Oklahoma Democrat mocked for rightly saying state has higher crime than New York and California

Hofmeister was registered Republican until last year but switched to challenge Stitt

Democratic challenger Joy Hofmeister was mocked by the audience and Oklahoma’s governor Kevin Stitt when she stated that violent crime rates are higher in the state than in New York and California.

The two candidates faced off during their only scheduled debate on Wednesday evening at the Will Rogers Theatre in Oklahoma City as the race heated up just ahead of mid-term elections in less than a month.

“The fact is the rate of violent crime is higher in Oklahoma under your watch than in New York and California, that’s a fact,” Ms Hofmeister said.

The audience at the venue burst into laughter and clapped when Mr Stitt dismissed her rival’s claim and asked the audience if they believed her.

Mr Stitt interjected “it is not true” as she spoke. He asked the audience: “Oklahomans do you believe that we have higher crime rates than New York and California? That’s what she said,” he told the audience.

In reality, however, the crime rate in Oklahoma increased to 458 per 100,000 people in 2022 and was among the top ten US states to record the highest crime at the sixth spot, according to World Population Review’s state-wise crime record data.

In New York and California the crime rate was 363 and 442 per 100,000 people respectively.

According to the FBI’s 2021 Crime in the Nation Report, Oklahoma recorded 15,681 violent crimes reported in 2021 or 393 for every 100,000 people. The state had the 10th highest violent crime rate in the US’ 41 states with available data.

During the debate, Ms Hofmeister attacked Mr Stitt by saying he engaged in “cronyism” and “corruption”. The Republican said Ms Hofmeister is beholden to “special interests”.

The race is being watched closely as Ms Hofmeister, the state’s superintendent of public education in 2014 and 2018, was a registered Republican until last year but switched party last year to announce her candidacy for governor.

Mr Stitt is endorsed by former president Donald Trump and Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin.

Ms Hofmeister appeared to distance herself from Biden administration’s policies as she said she is “aggressively moderate”. She attacked Republicans by saying “Oklahomans are tired of the extremism, they are tired of fighting the chaos and division”.

Several new polls have shown that Ms Hofmeister has a shot at winning the race, a significant shift after averaging more than 16 points behind Mr Stitt in July polls.