Kevin Stitt
John Kevin Stitt is an American businessman and politician serving as the 28th governor of Oklahoma since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in 2018, defeating Democrat and former state Attorney General Drew Edmondson with 54.3% of the vote. Stitt was reelected to a second term in 2022, defeating Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister, a Republican turned Democrat, with 55.4% of the vote.
Stitt grew up in Norman, Oklahoma, and graduated with a degree in accounting from Oklahoma State University, where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He is the founder and former chairman and CEO of Gateway Mortgage Group.
Early life
John Kevin Stitt, known as Kevin Stitt, was born in Milton, Florida, on December 28, 1972, to Reverend John L. Stitt and Joyce Stitt. His mother is of Cherokee descent and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. His family moved to Skiatook, Oklahoma, when he was five. He began school in Wayne, Oklahoma, and the family later moved to Norman, Oklahoma, where his father was the pastor of Riverside Church. He grew up alongside cousins who participated in All Indian Rodeo Cowboys Association, and has expressed pride in his heritage. He graduated from Norman High School and from Oklahoma State University with a degree in accounting. Stitt is a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.Financial services career
Stitt started his career working for the Southwestern Company, a door-to-door educational bookseller. He later moved to Tulsa, where he met his wife Sarah Hazen. The couple founded Gateway Mortgage in 2000. Stitt was president and CEO until January 2014, when he became chairman-CEO. He has said he started Gateway in 2000 with "$1,000 and a computer."In August 2018, after winning the Republican nomination, Stitt stepped down as Gateway CEO as the company announced a merger with a state-licensed bank and sought its banking license. Legal Counsel Scott Gesell became CEO in 2020 and Stitt remained chairman. Gateway is a midsize company based in Jenks, Oklahoma.
Gateway Mortgage license
After a decade of rapid growth, a few Gateway employees were fired for making non-compliant loans. In 2009, Gateway was listed in a Business Insider article as one of the 15 shadiest lenders in the government-backed mortgage industry. The article said Gateway originated nearly twice as many bad mortgages as its competitors. An August 19, 2018, Oklahoman newspaper article highlighted the Business Insider article's inaccuracies, reporting that "in the Illinois case, a consent order states that the Illinois banking agency investigated a Gateway loan originator for an 'alleged real estate, appraisal, and mortgage fraud scheme.' Gateway fired the employee, asked for a hearing and then agreed to what investigators found. Gateway agreed to a $10,000 fine. The Stitt campaign responded with a press release that said, "the license in Illinois was never revoked. The state agreed after the appeal not to revoke the license."NEWS9 also said that according to Georgia's Department of Banking and Finance, Stitt was banned for five years and the company was banned for life from origination mortgages in Georgia. According to the Oklahoman, a Gateway corporate attorney said there were misrepresentations and insufficient background checks by employees in the Georgia office but Stitt was not involved. The employees were fired and Gateway paid a $2,000 fine. The state overturned the lifetime ban on Gateway, effective November 2017. Gateway is able to do business in all 50 states.
During Stitt's gubernatorial campaign, Oklahoma Watch reported that Wisconsin regulators fined Gateway for a "clerical error" regarding its history with regulators from other states. Gateway corrected the application and was issued a license in 2009. It remains in good standing in Wisconsin.
Governor of Oklahoma
2018 election
In July 2017, Stitt announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor in 2018. Facing nine other candidates in the primary election, he ran a statewide campaign with stops in nearly every city and town in all 77 counties. He finished second, defeating, among others, Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb. In the August 28 primary runoff, Stitt defeated Mick Cornett, a former mayor of Oklahoma City. In the November general election, Stitt defeated the Democratic nominee, former attorney general Drew Edmondson, and Libertarian Chris Powell.In the GOP runoff, political newcomer Stitt received crucial support from a trio of conservative leaders: U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and former U.S. senators Rick Santorum and Tom Coburn. In the general election, Stitt was endorsed by former primary rival Mick Cornett, incumbent governor of Oklahoma Mary Fallin, and President Donald Trump.
The Stitt campaign responded to Fallin's endorsement with a press release: "We did not seek , and Kevin Stitt has run on a campaign message that he will do things a lot differently. He is focused on changing the structure of state government and cleaning up the mess we are currently in at the Capitol."
During his campaign, Stitt called himself "the only job creator with proven business experience" running for governor and emphasized his business background. He called on the state to become "top 10 in job growth, top 10 in education and top 10 in infrastructure."
During the general election, the close race drew increased attention from national media and political figures. Vice President Mike Pence campaigned for Stitt.
2022 election
Stitt filed to run for reelection in January 2021. He won the Republican primary in June 2022 and was reelected in November.Tenure
Stitt was inaugurated on January 14, 2019, at the Oklahoma State Capitol. Chief Justice of Oklahoma Noma Gurich swore him and Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell into office. Stitt gave a 15-minute inaugural address.Administration personnel
Cabinet positions
Before taking office, Stitt nominated former state representative Michael Rogers as his secretary of state and Tulsa deputy mayor Michael Junk as his chief of staff.On December 23, 2019, citing disagreements with Stitt over his handling of negotiations with the state's various Indian tribes about gambling compacts, Lisa Johnson Billy became the first member of Stitt's cabinet to resign. A member of the Chickasaw Nation and former Republican state representative, Billy viewed Stitt's negotiation position as one of "unnecessary conflict." Stitt tapped his secretary of state Mike Rogers to assume those duties and temporarily combined the two positions.
Cabinet confirmation process
Sub-Cabinet officials
Abortion
In April 2022, Stitt supported, and signed into law, SB 612, which makes performing an abortion a crime punishable by 10 years in prison or a $100,000 fine, with exceptions for medical emergencies but none for rape or incest. Later in May, Stitt signed into law an even more restrictive bill, House Bill 4327, "banning abortions from the stage of 'fertilization' and allowing private citizens to sue abortion providers who 'knowingly' perform or induce an abortion 'on a pregnant woman.'" Abortion in cases of rape, incest, or high-risk pregnancies will continue to be permitted. It is the most restrictive ban on elective abortion in the United States. The ACLU announced that it would fight the ban in court.Capital punishment
Oklahoma has a long history with capital punishment, having conducted the second-most executions since the death penalty was reinstated in Gregg v. Georgia. But in 2015, a moratorium was placed on all state executions following the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in April 2014 and the execution of Charles Warner by unauthorized methods in January 2015. On February 13, 2020, Stitt announced that the moratorium would be lifted and executions resumed under his tenure.Throughout his governorship, Stitt a strong supporter of capital punishment, had granted clemency twice to inmates facing imminent execution in Oklahoma. On November 18, 2021, he commuted the death sentence of Julius Jones to life without the possibility of parole, hours before Jones was originally due to be executed. On November 13, 2025, minutes before the scheduled execution of Tremane Wood, Stitt commuted Wood's death sentence to life imprisonment without parole.
Criminal justice and mass incarceration
Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board
Three of the five Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board members are appointed by the governor. They serve four year terms that run concurrent with the governor's. Before Adam Luck and Kelley Doyle were pressured to resign from the Board in 2022, Stitt had expressed full confidence in the board over criticisms from district attorneys like Steve Kunzweiler who want the board to be more conservative in their considerations for parole and commutation. The Tulsa World reported that the district attorneys were taking an increasingly more political role that has "to some degree weakened" the board's influence. This came at the same time that dark money conservative advertisements targeting Stitt as not tough enough on crime began to air. All of this plays out despite Oklahoma incarcerating a "higher percentage of its people than any democracy on earth." According to Prison Policy Initiative, Oklahoma had the third-highest incarceration rate in 2021, and in 2018, it incarcerated the most women per capita.In 2022, Stitt at first agreed to grant parole to Jimmie Stohler, the Crossbow Killer, after a recommendation from the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, but later rescinded his decision.
Findings in a 2022 grand jury report filed by David Prater criticized Stitt for being grossly improper, claimed that he pressured the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, and that his private meetings seem to have violated the Open Meetings Act. DAs have the ability to bring grand juries. When the report came out, Stitt's office issued a statement saying, "This is the latest in a string of unfounded hit jobs by the Oklahoma County District Attorney and other political insiders." A spokesman for Stitt said, "Oklahoma law explicitly prohibits grand juries from making allegations that public officials have engaged in misconduct, and it is clear the outgoing prosecutor took advantage of the citizens who served on this grand jury to unwittingly carry out his partisan feud against Governor Stitt and the Pardon and Parole Board." The report noted that the jury "had no legal authority to accuse the governor of official misconduct, which can only be done in impeachment proceedings." Later, Stitt "asked a judge to strike from a grand jury report a finding that he placed 'improper political pressure' on his appointees to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board."