Laura Ebke

Laura Ebke is a politician from the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. A resident of the city of Crete in the southeastern part of the state, she was elected to the Nebraska Legislature in 2014. Ebke describes herself as "a Republican and a conservative libertarian".^[2]

Early life and career

Ebke was raised in Fairbury, Nebraska. Her family has a history of political involvement in the Fairbury area. One of her grandfathers served as the city's mayor; the other served on the city council. Her mother sat on the Fairbury School Board. Her father, Ron Schwab, was also the city's mayor and, in 2006, ran unsuccessfully against Russ Karpisek for the 32nd District seat in the Nebraska Legislature.^[3][4]

Ebke graduated from Fairbury High School in 1980. While in college, she married Russ Ebke. Russ attended medical school in Omaha; then, after his residency, had a five-year commitment to the U.S. Navy, during which the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and then to North Carolina. During their stay in Tennessee, Ebke completed her bachelor's degree, then earned a Master of Arts degree in political science at the University of Memphis. Russ completed his stint in the Navy in 1995, and the family moved to Crete. In 2005, Ebke received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She subsequently taught part-time at several colleges, among them Southeast Community College.^[3][5][6]

In 2002, Ebke won election to the Crete School Board, on which she served for 12 years. In 2008, she became the chair of the newly-chartered Nebraska chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus, an organization promoting libertarian positions within the Republican Party.^[3][5][7][8]

2014 election

Crete and Fairbury both lay within the 32nd Legislative District, encompassing Fillmore, Jefferson, Saline, Thayer, and the southwestern corner of Lancaster counties.^[5][9] In 2014, incumbent legislator Russ Karpisek, a Democrat who had defeated Ebke's father in 2006 and then run unopposed in 2010, was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term under Nebraska's term-limits law.^[4][10][11] In June 2013, Ebke announced that she would run for the seat.^[9]

In January 2014, Crete veterinarian Phil Hardenburger announced his candidacy.^[12] Hardenburger, a registered Democrat who described himself as "more of a centrist",^[4] stated that high property taxes were among his chief concerns; he favored relieving them by revenue-increasing adjustments in the state's corporate tax and by increasing state aid to cities and counties.^[4][13] Ebke, too, expressed concern about property taxes, but favored keeping them in check via a lid on local tax levies.^[4] Hardenburger supported the use of human embryonic stem cells in research, and abortion in cases of rape, incest, or danger to maternal health;^[4] Ebke described herself as "unequivocally... pro-life".^[14] Hardenburger decried the Legislature's decision not to expand Medicaid under the provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act;^[4] Ebke declared herself opposed to the expansion of Medicaid.^[15]

In the nonpartisan primary election, Ebke received 4401 votes, or 55% of the total; Hardenburger, 3576 votes, or 45%.^[16] Hardenburger attributed his loss in the primary to a low turnout of Democratic voters.^[4] The Democratic party hoped for a higher turnout of sympathetic voters in the general election, when a measure to increase the state's minimum wage was on the ballot;^[17] in the District 32 race, Hardenburger favored an increase^[4] while Ebke opposed it.^[6]

Over the entire course of the campaign, Ebke raised $76,000 and spent $74,000. Major contributions included $6300 from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry PAC, $5000 from the Republican State Leadership Committee, and $2500 from the Nebraska Realtors PAC.^[18] Hardenburger raised over $76,000 and spent all but $450 of it. Major contributions to his campaign included $25,000 from the Nebraska State Education Association PAC, $4000 from the Lincoln chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters, $3500 from the Associated General Contractors Highway Improvement PAC, $3000 from the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys PAC, and $3000 from the United Transportation Union PAC.^[19] The Nebraska Bankers State PAC contributed $4000 to Ebke's campaign and $2200 to Hardenburger's.^[18][19]

In the general election, Ebke narrowly defeated Hardenburger, with 6102 votes, or 50.7% of the total, to Hardenburger's 5941 votes, or 49.3%.^[20] Hardenburger won in Saline County, where Crete is located; but Ebke won in the other four counties that lay wholly or partly in the district.^[21]

Legislative tenure

In the 2015 session of the Legislature, Ebke was named to the Business and Labor Committee, the Judiciary Committee, and the Urban Affairs Committee.^[22]

Among the "most significant"^[23] actions taken by the Legislature in its 2015 session were three bills that passed over vetoes by governor Pete Ricketts. LB268 repealed the state's death penalty; LB623 reversed the state's previous policy of denying driver's licenses to people who were living illegally in the United States after being brought to the country as children, and who had been granted exemption from deportation under the Barack Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program; and LB610 increased the tax on gasoline to pay for repairs to roads and bridges.^[23][24][25] Ebke voted in favor of the death-penalty repeal, and to override Ricketts's veto of the measure;^[26] she voted for passage of LB623, and abstained on the veto-override vote;^[27] and she voted against the gas-tax increase, and to sustain the gubernatorial veto.^[28]

References

External links

• Ebke's Nebraska Legislature website
• Laura Ebke for Legislature (2014 campaign website). Archived 2014-10-31 at Wayback Machine.