WASHINGTON — Stephanie Bice is Oklahoma’s freshman Congresswoman, but the first 100 days of her term would challenge even the most experienced representative.

Having won election in the midst of a historic pandemic and political riots, Bice is still learning the ropes on Capitol Hill.

“This has been a learning experience,” Bice said. “I went from being in the majority in the state Senate and a Republican governor to being in the minority here, so part of what I’m trying to sort of figure out is, how do you find ways to be effective here when you’re in the minority? How do you build relationships and coalitions — which is important.”

Bice was elected by her peers to become Republican Freshman Class President, the first female to hold this position.

“My job as the freshman class president is really just to help facilitate conversation…keep freshmen informed on various topics,” Bice said. “We try to meet up every so often to collaborate, talk about maybe strategic challenges we are having, struggles, also success and wins — sharing as much information amongst ourselves as we can.”

Bice takes on additional responsibilities, including being on the Armed Services and the Science, Space and Technology committees in the U.S. House.

“My goal from day one is really just do what I can to support Oklahomans in any capacity that I can,” Bice said. “I’m very much a pro-business champion. You’ve seen that on a state level, in a variety of capacities.”

Bice plans to continue advocating for issues she tackled at the state level, and she said she hopes that her time in D.C. will allow her to build relationships with both sides to cover issues efficiently.