As expected, the Nebraska Democratic Party Executive Committee has picked State Senator Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln as the party’s candidate for the June 28 special election to fill out the term of 1st District Congressman Jeff Fortenberry.
Fortenberry, a 9-term Republican, resigned last month after being convicted of lying to federal agents investigating illegal 2016 campaign contributions from a foreign billionaire.
Each party will select one candidate as its nominee in the special election, with the winner serving until the new congress begins in January.
Fortenberry’s resignation came too late for the special election to be held as part of the primary, where Pansing Brooks faces a single, little-known opponent – Jazari Kual Zakaria.
State Party Chair Jane Kleeb calls Pansing Brooks “a voice for working families who gets results by bridging political divides (and whose) track record shows that when she says she will be a voice for ALL Nebraskans, she means it.
Pansing Brooks says the 1st District needs to be represented by someone who will be a leader and that she has led as a state senator and community organizer, so she’s ready to win the seat and get to work in Washington.
Fellow senator and former Speaker Mike Flood of Norfolk is expected to be the Republican choice for the special election since his 2 opponents in the primary are relative unknowns.
Flood just picked up the endorsement of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm advocacy group, for both the GOP primary and the general election
Farm Bureau President Mark McHargue says Flood has been an advocate for agriculture throughout his tenure in the Legislature and that Farm Bureau members throughout the 1st District will work to promote Flood’s candidacy.