10 things about 28th Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt

John Kevin Stitt is the 28th governor of Oklahoma, United States. The state’s capital city Oklahoma City is home to the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association.

BIOGRAPHY

Stitt was born in Milton, Florida, USA to Reverend John L. Stitt and Joyce Stitt. John L. was the pastor of the Riverside Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

Joyce, who is of Cherokee descent, is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She, John L. and Kevin lived in Skiatook, Oklahoma and Wayne, Oklahoma before moving to Norman.

Kevin, a member of the Republican Party, is also a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Here are 10 more things about him:

1. He is five years older than his wife Sarah Hazen Stitt.
2. In 1977, he and his parents moved to Skiatook.
3. On June 1, 1998, he married Sarah.
4. In 2000, he and Sarah founded Gateway Mortgage.
5. From 2000 to 2014, he was the president and chief executive officer of Gateway Mortgage.
6. From 2014 to 2018, he was the chairman-CEO of Gateway Mortgage.
7. In 2018, he successfully ran for governor in Oklahoma.
8. In 2020, he remained the chairman of Gateway Mortgage while Scott Gesell became the company’s CEO.
9. In 2022, he was reelected as Oklahoma governor.
10. On December 28, 2024, he turned 52.

TIMELINE

Kevin was raised in Norman while Sarah grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They have six children together.

2018

• In August 2018, he won the Republican nomination for Oklahoma governor and resigned as Gateway Mortgage CEO.

2019

• On January 14, 2019, he assumed office as the 28th governor of Oklahoma.
• On December 23, 2019, Lisa Johnson Billy became the first member of his cabinet to resign, citing disagreements with him over his handling of negotiations with the state’s various Indian tribes about gambling compacts.

2020

• On February 13, 2020, he announced that the moratorium placed on all state executions in Oklahoma in 2015 would be lifted and executions resumed under his tenure.

2021

• On November 18, 2021, he commuted Julius Jones‘s death sentence to life without the possibility of parole.

2022

• In April 2022, he signed into law SB 612, which makes performing an abortion in Oklahoma a crime punishable by 10 years in prison or a $100,000 fine with exceptions for medical emergencies but none for rape or incest.
• In May 2022, he signed into law House Bill 4327, which bans abortions from the stage of fertilization and allows private citizens to sue abortion providers who knowingly perform or induce an abortion on a pregnant woman.
• On October 31, 2022, his son, then 20, was found intoxicated in a parking lot in Guthrie, Oklahoma while in possession of firearms, including a gun belonging to him.

2023

• In January 2023, he announced his support for legalizing sports betting in Oklahoma.
• On September 25, 2023, he spoke onstage during the American Energy Security Summit in Oklahoma City.

2024

• On May 7, 2024, he went to Barnsdall, Oklahoma and updated the media on a tornado that claimed one life and destroyed dozens of homes in the town.

2025

• On January 20, 2025, he took a selfie with 43rd Colorado governor Jared Polis before the inauguration of 47th U.S. president Donald Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., USA.
• On May 5, 2025, he signed into law the Food Truck Freedom Act, which aims to cut red tape for Oklahoma’s mobile food vendor industry.