Why in the world is Oklahoma’s gubernatorial race a toss-up?

OPINION:

The analogy of the “canary in the coal mine” dates back to 1911 and the use of canaries to detect carbon monoxide before it overtook and killed the miners working in the collieries of Britain. Scientists recommended this strategy because they knew birds were more sensitive to toxic fumes than humans. If the canary died, the miners needed to evacuate immediately. Failure to do so meant they would be next. The small yellow warbler was the early warning system. If it started struggling to breathe, the message was loud and clear: “Change course. Get out now!”

As we prepare for this coming Tuesday’s midterm elections, it might be wise to watch for any “canaries” that are struggling in America’s political landscape. Are there any specific contests upon which we should keep an eye? Is there any particular race that might be a harbinger if we don’t heed its warnings and change direction?

The answer is yes. Consider the race for governor in the Sooner State.

Oklahoma is known as the “reddest of red states.” It has not had one county vote blue in four successive presidential elections. President Donald Trump carried Oklahoma by 20 points in 2020. Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats 50.6% to 31.4%. The GOP holds a supermajority in both the House and the Senate, and Kevin Stitt, a conservative constitutionalist, now serves as governor. Oklahoma is a place where hard work is a way of life and where a handshake still means something. This is the home of good people with good sense; you know, those folks that Hillary Clinton calls “deplorable” and President Barack Obama derided for foolishly “clinging to our God and our guns.”

With an electorate of this makeup, you would think that a Republican governor would be a shoo-in for reelection. But as the polls now stand, he is not.

Why not?

Why in the world is Oklahoma’s gubernatorial race a toss-up? Why is Mr. Stitt, who is pro-life, pro-gun, pro-freedom, pro-school choice and pro-business, in a virtual dead heat with an opportunistic, unprincipled, power-hungry liberal named Joy Hofmeister? Why, with less than a week until Election Day, is someone who has been indicted on two counts of conspiracy even within striking distance of her precious ring of power? Why would a woman who, as Oklahoma’s secretary of public instruction, ran our public schools into the ground (we now rank 49th in the nation) even be on the radar for any sane voter?  

Over the past four years, Mr. Stitt has signed bills protecting a woman’s right to have her own restroom. He has defended a girl’s right to have her own sport. He has kept his word and signed every anti-abortion piece of legislation that has come across his desk. In less than four years as governor, he has approved laws honoring Oklahomans’ Second Amendment right to “open carry.” He has led the way to protect children from the insanity of irreversible gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies.

And under Mr. Stitt’s leadership, it is now illegal in Oklahoma for any of our public schools to promote critical race theory by teaching students that one race or sex is inherently superior or inferior to another race or sex or that any individual, by virtue of their DNA and physical appearance, is inherently racist or sexist.

Yet the governor’s race in Oklahoma now hangs in the balance. Mr. Stitt is running neck and neck with radical progressive who has an insatiable thirst to move the “reddest of red states” in the opposite direction of all of the above.

Why?

The answer, frankly, is pretty simple. Mr. Stitt finds himself in a dogfight for his political life because many Christians have bought the lie. They’ve imbibed the Kool-Aid, and they’re parroting the nonsense that “all politicians are corrupt, so I’m just going to sit this one out. I’m not going to vote for the lesser of two evils.”

This is foolish talk and frankly unbiblical.

Our nation is going to hell in a handbasket, and conservative Christians are smugly sitting on the sidelines because our candidate isn’t perfect?

News flash: All human beings are broken. There’s a reason John Newton said, “amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” We’re all evil. You aren’t perfect, and neither am I. “All have sinned and fallen short.” “There is none righteous, no not one.” “If we claim to be without sin, we make God out to be a liar.”

If you’re waiting for the race where you don’t have to vote for the lesser of two evils, you will have a long wait. In fact, by this standard, you wouldn’t even be able to vote for yourself.

We all have the responsibility and obligation to vote for the lesser of two evils. There is never an option.

• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host.