A Democrat running for Congress in Oklahoma is taking a wild stab at damage control after reports that she got drunk during a Valentine-themed slumber party for tweens, subjected the girls to a string of insults and curses, and vomited in a hamper.
Abby Broyles, a former local TV reporter, went on her old station to claim that she doesn’t remember her bizarre tirade and to blame it on a sleeping medication.
But Broyles may have only made things worse when she insisted on air that she was misquoted by the news site, Nondoc, that broke the story.
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“I never told them that I wasn’t there. I said it didn’t happen because he was asking about these allegations. And I had no idea because, again, I don’t remember this episode at all,” she said on NBC affiliate KFOR.
But KFOR reports that Nondoc played a recording in which Broyles did indeed deny being there. Broyles did not respond to an email from The Daily Beast about that discrepancy.
The entire episode came to light when Sarah Matthews, the mother of one of the girls at the party, tweeted at Broyles on Wednesday.
“Since it’s been five days and you have neglected to reach out to any of the young ladies (12 & 13 yr olds, including my daughter) you verbally and emotionally abused last weekend, I thought I would give you a chance to try to apologize (at a minimum) here,” Matthews wrote.
“For someone who pontificates to be undyingly pro woman, I am disgusted by your behavior and find it appalling you couldn’t understand why their parents are angry. Your vile, cruel, and bigoted behavior should not be excused or ‘swept under the rug.’”
Matthews told KFOR that she was flabbergasted by her daughter’s account of what went on at the party—which was hosted by the mother of a friend.
“She proceeded to tell me that Abby Broyles had been at the house and was very drunk and calling them all mfer’s, f’er this f’er that,” Matthews said. “[Broyles] called somebody acne f’er, somebody Hispanic f’er, called my daughter judgey f’er for not wanting to sleep with a blanket that she cleaned up wine with.”
Broyles said she was invited by the host, who is a pal from law school.
“I’ve known them for years and so it was no big deal for me to go and stay during a sleepover, and the girls and I had a great time. I think there’s a TikTok video out there of us at the beginning,” she said.
“We had wine and sushi and a couple of hours later, we were upstairs in their theater room watching a movie.
For years I have struggled with stress and anxiety and insomnia. I took the bar exam on 2 hours of sleep. I mean, this is how far this goes back for me. And she knows that. And she gave me a medication I had never taken before. And I had an adverse reaction.
“Instead of helping me sleep, I hallucinated. And I don’t remember anything until I woke up or came to, and I was throwing up in a hamper.”
She added, “I just remember opening my eyes, and I had gotten sick in this hamper and I didn’t know where I was. It was the most awful experience that I’ve had.”
Broyles denied that she has a drinking problem or that she simply blacked out from too much booze.
“For people who say I just blacked out and I’m making this up, you don’t know me. I would never ever say anything hurtful. I’ve never, ever would say something hurtful like those things. And that’s why I know I was not in my right mind. I know that that’s what happened because of that combination of things. And I deeply, deeply regret it.”
Broyles, who was challenging Republican Rep. Stephanie Bice, did not say whether she planned to drop out of the race.
Alicia Andrews, chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, told The Oklahoman it would not ask Broyles to stand down.
“Regarding the party’s stance on Ms. Broyles candidacy, the party is not in the habit of running candidates off. Should Ms. Broyles continue in her pursuit of Oklahoma Congressional District Five, the party will not get in her way,” Andrews said.
