In 1992, Angle was elected to the Nye County School Board of Trustees and served one term. Before this time, she was registered as a Republican. During this term, she was an active member of the Independent American Party of Nevada. She re-registered as a Republican in 1997 after deciding to run for elected office. In 1998, she won election to the Nevada State Assembly and served until 2006. During her time in the 42-member assembly, she voted "no" so frequently on matters of wide consensus that votes were often called as "41-to-Angle".