2018 General Election Lost 58 — 38
Is This Senate Race Too Much of a Stretch?
Jane Raybould https://janeraybould.com/ is a long shot. Long shots have won before in Nebraska. Democrats have won in Nebraska.
Nebraska politics has its complexities. The unicameral state legislature voted to end the death penalty, voted to allow Dreamers (DACA undocumented residents) to get drivers’ licenses, and to depoliticize redistricting. The governor vetoed the bills. The drivers’ license bill became law after the veto was overridden. The redistricting bill was withdrawn. The death penalty prohibition would have become law except for a referendum to reinstate it.
The governor criticized individual Republican legislators for not going along with him. The response was anger, but only one legislator went through with a threat to leave the party. That legislator became a Libertarian.
Republican Deb Fischer is up for election to the US Senate. She was a long shot in 2012 — a term-limited two term state legislator who won her first election by less than a percentage point. She is not conservative enough for Steve Bannon who promises to run someone more enthusiastically conservative against her. We welcome Bannon’s efforts.
Fischer is pretty conservative. As a state legislator, she filibustered against an indoor workplace and public places smoking ban, co-sponsored a bill that required abortion providers to provide ultrasound images of the fetus an hour before a scheduled abortion, and opposed a state version of the DREAM act. As a candidate for Senate, she was supported by Club for Growth and endorsed by Sara Palin in the primary, withstood attacks that her family farm grazed cattle on federal land with subsidized leases and further attacks for over turning an adverse possession lawsuit loss through actions of the legislature. Even including the funds from Club for Growth, she was outspent in the primary by the favorite — who she defeated by 5 points. In the general election, she beat former Nebraska Senator, former New School President and New York City resident Bob Kerrey by 15 points in the general election.
In the US Senate, she advocated for the elimination of the EPA, the elimination of the Affordable Care Act, prohibition of same sex marriage, a balanced budget amendment to the US constitution, and term limits for US Senators and Representatives.
The race against Kerrey was seen as a rural v. urban contest — not a winner for Nebraska Democrats when identified city was New York. This time the Democratic candidate’s is from Lincoln, Nebraska — a city about 3% of the size of New York City. More important, it is in Nebraska.
Jane Raybould is local. She’s a businesswoman. She’s religious. She does local politics in an old fashioned and pretty conservative way.
Local: Her children are fifth generation Nebraskans. Whenever possible, she gets around by bicycle. People see her and she sees them. People know her and she knows them.
Businesswoman: Her family businesses — a chain of grocery stores and related retail stores have been operating in Nebraska for over 50 years. The family describes the business as one of the very first employee-owned companies in the state. Jane Raybould is active in the business — Vice President and Director of Buildings and Equipment, responsible for capital investments, real estate developments, construction and reconstruction, and management of the properties.
Religious: Jane Raybould is Catholic. She sees her public service as a kind of religious calling. She volunteers for charitable non-profits and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.
Politics: Formerly on the Lancaster County Commission, formerly the Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor in the 2014 election — an election the Democrats lost by 18 points. Jane Raybould is now on the Lincoln City Council. She touts success reducing property taxes by cutting waste and making government more efficient.
Family: Jane Raybould has been married for 33 years to Jose Herrero. Jose and Jane have two married, adult children and two dogs.
Political Views?
Jane Raybould has some. Her focus is on less controversial issues when possible.
She promises to seek bipartisan solutions in Washington. Divisiveness in Washington, she says, leads either to failure to solve problems or to solve them badly.
She promises a local focus. Unlike Nebraska’s two current Senators, she would serve on the agriculture committee.
She promises she will work so that the tax system ensures that the wealthiest pay their fair share (and) that we “never ever move the tax burden onto the backs of low-income Americans.” (Now the Republicans have given her a law to promise to overturn.)
She promises to work to protect Social Security and Medicare.
She promises support for the DACA youths
Jane Raybould praises the Republican Nebraska governor for traveling to Canada in symbolic opposition to Trump’s effort to eliminate NAFTA.
In 2014, notwithstanding her personal views on abortion and other matters of women’s health, she criticized anyone who would attempt to regulate a woman’s decisions against her will.
Jane Raybould https://janeraybould.com/ is about as much of a long shot to be elected US Senator in 2018 as Deb Fischer was in 2012. Is she lucky enough? Is she tough enough? Can she raise enough money to compete? Will there be a Democratic wave so strong that it reaches as far inland as Nebraska? Jane Raybould is as exemplary a figure to represent the Democratic position as you could, find in Nebraska. Help her raise some money; help her compete. She will bring her own toughness, some of her own money, and will make her own luck. Make a monthly donation. That tells her that people will be with her for the long run.
