I met Joy Hofmeister a few years ago, in her capacity as superintendent of public education, and I was impressed by her dedication to public schools, her intellect, and her candor. She was a Republican then, but clearly not supportive of the Republican agenda to privatize public education.
If you live in Oklahoma, please vote for Joy for governor!
Former Republican Rep. J.C. Watts (Okla.) has bucked his party to endorse Democrat Joy Hofmeister in her challenge to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R).
“I was a Republican then, and I’m a Republican now, and, friends, I’m voting for Joy Hofmeister,” Watts says in a new ad.
“All this scandal and corruption is just too much. Joy is a woman of faith and integrity. She’ll always put Oklahoma first. I know Joy personally, and I trust her, and you can too,” the former Oklahoma congressman said.
Hofmeister was elected Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction twice as a Republican but swapped parties to register as a Democrat last year before mounting her gubernatorial campaign.
“Conservatives like Congressman Watts see Stitt’s lies about me for what they are — a desperate attempt to maintain power,” Hofmeister wrote on Twitter, sharing the ad.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The fact that this is astounding news is indicative of the crisis of our times. This should not be news. The news is that one of the two major political parties has coalesced on an agenda built on cruelty and lies. It’s no longer enough to endorse, we need aggressive truth-telling over and over again. A victory now is just to get people to admit what they see with their eyes and hear with their ears is real.
As I watched Kari Lake try to lie her way out of making a joke at Paul Pelosi’s expense, I realized this is a world that may never make sense again. When Ronald Reagan was shot, my feelings about his politics and however destructive I may have thought it was, my shock, horror and concern for him–I was a college student at the time–was genuine. It was as sincere as his most devoted follower. We have now reached a time when it is imaginable that Americans will cheer the death of another American. And be celebrated for it by their confederates. We have reached a time when it would be unimaginable that many political figures, from Barack Obama down to the lowliest local public official, will not be able to live safely if (and when) the country becomes officially fascist in January 2025.
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Gov. Kevin Stitt says the sharp decline in Oklahoma’s student test scores was caused by unions and the superintendent of education “forcing our schools to [be] closed.” Oh, of course, it had absolutely nothing to do with the Covid plague (sarcasm).
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Stitt’s claims, as reported factually above, contain three lies.
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Stitt is at war with the transgender community:
Stitt signed an executive order that barred the Oklahoma Health Department from issuing nonbinary or gender-neutral birth certificates.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signs a bill in Oklahoma City on March 30, 2022, that prevents transgender girls and women from competing on female sports teams.
Stitt also called for the Legislature to ban some of those gender reassignment treatments statewide when it returns in February, saying in a statement that he wanted a prohibition on “all irreversible gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies” on minors.
Oklahoma’s Legislature already targeted transgender young people earlier this year with new laws that restrict their ability to play sports or use school bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law banning transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams, cementing the state as the the 13th nationwide to enact such a measure.
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The number of people who are transgender is tiny. Any politician who uses this issue is a scoundrel.
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