Gov. Mary Fallin Kicks Off Re-Election Campaign In Tulsa

We're more than a year away from electing our next governor, but Mary Fallin is making it known now that she wants to keep her job.

She kicked off her re-election campaign this week. She made an early morning stop in Tulsa Thursday.

"We've been able to take a challenging time, since we came through a national recession, and have what we call a great Oklahoma comeback," Fallin said.

The Old School Bagel Cafe in Brookside was stop number one on Governor Fallin's reelection campaign trail Thursday. The governor spoke for 11 and a half minutes in front of a crowd of about 50, inside the restaurant.

On the heels of a 16-day government shutdown, she started by pointing out what she believes is wrong on Capitol Hill and the White House.

"We in Oklahoma get fed up with the partisan gridlock, do-nothing politics that we see coming out of Washington, D.C.," she said.

She blamed the Obama administration for what she called turmoil and big government.

She then moved on to her first term. Fallin said, since she took office, the unemployment rate has dropped almost 2 percent, she's balanced the budget, and grown the state's rainy day fund by half a billion dollars. Fallin also brought up policies she's supported, such as the rewriting of Oklahoma worker's compensation laws. But she did acknowledge areas that the state needs to work on,

"We do need to still focus on healthcare, still focus on education, on transportation, on public safety issues for our state, so we can continue to make Oklahoma the best place to live, work and raise a family," Fallin said.

There is only one candidate who has announced they'll challenge Governor Fallin's re-election. R.J. Harris is from Norman, and is a self-proclaimed Libertarian Democrat.

In the past, he has run for Congress as a Republican and independent

Prior to being elected governor, Mary Fallin served as Lt. Governor from 1995 to 2007. From there she was elected to Congress representing the fifth district from 2007 to 2011.

The governor's re-election tour continues with stops in Oklahoma City and Lawton.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.