Oklahoma voters can pick between disparate views for governor, but down ballot races matter, too 

The November elections pose an opportunity for Oklahomans to determine our state’s path forward.

If the two leading candidates running for governor are any indication, our state stands at a crossroads in terms of the vision of what is needed to move our state out of the bottom 10 in all the categories that matter.

That stark divergence was on display earlier this month when Republican Mike Mazzei and Democrat Cyndi Munson met for what was expected to be their lone debate heading into the Nov. 3 election. (There are also three independent candidates running, but they were not invited to participate because they didn’t meet the debate’s fundraising criteria.)

Here’s where Munson and Mazzei stand: 

Data centers

Munson vows to sign an executive order on her first day putting a moratorium on the construction of the large power-hungry and water-consuming monstrosities that we love to hate. She wants the state to adopt a standardized, uniform approach to how it deals with big tech.

Mazzei is fine with the construction of the centers — if the local community wants them. He said AI is here to stay and for America to “win the battle for supremacy,” it requires processing power. He does think there should be four guardrails —  the centers should be required to provide their own electricity; no taxpayer funds should subsidize them; they must be built on locally-approved industrial sites; and they should use advanced-closed looped cooling systems to ensure they use only as much water each day as a several hundred bedroom hotel would.

Public school funding

The two also disagree on increasing public school funding.

The debate moderators pointed out that Oklahoma’s per pupil expenditure of about $12,500 ranks the state 49th worst in the nation. They asked if that’s enough to get the job done and fix Oklahoma’s suspiciously similar bottom three ranking in education outcomes.

Munson said the state is not meeting the needs of what it takes to operate a classroom and has nearly 4,000 emergency certified teachers. Those educators don’t have a typical license in the subject area they’re teaching, but are hired anyway because of severe teacher shortages. She said the state recently ranked last in education because it’s not making proper investments to take care of teachers. She’d also work with the Legislature to create targeted funding around mental health care access and special education services. 

“If we want more business and industry to come to the state of Oklahoma, we’ve got to get out of last in the nation for public education, and that starts by making critical investments for our public schools,” she said.

Mazzei said his five children’s education included public schools, homeschooling, and private schools, which is why he supports school choice. Parents, he said, know what is best for their kids. He said the state needs to improve literacy rates. 

“Herein do lie some big difference between Rep. Munson and myself,” Mazzei said. “She wants to pour more and more money into an already dysfunctional system. She doesn’t support school choice.”

Corporate and foreign tax breaks

And when the moderators questioned Mazzei about whether he is a hypocrite for campaigning against foreign-controlled companies owning Oklahoma land, yet supports an aluminum smelter in Inola whose majority owner is affiliated with the United Arab Emirates, he basically said that didn’t count. This foreign ownership is OK because it would create thousands of jobs and develop aluminum for our military jets and warships, he said. 

He believes Oklahoma’s smelter, which is a Trump priority, would not pollute as much as others. And despite local opposition and concerns, Mazzei indicated he doesn’t believe it would endanger the health, people, cattle and hay in eastern Oklahoma.

Munson said she opposed the $255 million “tax giveaway to a foreign corporation.”

Personal income taxes and the state budget

Mazzei’s solution to make the state more attractive and affordable is to eliminate the income tax. He said the state can begin doing that by “cleaning out a ton of the $2 billion worth of tax giveaways” in Oklahoma’s tax code. 

Munson said it’s easy to campaign on cutting taxes, but governing is more difficult. She said previous Republican income tax cuts created a massive budget hole and wound up benefiting the wealthiest residents. They also resulted in massive cuts to public education, healthcare, infrastructure and other programs that working families relied on.

She said Mazzei’s plan to cut taxes is not going to help the average Oklahoman who wants their child to have access to quality public education.

Down ballot races and turnout

Regardless of which vision voters select, I am just really glad that Oklahomans have options up and down the ballot this year because our state is at a critical junction.

Too often Oklahoma elections are determined in our closed primaries, with a small number of Republicans and Democrats deciding who represents them in our Legislature. That’s a disappointing outcome given lawmakers play the most key role in determining policies on critical issues such as healthcare and education.

The governor can recommend an agenda, but ultimately it’s our legislators who give it the thumbs up or down.

This year a staggering number of 55 out of the 101 House seats have at least two candidates running on Nov. 3. On the Senate side, 14 of the 25 seats that are eligible to appear feature a competitive general election.

That’s great news for Oklahomans because now they can vote for the candidate that best aligns with their vision for the future, instead of being stuck with the one selected by only Democrats or Republicans.

But it does require Oklahomans to vote. Ours is a state that traditionally boasts some of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country and high amounts of apathy.

Oklahoma does not make it easy to vote. In recent years, some Oklahomans have waited in line for hours to vote early. And ours is a state that offers fewer early voting options and a much shorter window to those cast ballots.

With so many options on the ballot and with Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt leaving us with a plethora of bottom 10 rankings in all things that matter and with a growing number of hospitals at risk of closing, we have plenty of reasons to cast a ballot this year.

The question, though, is will Oklahomans take the time to do so?