FOX NEWS DECISION DESK calls Oklahoma governor's race for Republican incumbent

( Fox )

OKLAHOMA GOVERNOR'S RACE CALL

Republicans can also breathe a sigh of relief in Oklahoma. Our Decision Desk can project that incumbent Republican Governor Kevin Stitt will hold for another term, defeating his Democratic rival Joy Hofmeister.

A first-term governor, Stitt's time in office has been rocked by feuds with tribal nations and members of his own party, finds himself in a surprisingly tough reelection campaign against Democrat Joy Hofmeister.

Hofmeister, 58, the two-term state superintendent of public schools who switched parties to run against Stitt, has been blasting Stitt for his voucher-style plan to divert public education money to private schools.

She launched a 50-stop bus tour through 27 counties in the last week of the campaign to hammer the message, emerging from the coach to the 1970 Three Dog Night hit "Joy to the World."

Stitt boasts of record-level state savings and funding for public schools under his watch, and the state's rapid emergence from pandemic-related closures that helped the economy rebound quickly and keep the state's unemployment rate low.