Stitt is concerned that unless the compacts are renegotiated, the U.S. Stitt says he is trying to negotiate the best deal for all of the state’s more than 4 million residents, particularly when it comes to the tobacco compacts. This year, Stitt, himself a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, responded by vetoing virtually every legislative measure endorsed by the tribes, including a bill that would have allowed Native American students to wear tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies. Many of the state's most powerful tribes attempted to use their political influence last year to prevent Stitt from winning a second term. Stitt's relationship with many tribal leaders has deteriorated since he unsuccessfully tried to rework gambling contracts by renegotiating the state’s share of casino revenue early in his first term. “Even (former) President Trump has mentioned he doesn’t know why the governor has such animosity toward the tribes,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, an Oklahoma City Republican.

They say it's also eroding the relationship with tribal leaders that, although sometimes testy, has been nurtured for decades during Republican and Democratic administrations. State Republican leaders are grumbling publicly that Stitt's hostile posture toward the tribes, including vetoing the extension of some compacts, are costing more than just money. Tribal casinos alone paid nearly $200 million to the state last year under agreements giving tribes the exclusive right to offer casino gambling. Those agreements, called compacts, have been worked out between the state and tribes over the last couple of decades to divvy up revenue from gambling, vehicle tags and the sale of tobacco and motor fuel on tribal land, all of which provide major revenue streams into state and tribal coffers. Kevin Stitt's ongoing feud with many of the Native American tribes in the state has grown so contentious that fellow Republicans in the Legislature and the state's attorney general are considering pushing him out of tribal negotiations altogether.

Cherokee nation casino agreement