Democrats air ad tying Stitt to Fallin

The Democratic Governors Association began airing a television ad on Thursday claiming Republican gubernatorial candidate Kevin Stitt has the “same bad ideas” regarding education as Gov. Mary Fallin.

The ad is being financed by the national Democratic group through a political action committee established in Oklahoma called Stronger Oklahoma. The group has booked more than $450,000 of air time in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa television markets.

The group cannot coordinate directly with the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Drew Edmondson.

The ad says Fallin has “failed our schools” and that Stitt once called Fallin “great.” It also says Stitt opposed a teacher pay raise.

“Same bad ideas, same bad results,” the ad states.

Stitt has said throughout his campaign that he backed a teacher pay raise. However, he opposed the major tax packages proposed to fund a teacher pay raise, including the one that ultimately passed.

Education and other state services were slashed for years during budget crises precipitated by falling oil prices.

Fallin, who is serving her final few months in office, pushed legislators for most of last year and the first few months of this year to raise taxes to fund a teacher pay raise.

Edmondson supported the tax package approved in March and wants to raise more revenue for education and other services through the gross production tax, the cigarette tax and the elimination of the capital gains tax deduction.

Stitt spokeswoman Donelle Harder said Thursday, “Kevin Stitt is an outsider and successful businessman with the experience to fix our broken state government and turn Oklahoma around. The career politicians who got us into this mess can’t fix it.”

The investment by national Democrats is an apparent signal that the party thinks the governor’s race is winnable.

Mike Clingman, Edmondson’s campaign manager, said, “Recent polls have shown a tight race and a clear picture of an electorate hungry for change ... Drew Edmondson is clearly the change candidate in this race. With that framework in play, it’s not surprising that others would view this election as generationally important — and competitive.”

The general election is Nov. 6. Libertarian Chris Powell is also on the gubernatorial ballot.