Reigniting the American Dream: My Story and My Vision as NGA Chair
How a dairy farmer’s grandson became the Governor of Oklahoma
By Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, National Governors Association Chair
We live in a nation founded on the belief that you can pursue anything God places on your heart, and regardless of your circumstances, you can work and achieve that dream. Yet nearly 250 years later, for too many Americans, that belief feels out of touch with reality.
Does that mean the American Dream is dead?
Not if we do our jobs.
This year, I’m honored to serve as Chair of the National Governors Association, and to lead Reigniting the American Dream—a bipartisan initiative to help state leaders create more pathways to a better future for all Americans.
Here on Substack, some of the most innovative, successful leaders across every sector in our country will share and showcase solutions we can apply in our states to fan the flames of the American Dream and create more opportunity for those we serve.
Before we introduce these pathways and pathmakers, I want to share my personal vision for this initiative—starting with my own story.
Where I Come From
I’m the middle of three boys, born to a pastor and a stay-at-home mom in Oklahoma. We didn’t have much, but we had something very valuable: parents who believed we could do anything, and a grandfather who showed us what the American Dream looked like in work boots.
My granddad was a dairy farmer in Skiatook, Oklahoma, with an eighth-grade education. From the time I was six, I’d follow him around the farm, hauling hay, working with cattle. When I asked him about the Dust Bowl and the stock market crash of 1929, he said, “Kevin, we were so poor in Oklahoma, that stuff didn’t bother us.”
That was the community I grew up in—people so resilient that the Great Depression was just another challenge to overcome. And they did.
My childhood heroes were the businessmen who went to my dad’s church. I wanted to be just like them. In fifth grade, I ran a paper route with 70 houses, and every afternoon I’d collect $4.95 from each customer and tear out a little receipt. It was my first taste of running a business.
That entrepreneurial spirit only grew. In college, I wrote down my lifetime goals. Goal number three: Start a business. And believe it or not, goal number eight was “become Governor”— but I scratched it out because it seemed too big, and focused on goal number three.
Building Something From Nothing
In college, I faced a choice: be rush chairman of my fraternity in Oklahoma or spend the summer selling student handbooks door-to-door in Ohio. I prayed about it and felt I was supposed to sell books.
During those thirteen weeks in Napoleon, Ohio, I remember sitting on a curb, wondering how I’d make it through the summer. I was young, homesick, far from my family and friends, and facing rejection and closed doors day after day.
Each time I heard “no,” I picked up my sample case and knocked on the next door. That summer taught me that when you commit to something and keep showing up, opportunities open up in ways you never expect. I ended up earning the largest check ever issued to a first-year student: over $20,000.
I sold books for four summers. By graduation, I had 50 college kids working for me. I’d built a business while getting my degree. I had reached goal number three, but I was ready for more.
After graduation, I took $1,000 from my bank account and a computer, and started Gateway Mortgage. My wife Sarah and I lived in a $66,000 house. I drove a $2,000 truck. We invested everything back into building something that would not only pay our bills; but would hopefully create opportunities for others.
Then 2008 hit, and the financial crisis nearly destroyed our industry. About 10,000 mortgage companies went out of business. Most of my friends shut down and moved to different industries.
But something from those book-selling days stayed with me: The answer you need is often behind the next door you knock on. Too often, we quit right before success. So I refused to give up and told myself, “It’s not over until I win.”
We adapted and changed our business model. When the storm cleared, we were still standing. Today, Gateway First Bank services over $24 billion in home loans across 42 states, helping thousands of families realize their own American Dream through homeownership.
An Unexpected Calling
By 2016, we had built a successful company. But when I traveled to other states like Florida, Texas, and Tennessee, I saw momentum, state pride, and people believing their best days were ahead. I’d come back to Oklahoma—a special place with incredible potential—and I noticed many Oklahomans didn’t have that same hope. That bothered me.
One day in 2017, I felt a stir that I was supposed to run for Governor. It still felt too big, but I knew it was time to chase that dream God placed in my heart so many years ago. I took 18 months off from my company, visited all 77 counties, and listened to Oklahomans talk about their dreams for their families and communities.
Reigniting the American Dream
As governor, I’ve worked to create more opportunities for Oklahomans to pursue their version of the American Dream. We’ve cut over $1.5 billion in taxes. We have eliminated the grocery tax. We’ve built the largest state savings account in state history. And we have passed the best education freedom plan in the country so every parent can choose the education best suited for their child.
Now, as NGA Chair, I want to help every state create more opportunities for their citizens. In July 2025, we launched the Reigniting the American Dream initiative to galvanize state leadership around unifying ideas and policies that make the American Dream more available for everyone, everywhere in the U.S. As leaders, we can’t promise equal outcomes. But it’s our job to ensure equal opportunities.
From education and career readiness, to entrepreneurship, energy, and infrastructure…momentum is building.
The beautiful thing about America is that there are as many dreams as there are people. You may not want to build a bank. Maybe you want to teach music. Maybe you want to start a restaurant. Maybe you want to be a pilot.
Whatever that dream is, don’t let anyone tell you it’s dead.
The Path Forward
I think about that kid sitting on a curb in Ohio, wondering how he’d make it through the summer. He had no idea that experience would prepare him to build a business, survive a financial crisis, and eventually serve as Governor.
That’s the beauty of the American Dream. You don’t have to see the whole staircase; you just have to take the next step with hope and determination.
The American Dream is my granddad with an eighth-grade education, building a life through hard work and grit. It’s a kid with a paper route learning that honest work has dignity. It’s a college student discovering he can overcome rejection and homesickness and learn he’s capable of more than he imagined. It’s a businessman who knew nothing about politics, but took a risk and believed he could serve his state…and did.
Even when everyone says we’re too divided as a country—that there’s nothing the right and left can agree on—let’s remind them: We agree on this. We can reignite the American Dream and make it a reality for generations of Americans to come.
WATCH THE VISION (3 mins):
Governor J. Kevin Stitt serves as the 28th Governor of Oklahoma and chairs the National Governors Association’s “Reigniting the American Dream” initiative. Before entering public service, he founded and built Gateway into a nationwide mortgage company before merging and creating Gateway First Bank. He and his wife Sarah have been married for 27 years and have 6 children.