DeSantis is doing a fantastic job. That guy in California, he needs to focus on his homeless problem and people leaving California in droves instead of trying to recruit people from Florida ’cause it’s certainly not gonna work. I think all the U-Halls are down in Florida that have left California, and that’s why he’s trying to get some of them back.

CLAY: Governor, who wins, Oklahoma or Oklahoma State in the football game this year?

GOV. STITT: (laughing) Well, you know I went to Oklahoma State. That’s my alma mater, so… But, man, OU’s pretty good, but Oklahoma State got the better of them last year in Bedlam. So it will be good.

CLAY: You’re ready. You’re ready. You kind of dodged that one but managed to get in that you’re an alum as well.

BUCK: I’m not let him get away with that little controversy, I see, Clay.

GOV. STITT: Oklahoma State will win two years in a row. We’ll go there.

CLAY: Good stuff, governor, we appreciate it. Thanks for hanging out with us.

GOV. STITT: Hey, thanks so much. Talk to you soon.

CLAY: Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt jumping in right there on the Cowboys. That’s a tough one, Buck. You gotta be a winner, and being an Oklahoma State alum makes it a little easier for him. Mike Gundy has things rolling there right now.