The nebraska delegation

congressional officials …

Nebraska is a small delegation state with a very red state flavor. All of the delegation members are Republicans.

Of the five members in the 2022-2023 class, four are male, one is female, and none is minority representation through the end of the year. Two of the five delegation members won their first terms through a special election or appointment.  Two are, therefore, first-year students.

One of the House members is a retired Air Force General on combat duty, and another member of the delegation’s family owned a Major League Baseball team that won the 2016 World Series.  That same member is also a former Governor of the state.

Only one of the members is a lawyer, while three graduate degrees were awarded.  The University of Nebraska conferred three degrees.

The average tenure for the delegation is 3.4 terms, assuming everyone completes their service through the end of 2024. The longest-serving member has been in Congress since 2006.

When you look at these profiles, we have given each a letter grade for their effort this Congress, based on various factors, which you will find in What Is Thomas Looking For? These letter grades are probably pretty familiar to you if you have ever been a school student (we hope the answer to that is we all have!)

If you see a meager score for a particular member, it will probably be due to one or two key factors: ethics challenges or anti-democratic behavior.

• Republicans have been hit hard on their lack of pushback on former President Trump and their support of election denying in the 2020 presidential campaign. The unanswered soaring deficit on their watch, the dismantling of allied relationships around the globe, and opposition to funding anti-authoritarian initiatives. The denial of climate change weighs heavily on us as well. We make no secret that transparency and Government in the Sunshine are important to us, and we further argue that some have been awful stewards of this category. For example, one of the five current Nebraska delegation members voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results the same evening Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol.

• Democrats have been hit hard for their lack of progress on key matters because they do control the United States Senate and have a razor-close margin in the U.S. House of Representatives. They have not been, in our opinion, innovative or necessarily insistent on finding rational, reasonable solutions to the problems plaguing the American public today. We want to see more and better.

• Both have been dinged for being too partisan and not collaborative where evident. In our opinion, being too doctrinaire or an obstructionist to good government in the 21st century does not get one a good grade from Thomas.

We also indicate what we believe might be the outcome of these Members’ 2024 elections today. The United States Senators from Nebraska are up for re-election this season.

Our prospect ratings fall into three categories:

• Safe Bet - which means what it means. These members of Congress are running strong and look to be overwhelming prospects for re-election at this time. However, we reserve the right to re-categorize their chances if necessary.

• It’s A Race - means this race is too close to call, and we can not reasonably predict who will win this seat.

• Nudging - means the seat is leaning one way or another for this candidate. We have just a small number of current members of Congress in this category. Senator Fischer and Senator Ricketts are included since they both have a race in 2024. Stay tuned!

So, would you like to meet these fascinating Nebraskans? If so, keep reading on!

what is thomas looking for?

There is one vulnerable race in Nebraska for Thomas to watch in 2024:

• NE02 - Don Bacon’s seat (Incumbent R)

the senators

United States Senator deb fischer (r)

Senator Deb Fischer is a former educator who is now Nebraska’s senior senator.  Fisher is a two-term member of the Senate who serves on the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, the Armed Services Committee; the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; the Rules and Administration Committee; and the Ethics Committee,  Married, the mother of three, and up for re-election in 2024, Senator Fischer graduated from the University of Nebraska.

Thomas Take: Running for Re-Election - Safe Bet Republican

Thomas Rank: B

Website

United states senator pete ricketts (R)

Nebraska’s junior senator is very fresh out of the gate having been appointed in 2023 to replace Senator Ben Sasse who left the Senate to become president of the University of Florida.  The Senator has to run again this year to fill out the Sasse term.  A businessman whose father founded TD Ameritrade and owned the Chicago Cubs when they won the 2016 World Series, Ricketts graduated from the University of Chicago with both a BA and an MBA. Married and the father of three, Senator Rickets lost a Senate race in 2006 but won the Governorship of Nebraska serving from 2015 to 2023.  He is a member of the Energy and Public Works Committee, the Foreign Relations Committee, and the Aging Committee.

Thomas Take: Running for Re-Election - Safe Bet Republican

Thomas Rank: Too Early To Rate

Website

the representatives