Gov. Kevin Stitt delivered his eighth and final State of the State speech Feb. 2, kicking off the 2026 legislative session and outlining his priorities, which include education oversight, tax cuts, public safety, economic growth and state finances.
Stitt made several accusatory statements about public safety, including calling medical marijuana “one of the greatest threats to public safety” and claiming the industry is “tied to increased cartel activity, human trafficking and foreign influence.”
Stitt criticized the U.S. Supreme Court’s McGirt decision and said tribal citizens should be prosecuted by Oklahoma district attorneys under state law, rather than tribal or federal law.
“If you commit a crime in Oklahoma, you should be prosecuted by a duly elected Oklahoma district attorney,” Stitt said. “You should be tried in an Oklahoma court overseen by a duly elected Oklahoma judge, and you should be protected by the rights laid out in the Oklahoma constitution. Your race shouldn’t call any of these factors into question.”
In his speech, Stitt said, “An Indian named Kevin Stitt shouldn’t be treated differently than a single mom of a different race.”
Stitt also said, “Our forefathers chased opportunity in the Land Run of 1889, staking claims on unassigned lands and building communities from the ground up.”
Following the address, Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton said Stitt misrepresented the relationship between tribes and the state.
“Tribes and tribal members have sovereign rights, which are based not on race, but on treaties and other agreements between our nations and the United States,” Batton said. “Gov. Stitt must recognize this history and respect what it means today.”
Leaders from the Cherokee, Muscogee and Chickasaw Nations, along with other tribal representatives, attended the address.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. called Stitt’s remarks antiquated and said they undermine tribal sovereignty.
“Everything he said in there was really to erode some of the most meaningful attributes that are left of tribal sovereignty, that we’re trying to regain and exercise,” Hoskin said. “He would wipe all of those out in service, not to some great day for Oklahoma, but to some diminishment of tribes that really amounts to termination.”
Hoskin also referred to Stitt as the most “anti-Indian tribe governor in the history of the state.”
Principal Chief of the Muscogee Nation David Hill criticized Stitt’s reference to the 1889 Land Run, in which Stitt called the land “unassigned.”
According to Hill, the Land Run should not be aspirational.
“The one comment that I did like, that: ‘When you’re young, you learn to read. As you get older, you read to learn,’” Hill said. “Maybe he should start reading and especially on the Land Run. If you read the history, that’s when more land was taken away from the Native people.”
According to Oklahoma House Tribal and External Affairs Leader Scott Fetgatter, R-Okmulgee, Stitt’s final address worsened divisions with tribal governments.
“When the governor had the opportunity to correct the wrongs he has inflicted on our state’s tribes, he instead chose to exacerbate the divide and ignore partnerships that have benefited Oklahomans for years,” Fetgatter said.
Oklahoma House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, called the speech “extremely disturbing.”
“It’s more than apparent that he does not understand the history of our country and our state, and does not respect tribal sovereignty,” Munson said. “Tribes do more than enough, not only for their citizens and members, but also for the state of Oklahoma.”
In his address, Stitt also addressed education oversight, tax cuts, economic growth and state finances and even called for the elimination of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association.