Democratic Lt. Gov. Jari Askins officially announced Thursday her candidacy for governor in the 2010 election, making the OU alumna the first official candidate to seek the governorship.
Askins said as governor, she would work to increase the number of college graduates and ensure that Oklahoma universities would be more affordable.
Ivan Holmes, chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, said he wasn’t surprised by Askins’ announcement.
“I knew it was coming,” he said. “She had a strong interest in running for quite some time.”
Holmes said he anticipates that Askins will run a moderate campaign and will work with Republicans to accomplish as much as possible while still retaining her Democratic ideals.
“Even though she’s a good Democrat, her philosophy is that it is very important to work with the state’s Republicans,” he said.
Holmes expects Askins to use widespread support to try to win the governorship.
“Jari is extremely grassroots-oriented,” he said. “As a party, we’ve been working to rebuild our organization ability, and I have seen her everywhere, in every county in the state.”
Askins said the best governors in the past were those who focused on increasing the quality of the lives of Oklahomans by setting aside partisan politics.
“Make no mistake, I am a Democrat,” she said. “But I fully understand that for us to rise up to be the best, we must be willing to set partisan politics aside.”
She also said she supports an amendment to the state constitution that would require legislators to set aside one year per two-year session to focus solely on the budget.
“Too many tax dollars are wasted because too little attention is paid to the details in the state budget,” she said. “Too much opportunity for progress is lost in the pursuit of partisan advantage.”
Askins, a former OU journalism student, said that she owes much of her political success to the skills she learned in college.
“After I graduated from OU, I found myself regularly relying on my journalism skills, especially when it came to talking to and understanding other people,” she said. “My training helped me develop an interest in the state while helping me seek answers to important issues, and overall, made me committed to digging deeper.”
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Bubba 3 years, 4 months ago
Thank goodness "Jari" Askins isn't running. Good luck Jerry!
Bubba-