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The Northern Lancaster County Legislative District 21 race includes Sens. Beau Ballard, Seth Derner • Nebraska Examiner

Posted on by Gerres
The Northern Lancaster County Legislative District 21 race includes Sens. Beau Ballard, Seth Derner • Nebraska Examiner

LINCOLN — The legislative race in northern Lancaster County pits an incumbent who wants to address and learn more about the issues that matter most to voters and a challenger who wants to bring his life experiences to the Legislature.

State Sen. Beau Ballard of Lincoln, 30, is seeking election to the House of Representatives Legislative District 21 headquarters. Then-Governor Pete Ricketts, along with then-Governor-elect Jim Pillen, appointed Ballard to the position effective January 2023 to replace former state Sen. Mike Hilgers, R-Incoln, who was elected attorney general.

Ballard is from Raymond, where his family has a vineyard and winery. He started a bakery in downtown Lincoln with a college friend and worked as a legislative staffer for Hilgers.

His opponent, Seth Derner, 49, is the founder and senior consultant of Vivayic, a company that designs training solutions for other companies and universities. He is from the Sandhills near Wheeler County and is a former agriculture and store teacher.

Beau Ballard

Ballard was born and raised in the district and began his political career at the age of 12, knocking on the door of his grandfather, James Arthur Jeffers, who ran for the same legislative seat in 2008 but narrowly lost to an incumbent state senator Ken Haar.

State Senator Beau Ballard of Lincoln. (Courtesy of the Ballard Campaign)

In 2016, when Hilgers first ran for parliament, Ballard volunteered for his campaign, going to work in his office.

“When Hilgers was elected attorney general, I jumped at the opportunity,” Ballard said. “I didn’t think I had a chance, but luckily I had an interview with the governor and he chose me to represent my friends, family and neighbors.”

Ballard said if elected to a full four-year term, he will continue to address property taxes, adequate housing, affordable child care, economic development and water issues in his district.

Ballard said growing up in a small town and in a small business family taught him the values ​​of do-it-yourself, limited government, low taxes and getting out of the way to keep Nebraska moving forward.

Ballard said that in his first two years, he “learned what it means to sit in a seat that represents about 40,000 people.”

“I have a proven track record of what good government is all about: staying out of people’s way and making sure they have all the tools and opportunities to succeed,” Ballard said. “If I am lucky enough to be elected in November, I will use the same approach for the next four years.”

Seth Derner

Derner, a fifth-generation Nebraskan, grew up on a ranch in the Sandhills before attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for a teaching degree. He returned to Antelope County to teach before leaving to pursue opportunities in Indiana and Washington.

He and his wife returned to Nebraska in 2005, shortly after Vivayic launched. Derner said he had no political experience.

Seth Derner of Lincoln. (Courtesy of the Derner Campaign, photo by Matt Roth)

Derner is running because of the love and pride he has for Nebraska, his neighbors and his family, and because he wants to return to the legislative culture he grew up in rather than “hyper-partisan politics.”

“I feel like I’ve lived and achieved some things, as well as a lot of mistakes that I’ve made and learned from. “I think it’s different than when you go straight from college to high school to a job as a legislative staffer,” Derner said, pointing out Ballard’s trajectory.

Derner noted that Haar and Hilgers were elected by a narrow margin, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, and both worked hard to get out and talk to people.

Derner said the district should elect him as their representative because of his concern for them and their future, as well as the future of Nebraska.

“It’s not a personal ride. This is not an ego trip. This is not the beginning of my grand plan to build a gigantic political career,” Derner said. “I’m doing this because I simply believe that we can do it better, that we can have a legislature that works better, that does more and that responds more effectively to what people care about.”

Abortion and medical marijuana

Derner said he and his wife faced challenges having a second child and relied on reproductive specialists. He said it was an “eye-opening experience” about the challenges and risks involved.

Ultimately, Derner said, reproductive health is a matter of who can be trusted to make these difficult decisions in accordance with one’s faith and with the support of a doctor.

“There has to be some kind of guardrails that we’re talking about,” Derner said. “But for the most part, I’m on the side of trusting that people will exercise their freedom in a way that will benefit them and their families.”

Ballard, who supported the current state law banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, said there are exceptions that “are the majority of Nebraskans”: maternal life, sexual assault and incest.

“I think this is a common sense approach to this issue and voters will have a chance to make a decision in November,” Ballard said.

Ballard is endorsed by Right to live in Nebraska. He said it was difficult to say whether he would support tighter electronic restrictions in the future without knowing what they would look like. Ballard argued for a near-total ban on abortion after about six weeks, the point at which ultrasound detects the embryo’s heart activity.

There are fresh political faces in the Northwest Lincoln, Lancaster County 21 legislative race

Both candidates said medical marijuana must include appropriate guardrails, with Derner’s strong support based on his past experience with a loved one in Washington.

Ballard said he wants to wait for the federal government and more research to come up with good policy, although he “fully assumes” Nebraskans will vote to adopt medical marijuana this fall.

“School choice” legislation.

Ballard said he wants to educate all children and supports two children latest versions With “school choice“acts to compensate for the costs of attending K-12 non-public schools.

He said the state can debate the funding source, but lawmakers cannot ignore supporting students and families in the educational setting that best meets their needs. Ballard said support for public schools and “opportunity scholarships” are not mutually exclusive.

“It’s not that we’re denying funding to public schools, and I just think that if we educate kids, that’s a win for Nebraska.”

Derner said he will vote to repeal the program this November, questioning whether it is allowed under the Nebraska Constitution.

He pointed to his time in Sandhills when the successful Catholic high school partnered with Derner Public High School for farm and shop classes. Derner also pointed to an enrollment option that allows families to transfer public school districts with state support.

“We need to find more solutions that maintain the quality and funding of our schools, but also find ways to reduce the burden on property owners, especially home owners,” Derner said.

Current legislative priorities

Derner said he generally supports finding additional state revenue, with “cautious support.” online sports betting Or recreational marijuana based on legislation and if there are clear guardrails.

He said the Legislature’s special session on property taxes highlighted that cutting taxes isn’t as simple as cutting spending, which is why he wants to invest time and energy in action, not just talk.

Ballard said property taxes remain a top issue for his constituents. He supports expanded sports gambling, although recreational marijuana gives him “pause,” raising questions about how best to protect children and curb youth vaping problems.

Like Derner, Ballard agreed that cutting spending might not be the answer because it could deprive the state of needed growth.

Ballard voted in favor of legislation encouraging workers to move to the state and said more efforts are needed to make Nebraska family-friendly by ensuring a good tax structure and a low cost of living.

The Nebraska Examiner provides a voter’s guide for the 2024 general election

In the 2024 regular legislative session, lawmakers passed Legislative Act 25which ultimately Pillen vetoed. This would allow Nebraskans sue schools or other political entities and allege negligence in certain cases of sexual abuse or assault that occurred to a child while in the care of a school or government agency.

Ballard initially opposed the legislation and “was present, did not vote” on three votes in favor of the bill. He agreed with the reasoning behind Pillen’s veto that it “opens up broad accountability” to taxing entities such as schools where it may be more difficult to define the problem.

“It gets really complicated,” Ballard said. “I think it would have serious negative consequences for real estate taxpayers.”

Derner said he would support the legislation, criticizing some opponents as “a little disingenuous” for worrying about property taxes, while supporting legislation that would penalize teachers or libraries for having books someone disagrees with.

“This is a way to give survivors a chance at justice,” Derner said. “It continues to create tension in this system to ensure that leaders, community members, teachers, peers and everyone are aware of the risks and ensure that environmental risks are kept as low as possible for young people.”

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