The Fronter: ‘Aggressively moderate Democrat:’ Joy Hofmeister talks about her politics as

When Joy Hofmeister announced last year she would run for governor in 2022, it wasn’t a surprise. Her name had been tossed around for the last couple years as a potential opponent for incumbent Republican Kevin Stitt.

But what did come as a surprise for some was that Hofmeister, a lifelong Republican, was running as a Democrat. Many wondered what that meant … would she govern as a Democrat? Was she running as a Democrat merely in order to avoid a costly primary battle with Stitt? And where does she fall on topics like abortion access?

On today’s Listen Frontier podcast, I talk with Hofmeister about these topics and more.

This is Listen Frontier, a podcast exploring the investigative journalism of the Frontier and featuring conversations with those on the frontlines of Oklahoma’s most important stories. Listen to us Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. 

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Dylan: Superintendent, thanks for taking the time to talk to me, I know it’s a busy time of the year for you, so I really do appreciate it. We can just get right into the interview. You’ve been the state superintendent for a pretty trying period for public education in Oklahoma, with the teacher walkout, everything with teacher pay raises, and now ongoing pandemic and everything that has taken place in the classroom. You’re term-limited, so regardless there was always going to be something for you after 2022, but why governor? Was there a particular thing or something that happened that led to your decision to run?

Joy: It’s great to be with you Dylan and I really appreciate the chance just to catch up. You just laid out the reasons, a lot of the reasons. We have had a focus in our state on really catching our kids up with funding that’s needed to have committed caring teachers in classrooms at a time where we have been enduring a teacher shortage. That’s been going on at a time where cuts came with general revenue failures, where our economy was in free fall right as I took office. And we saw extraordinary cuts to a well-rounded education for our kids. There’s so much that they’ve had to endure then from the pandemic, on top of that, and bottom line: I have big goals for Oklahoma school kids. I want to see our children be winners in a rapidly changing economy and ready for life and that starts early … even before preschool. And as they move through the grades, those foundational years, learning to read, getting a foundation in math, that’s all key to their success as they move into middle school and beyond. So we knew we were taking on great challenges. And we have had incredible setbacks, some that no one could have ever imagined over the last two years. But the work’s not done, and I’m seeing barriers in the way, I believe, frankly, Gov. Stitt is running our state into the ground. And I’ve had a front row seat. And if we’re going to meet those goals and make progress like our kids deserve and our families deserve, that’s going to take new leadership in the governor’s office, and I am up for the challenge and I’m not going to stop fighting for them.

Dylan: Is that something that you would view for yourself as governor as your number one focus? I think we’ve seen especially in the last two years that, as governor, there are so many things that intersect, things you can’t even anticipate. So if you’re governor, is public education your number one focus? Or how would you blend that into the number of things you’d have to pay attention to as governor?

Joy: 100 percent. It’s time for an education governor. One who has been in the trenches, who has been a teacher, and who has also experienced first hand as a mother of four kids who all went to Oklahoma public schools and who have moved on through their post-secondary pursuits and are living here in Oklahoma. My husband and I started, we met in college, and he followed a call into ministry, so I left college. I actually dropped out of college and got married and followed him to seminary and helped put him through school. And my own personal story, I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready for college. I struggled and I struggled long before that, so I know what that feels like too. I struggled with reading, dyslexia runs in my family. I’ve overcome a lot and I understand a lot of what moms, dads, grandparents are going through as they sit at a kitchen table trying to teach their kids to read and trying to reclaim lost ground due to some terrible disruption we’ve experienced the last few months. And that would be my top priority because bottom line, that’s what’s best for kids individually, but it also becomes an economic driver, where everyone wins.

Dylan: Sure, that would definitely would have an impact in multiple ways in the future. It came up a little bit (Monday) in the state of the state address, the idea of, and I know Gov. Stitt has a different approach to it, but the idea of how anything that benefits children benefits the state in the long term. And I’m sure you have some specific ideas for how that would be done. I want to ask, getting into the governor’s race and what the next few months will look like as we get into the summer and then the fall when it will really heat up … one of the main questions I hear from people is about your political affiliation. 

Joy: Yeah.

Dylan: If anyone doesn’t know, you ran for state superintendent twice as a Republican, and I think a lot of people assumed you might run for governor … but some people were surprised you’re running as a Democrat. I’m just kind of curious how do you see yourself. Is that some change that was motivated by, I know people in the last five or six years have maybe re-assessed their political alignment. I just wondered if that was a change that was motivated by how you see your personal beliefs, or was it a more pragmatic decision where maybe it makes more sense to avoid a primary battle with an incumbent governor. Or some blend of the two. How do you view yourself politically?

Joy: Well, like a lot of Oklahomans, I’m an independent thinker. Just to remind you in this conversation. I started as someone who had a front row seat on the state board of education, representing my community, and I challenged Janet Barresi, who was a member of my own party. Because I saw what was happening with education, with rural schools. With a leader that was really losing touch with what it takes to actually do the hard work of implementing innovation or new ideas. We have to have not just ideas, like, let’s be a Top 10 state. That’s a bumper sticker slogan. You have to be able to lead to make that happen. So, yes, I have not ever been someone who has been beholden to special interests or even party politics. In fact, frankly, I’ve been focused on kids, and kids don’t have party affiliations. Education is an area where I think everyone recognizes it is essential, a foundation to a great state. And where does that start? It starts with strong families. Strong families make strong schools which make strong communities that then attract others to invest in the state. So as I look, it’s a time of reflection, I’ve seen Gov. Stitt hijack the Republican party, pander to extremism, and I do support education. I do support access to affordable quality healthcare, and can’t be a part of that extremism and division and chaos that he is sowing. And I, like a lot of Oklahomans, want to get to back to those Oklahoma values, which are working together, common sense, respect for one another, courage during really difficult times, and getting things done. And I can do that as an aggressively moderate Democrat. 

Dylan: So that’s something I have thought about in terms of looking at a path for you, obviously it’s tough to unseat an incumbent. You’re running as a Democrat in a very conservative state. You have to appeal to a wide group of people. I would imagine, maybe I’m wrong, but as a Democrat, you’re going to have to appeal to the sort of moderate Democrats in Oklahoma, without losing the center right Republicans who are maybe turned off by some of what Gov. Stitt has done. And those can be two groups on the edges who are not necessarily close to each other. Will there be a time where you’ll have to state a policy position that you think this might anger, this might upset these Republican voters or Democrat voters that you’re going to have to rely on if you’re going to win in November.

Joy: That’s a great question. So I think how I handle that is the same way I’ve always handled it. First, I don’t pander to extremism. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t find a consensus in a place that meets…