Hofmeister Wins All 77 Counties, Barresi Lands 3rd Place
Joy Hofmeister beats incumbent Janet Barresi for state superintendent
By ANDREA EGER AND KIM ARCHER World Staff Writers
After a contentious Republican primary campaign, Joy Hofmeister of Tulsa bested incumbent Janet Barresi and fellow challenger Brian Kelly on Tuesday to win the party’s nomination for Oklahoma superintendent of public instruction.
In a surprising twist, Hofmeister was the outright winner with nearly 58 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. Barresi finished third, about 1,000 votes behind Kelly, a former Edmond football coach who was almost totally absent from the primary campaign trail.
Hofmeister was the top vote-getter in all 77 counties.
In the Democratic primary, Peggs Superintendent John Cox and Oklahoma City charter school founder and operator Freda Deskin garnered the top two vote totals, eliminating Jack Herron and Ivan Holmes.