Emily Virgin named House minority leader

State Rep. Emily Virgin, an eight-year representative from Norman who is her party’s most senior member in the state House, was named Minority Leader by the Democratic caucus Thursday morning. 

Virgin, D-Norman, will lead her 25-member caucus, replacing Rep. Steve Kouplen, D-Beggs, who lost reelection last week. 

"As a minority (party) it is always your job to make sure the majority (party) is doing things out in the open, and making sure they are not running over the minority, whether it be legislatively or a minority in the state of Oklahoma," Virgin, 32, said. 

"But, just looking at the numbers, we know that we are going to have to work across the aisle and we are ready to do that.”

The 101-member House includes 46 new members headed into next year's legislative session, including nine new Democrats. 

Virgin said she had the experience to help lead many of the new members and that the large number of turnover in both parties presented an opportunity. 

Virgin also said she planned to have a good relationship with Oklahoma's new governor, who she had a phone conversation with on Thursday morning. 

"With a new governor and so many new state officials, it's sort of a clean slate," Virgin said. "Because Gov.-elect (Kevin) Stitt is new to politics, I think there are good things and some bad things about that. One of the good things is he seems to be very open to working with both sides of the aisle to move our state forward."

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