Abby Broyles to challenge GOP’s Rep. Stephanie Bice
Democrat Abby Broyles, who waged an unsuccessful battle last year to unseat U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, announced Wednesday that she plans to challenge freshman U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice for the congressional seat that includes most of Oklahoma City.
Broyles, 31, an attorney and former television reporter, said, “Over the past several months, I've heard from so many Oklahomans in our district from healthcare professionals pushed to the limit to parents making tough decisions about school for their kids this fall.
“Now more than ever, we need strong leadership in the 5th district. In me, you'll have a congresswoman who listens to you and works for you and fights for you. Stephanie Bice works for herself and the radical right.”
Bice's office declined to comment on Wednesday.
Bice, R-Oklahoma City, defeated then-incumbent Rep. Kendra Horn, an Oklahoma City Democrat, by four points to capture the 5th Congressional District seat.
In a statement on Wednesday, Broyles said she attended a Bice town hall meeting in Bethany last week and was “disgusted listening to Bice more passionate about looking out for the January 6th mob that attacked our Capitol than looking out for the people of this district that I've called home my entire life. I walked into that town hall as a constituent and walked out a candidate.”
Bice, 47, was the only member of the Oklahoma congressional delegation — and one of only 35 House Republicans — who voted to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack. Former President Donald Trump, whose shadow still looms large in GOP politics, opposed the commission.
At a town hall meeting in Oklahoma City last week, Bice said she signed a letter expressing concern that some of those arrested after the attack were being held in solitary confinement. The letter was similar to one written by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Bice said.
Horn was the first Democrat to hold the seat since the congressional districts were reduced from six to five after the 2000 census. The districts were redrawn then to put most of Oklahoma City — and Oklahoma County — into the 5th District.
The district also includes Pottawatomie and Seminole counties.
Horn narrowly defeated Bice in Oklahoma County last year, but Bice won big in the other two counties. Broyles got only 33% of the vote statewide against Inhofe, but she came within 3,000 votes of the Republican senator in Oklahoma County. But, like Horn, she fared relatively poorly in Pottawatomie and Seminole counties.