Democrat Jena Nelson is challenging Stephanie Bice for Oklahoma City-area seat in Congress
The self-described 'duck and chicken person' — who cares for those animals at her home in rural Logan County — announced on Saturday, July 19, that she's running again for office in 2026. But this time she'll campaign for Congress, seeking to succeed incumbent GOP Rep. Stephanie Bice.
Nelson made her declaration during an event held at the fieldhouse at Millwood High School in northeast Oklahoma City, which she noted was the site of her final campaign stop in the 2022 state superintendent race.
'For me, it feels like unfinished business,' Nelson told The Oklahoman. 'Let's pick right back up where we left off. I ran last time to help people. I'm running again to help people, as well.'
Nelson, who grew up in Broken Bow in far southeastern Oklahoma, first gained wide public notice in 2020 when she was named as the state's teacher of the year for her work at Deer Creek Middle School in northwest Oklahoma County. She has said she decided to enter politics in 2022 after writing what she said was her 30th job recommendation letter for yet another teacher leaving the profession.
Like every other Democratic candidate for statewide office in 2022, she lost to her Republican opponent. But in Oklahoma County, the state's most populous, Nelson noted that she'd received more votes than any other candidate for any other office on the ballot, no matter the party. She secured 124,500 votes — more than Walters (96,282), Gov. Kevin Stitt (93,466) or Attorney General Gentner Drummond (123,851), among others.
Oklahoma's Fifth Congressional District covers most of Oklahoma County, all of Lincoln County, Pottawatomie County and Seminole County, and parts of Logan and Canadian counties. In 2018, Democrat Kendra Horn knocked off then-GOP incumbent Rep. Steve Russell to earn a seat in Congress. Two years later, Bice downed Kendra Horn and has held the seat ever since, rolling past Democrat Madison Horn in the 2024 election by winning nearly 61% of the vote that November.
Bice said then: 'You can never take this seat for granted. We saw what happens when you do in 2018. Republicans really didn't realize that there was a race, and we ended up losing the seat. I am proud to have fought hard to win this seat back, and my goal is to keep this seat Republican.'
Nelson is encouraged by the district's recent electoral history as an increasingly purple pocket in a deeply red state and by the fact she fared so well there in a statewide race just three years ago.
'The Fifth District is very, very diverse. It is the most interesting district, because it is urban, it is rural and it is suburban,' Nelson said. 'I think that my experience in my life can speak to all three of those demographics, as well.'
Social Security, federal jobs issues important to Jena Nelson
Nelson listed her top issues as including the preservation of Social Security, along with health care programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and SoonerCare. Nelson also said she's passionate about keeping open rural hospitals in the district — she specifically mentioned facilities in Prague, Stroud and Guthrie. With Tinker Air Force Base located in the district, she said military and veterans' concerns also should be top of mind for any representative.
'When people talk about cutting federal jobs, these aren't just some bureaucrats, these are our neighbors,' Nelson said. 'These are people that are providing services important services for folks, even if they're answering the phone, you're answering the phone because maybe a veteran is in crisis or a young person is in a crisis. What we're doing is we're closing down lifelines to Oklahomans, and we can't do that.
'In addition to that, of course, I'm always going to be a proponent of education,' Nelson said. 'Right now, we know that there are millions of dollars being withheld at the federal level that need to get into our school systems, and we have a (U.S.) secretary of education that can't tell the difference between A1 and AI. I have a lot of background in education and I'm willing to go up there and fight to make sure that our schools get what they deserve.'
Nelson acknowledged politics is an uphill battle for Democrats in a state in which they're outnumbered by Republicans by nearly two-to-one. All seven of Oklahoma's seats in Congress are held by Republicans, as are all 11 statewide elected offices in Oklahoma. The GOP also has supermajorities in both chambers of the Oklahoma Legislature.
But, she said, if voters look beyond a candidate's party affiliation, they might like what they see.
'I would even say to people — get a chance to know me, not what you think that the letter beside my name represents, not what you think that about me through some kind of mailer or email or whatever they're going to put out,' Nelson said.
'But come to an event or come to a meet-and-greet and ask me the questions that you want to know (the answers to). I have always said that I will tell the truth.'
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Democrat Jena Nelson will try to unseat U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice
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