They're 'running the state into the ground': 'Lifelong' Republican switches parties to run for gover

[UCmeNdc]

State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister sent shockwaves through the political universe in Oklahoma on Wednesday when she announced she is switching parties and registering as a Democrat to run for governor.


"The 57-year-old lifelong Republican told the Tulsa World in an exclusive interview that she is changing her party registration on Thursday in order to launch a bid to unseat Republican incumbent Kevin Stitt," the newspaper reported.

In the interview, Hofmeister had tough words for the GOP incumbent.

"Governor Stitt is running the state into the ground," she said. "Through extremism, partisanship, ineffective leadership, he is hurting our education system, our health care, our infrastructure."

https://www.rawstory.com/joy-hofmeister-oklahoma-governor-2022/

[NJCher]

1. The first

Voice of sanity we’ve heard from the republicans in a long, long time.

[denbot]

2. I am surprised a Republican actually did this..

In Oklahoma no less..

[Champp]

3. Even Republicans find they can no longer stand the stink

Of ongoing, systematic Republican lies and obstruction. America deserves far better.

[lame54]

21. If she wins it will still be a republican run state

[imanamerican63]

4. Well, that's the end of her political career!

[COL Mustard]

10. That's My Thought As Well

At first I thought it was about Alabama, another deep-red state.

[avebury]

5. I could not stand Mary Fallen but Stitt actually makes her look

reasonable in comparison. Stitt is a business man who thinks that can he can run the state as his own fiefdom. He does not understand that there are laws and regulations that you need to follow. I think that he would love to privatize as much as possible but anybody who thinks that you can save tax payer money by privatizing state functions is delusional to say the least.

[SergeStorms]

13. A TFG clone....

at the state level.

This is where I think an autocratic president would have problems, on the state and local levels. There are just as many autocratic Governors as there are states, and they won't want to share authority with an autocratic president.

Every republican wants to be the "strongman, or strongwoman" on the local and state levels, but there can only be one dictator, and that dictator isn't going to want to share power with anyone. That's where they're going to run into problems. Will they start taking political prisoners from their own party?

[Mister Ed]

19. Excellent point. And the results of it would be a sort of modern feudalism.

When authoritarians great and small are left unchecked, a society deteriorates into a chaotic collection of fiefdoms run by competing warlords. Humanity has seen plenty of that, and it isn't pretty.

U.S. democracy must be preserved.

[quakerboy]

6. Wait.. why?

Does the state not have democrats who can run?

Are republicans barred from running in their own party?

[COL Mustard]

12. I Think Democrats In Oklahoma

Could have their convention in a phone booth. I know, that shows how old I am.....but there aren't many of them!

[quakerboy]

20. I mean, 503 thousand voted for biden

Its not a majority, right near 1/3 which mirrors registration.

But they have a higher portion of the population as Registered Democrats than is registered republican in my state.

And lord knows we have plenty of rep's crawling out of the woodwork constantly.

[FakeNoose]

15. No, Oklahoma is barren land for the Democratic Party

The state has been run (and trashed) by evil libertarians for way too long. Rachel Maddow's book "Blowout" tells the story very succinctly.

[luv2fly]

7. A party label says nothing about who you are

These folks who switch parties, I just don't know... saying you are a Democrat tells us nothing about what you believe, nor the policies you will put forward in an effort to help people. Good on her that she's outraged by Republicans in her state, but I suspect most Democrats don't believe there has been any type of sudden enlightenment.

[OldBaldy1701E]

18. Yep. (n/t)

[certainot]

8. we don't need any more conservative democrats

[live love laugh]

25. 💯 Thanks but no thanks. The fact that she jumps ship post TFG speaks volumes. nt

[johnthewoodworker]

9. Oh yeah, a former Republican/Nazi is certainly someone to trust.

[COL Mustard]

11. I'm A Former Republican

But was never a part of the social conservative wing. There are shades of gray here.

[cstanleytech]

14. So what's your opinion on when the downfall began for the party?

Mine is when Reagan came into office as the party began to embrace more and more extremists with the final nail being the launch of Fox News.

[COL Mustard]

16. I Think It Was With The Rise Of The Religious Right

They were able to overwhelm any opposing voices and they had a vision that they worked tirelessly to achieve. (I don't share that vision, as you may have guessed.). Also, when the NRA went from being a sporting organization to a political-lobbying organization, they were exclusively Republican. That played a big role in it too. You could really be God, guns and America, and ignore anyone who wasn't.

[jaxexpat]

17. All those pimples sprung up when the acne had no where else to go.

Republicans never had a large enough popular constituency to win anything until Democrats were labeled, simultaneously, the party of deep south racism and socialist tax and spenders. As the Democrats tried to shed those stereotypes the Republicans gathered all the vailable miscreants under a single tent, held their collective nose and ran with creatures such as Reagan. Republicans have always carried on the pretense of sober competence as their right. It was never proven more fallacious than during TFG.

[Hortensis]

22. Yes, there are huge differences between conservative/Repub types.

Growth in extremism is also a big part of what's been going wrong.

Moderate conservative Nicolle Wallace is no more like the strong social and authoritarian (heavy overlap) conservatives who follow tRump than liberal Rachel Maddow is like the LW populists who also expressed their uber-loyalty to their leader by yelling "Lock her up!" at our national convention. Extremism.

[COL Mustard]

23. I'm Very Much Anti-Extremist

I’m probably not far enough out for some people, but I much prefer most change to the system from within. I know sometimes there are things that need to be changed radically but for the most part I’d rather work with the system.

Yes, I was boring in the ’70s too. 🤣

[Skittles]

24. oh, let me guess

the party of "fiscal responsibility", you know, the the party that lies their way into a senseless war but squawks if you use tax money to actually HELP people