Due to term limits established by the Oklahoma Constitution, incumbent Democratic governor Brad Henry couldn't seek re-election.

The race had been hotly contested by both political parties, with several well-known Oklahomans announcing their candidacy up to two years before the election.

As both parties nominated female candidates (Jari Askins for the Democrats and Mary Fallin for the Republicans), both of whom have also previously held the office of the lieutenant governor of Oklahoma, and as no third-party or write-in candidate qualified for the ballot, Oklahoma was guaranteed its first female governor.

In 2008, Republicans won majorities in both chambers of the state legislature for the first ever; as they expanded these majorities in the 2010 elections and Fallin won the governorship, a Republican state government trifecta was established for the first time since statehood when Fallin was sworn in on January 10, 2011.

Fallin was the first non-Democrat to win Tillman County, which had voted for the Democratic candidate for governor in each election since Oklahoma statehood, thus breaking a 103-year streak of voting Democratic Party.