Stephanie Bice

With central Oklahoma gasoline near $4 a gallon as prominent petroleum companies move their headquarters to Texas, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice and Democratic challenger Jena Nelson are locked in a war of words about whose policies would best help people’s pocketbooks in a peculiar economy and political climate.

Along the way, Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District has become a microcosm of America’s decision points — a local bellwether for the notable national storylines that have President Donald Trump stumping for his political life across the country:

At a 300-person rally in Oklahoma City, Nelson stomped around the Tower Theatre’s stage in an upbeat rant fit for Monday Night Raw. In her nine-minute monologue about the modern American experience, Nelson derided Bice as “chicken,” called Ryan Walters a “loser” and said she’s “sure as hell not afraid to stand up to Donald Trump.”

“Because I want to tell you something: I taught middle school and high school — I ain’t scared,” Nelson said Oct. 26, eventually taking a swipe at the former WWE executive who is Trump’s current Cabinet secretary for education. “I’m going to tell Miss Linda McMahon a few things, because even though she doesn’t know the difference between A1 and AI, I’m happy to explain it to her.

“And that’s the bottom line because Nelson said so.”

Asked if she is planning a beer smash if she beats Bice on Tuesday, Nelson attempted to catch her breath as the kayfabe wore off and the crowd headed home. While she called herself a “big fan” of the quintessential American theater’s Attitude Era and said she grew up watching the Von Ehrics, she stopped short of saying she would celebrate in the style of Stone Cold Steve Austin.

“I don’t know about that, but I think that using wit and humor sometimes is a great way to combat all the nastiness,” Nelson said.

When it comes to modern political advertising, some of 2026’s mailers, memes and digital advertisements might make Rowdy Roddy Piper blush.

With U.S. House members up for reelection every two years, incumbents generally spend as much time running for office as not. And as the partisan pendulum swings back and forth in a clock that only chimes when the Senate can get 60 votes, serving in Congress can be grueling at times — exhausting as much as exhilarating.

But as she campaigns for a fourth term, Bice sees results hidden behind the rhetoric: the “working families tax cut,” significant line-item appropriations for central Oklahoma projects, and a stack of House measures stuck on the Senate’s doorstep.

Even amid looming questions about commodity markets in the time of tariffs and the impact of healthcare funding changes under the Big Beautiful Bill, Bice said her energy for the work of America’s legislative body remains as high as ever.

“I love being a member of Congress because I feel like I’m able to give back,” Bice said Oct. 22. “This is a job of service. Is it hard? Yes. There are days when it’s very hard, but I feel very fortunate and privileged that I’ve been given this opportunity.”

In a half-hour meeting with attendees of the “Reagan breakfast” at Kamp’s 1910 Cafe in OKC, Bice said America needs to rebuild its diesel refining capacity, consider raising the Social Security taxable wage base and reform rules governing pharmacy benefit managers.

Overall, she called the 2026 election cycle “a challenging one across the country.”

“People have said, ‘Well, you know, what have Republicans done?’ We’ve actually done a lot,” Bice argued. “Have we done everything that we wanted to? No. I’m going to pick on the Senate a little bit, because I can — because I’m not in the Senate, nor am I running for the Senate. The House has actually passed over 700 bills that are currently sitting in the Senate.”

Bice, 52, referenced House passage of two voter identification measures, generally referred to as the SAVE Act.

“Two little different variations of voter ID, but both of those were passed (by the House),” she said. “The Stock Act, which is a huge deal right now. Members of Congress should not benefit from the information they receive, and many of you in this room recognize that, when I was elected to Congress, my husband and I made the wise and prudent decision to sell every individual stock that we owned, so that there was never a question about this. I never wanted my constituents, you all, to wonder if I was benefiting from the information that I had.”

When it comes to what information Americans have about their congressional candidates, however, voters by and large must make sense of the many mailers and multimedia advertisements for and against the people on their ballots. That’s particularly true in the CD 5 race, where Bice has declined proposals for a debate against Nelson and their independent opponents, Robert P. Henri and Austin Nieves.

Bice justified her refusal to face Nelson in public by noting that Nelson — the Democratic Party’s 2022 nominee for state superintendent of public instruction — missed a federal financial disclosure reporting deadline.

A former state senator, Bice won CD 5 in 2020 by defeating one-term Democratic Rep. Kendra Horn. With Republicans aware of the Oklahoma City metro’s increasingly purpler persuasion, CD 5 was shifted during the 2020 redistricting to drop a western portion of OKC and add GOP-favorable areas of Canadian, Logan and Lincoln counties.

“People have asked why I won’t debate Jena,” Bice said. “I find it difficult to find someone serious that can’t bother to file their financial disclosure on time and properly. That is a basic tenant of running for office. Jena’s (Democratic primary) opponent, Trey Martin, filed his financial disclosure as he should have this year. She never filed her financial disclosure last year, and when she did file it, I think it’s because someone pointed out to her she had never filed it. If you’re going to run for office, you’ve got to follow the rules. The first thing she has done is violate the ethics rules, and nobody’s talked about it.”

Asked how her positions and priorities would better address cost of living concerns than those of her Democratic opponent, Bice chimed in quickly.

“What are her policies? That’s the question,” Bice said. “She doesn’t talk about what she believes or what she wants to fight for. She just bashes me all the time.”

Nelson, 48, called that assessment “interesting.”

“I’ve done 16 in-person town halls, and I’m asked constantly about policy questions. And because I’m there and she’s not — obviously — so she doesn’t get to hear a compare and contrast,” Nelson said after her Oct. 26 speech. ” Just because she’s looking on social media for something doesn’t mean that we have not been talking about policy for 14 months.”

Asked her top policy priority, Nelson responded: “The reconciliation bill, No. 1.”

“Make sure that that funding gets back, so that we can get more help in our healthcare and that people don’t lose Medicaid,” Nelson said.

Asked how she would make such a proposal revenue neutral, Nelson said she wants Congress to pull back some Trump-era tax cuts.

“I’m talking about the tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Now there are some things like the no tax on tips. I think that’s great. Put it in a standalone bill (…) since it’s going to end anyway this year,” Nelson said. “So the accusation that I’m against (eliminating the) tax on tips is absolutely not true. I think it should be in a standalone bill. But we really need to do that. We need to make sure that subsidies are given back to our farmers right now because they’re struggling. We need to make sure that we put a moratorium on data centers. I think that’s very important as well.”

When it comes to healthcare, both Nelson and Bice believe America’s system again needs reform. Compared to every other developed nation in the world, the U.S. spends the most per capita on healthcare, yet outcomes lag and access remains limited, particularly in rural areas.

During her speech Oct. 22, an audience member asked Bi