A Democratic candidate for Congress finally apologized for getting drunk and verbally abusing a group of tween girls at a Valentine's Day slumber party, claiming to have no memory of her deplorable behavior.
"I don't remember anything until I woke up or came to, and I was throwing up in a hamper," said Abby Broyles, a former journalist who is running to represent Oklahoma's Fifth Congressional District. "I apologize for any hurt or damage or trauma that my behavior, when I didn't know what I was doing, caused." The candidate claimed she started to "hallucinate" after mixing alcohol with a medication she "had never taken before" provided by the party's host, a friend from law school.
The apology, offered during a recent interview with local news station KFOR, marked the first time Broyles has publicly acknowledged being present at the party. When the allegations were first reported last week by NonDoc, Broyles denied having attended the party, claiming to have been "out of town on a fundraising trip." She blamed the girls' parents for concocting the story as a "political attack" and threatened to sue media outlets that reported it.
The Democrat changed her story again during the interview with KFOR, insisting she had been "misquoted" in the NonDoc article. "I never told them—this was on a phone call—and I never told them that I wasn't there," she said. Upon realizing that NonDoc had recorded the phone call, during which she definitely told them she wasn't there, Broyles issued a follow-up statement about how the "terrifying" call had "caught her off guard." She did not elaborate as to why she blatantly lied to a journalist about having blatantly lied to another journalist.
Broyles, who attended the party on Feb. 11 at the invitation of the host, reportedly became intoxicated and proceeded to lash out at the group of 12- and 13-year-old girls, including one who left the room in tears after Broyles called her an "acne fucker." The homeowner texted the girls' parents the next day to apologize. "Unfortunately it really was as bad as it sounds," she wrote. "[Broyles] went from zonked out to attacking kids." She did not mention the mystery medication.
The candidate also told KFOR that she does not have a substance abuse problem, as some have alleged. Oklahoma attorney Blake Allen wrote on Twitter that "literally no one connected to local politics is going to be surprised by this," referring to reports of the slumber party incident. "Abby clearly has a deep problem w/ alcohol and I hope she gets the treatment she clearly needs."
According to another local media outlet, Broyles got drunk and embarrassed herself just days before the slumber party at a gala to honor Oklahoma foster parents. Multiple witnesses reported seeing Broyles acting "drunk and belligerent" during comedian Trey Kennedy's set at the Angel's Foster Family Network gala on Feb. 7. "[Broyles] and another woman specifically were OVERLY disruptive. Literally standing and yelling at Trey," one witness wrote. "Trey literally stopped his set and told her group to 'shut up.' Crowd applauded."
Broyles is running against first-term congresswoman Stephanie Bice (R.), who ousted incumbent Democrat Kendra Horn in 2020. That same year, Broyles ran for U.S. Senate against GOP incumbent Sen. Jim Inhofe. She lost by 30 percentage points.