Northwest Lincoln, Lancaster County District 21 legislative race features fresh political faces

Three candidates are vying for the Legislature's District 21 seat. From left, Bryan Paseka, State Sen. Beau Ballard of Lincoln (incumbent) and Seth Derner. (Photos courtesy of the candidates; Capitol photo by Rebecca Gratz for the Nebraska Examiner)

LINCOLN — Two small business founders and one union leader are vying for a northwest Lancaster County legislative seat encompassing Lincoln, Malcolm, Raymond, Davey and Waverly.

(Courtesy of Legislative Research Office)

Incumbent State Sen. Beau Ballard of Lincoln is running for the seat for the first time after his Jan. 4, 2023, appointment to succeed his former legislative boss, Speaker (and now Attorney General) Mike Hilgers. Ballard is joined by Seth Derner and Bryan Paseka, both of Lincoln, who are looking to offer change in the district’s representation. All three candidates are in their 30s or 40s.

Two of the candidates will advance from the officially nonpartisan primary election May 14 and compete for a four-year term in November.

Ballard

Beau Ballard

Age: 30

Registered party: Republican

Education: Undergraduate degree from the Colorado Christian University and master’s degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Work experience: Business owner

Political office: State senator, 2023-present (appointed)

The then 28-year-old legislative policy staffer for Hilgers got to the Legislature last year after a joint appointment from the departing and incoming Govs. Pete Ricketts and Jim Pillen.

Born and raised in Raymond, Ballard is a grandson of James Arthur Jeffers, who ran for the same seat in 2008 in a narrow race he lost to incumbent State Sen. Ken Haar. Ballard got his first taste of politics during that election as a teenager knocking on doors for his grandfather.

“I have kind of come full circle,” Ballard said.

Ballard briefly left the state for college in Denver through Colorado Christian University before returning to create a downtown Lincoln bakery with a friend who went to culinary school.

In a full term, Ballard said, property taxes, infrastructure, education and health care would remain among his top priorities.

Derner

Seth Derner

Age: 49

Registered party: Democrat

Education: College degree in agricultural science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Work experience: Teacher, business co-founder, treasurer of the Nebraska Future Farmers of America Foundation

Political office: None

Derner, who grew up on a ranch near Bartlett, in Wheeler County, worked as an ag and shop teacher in Elgin Public Schools for four years. He later left the state before returning to co-found Vivayic, a company that designs training solutions for other companies or universities.

After the 2023 legislative session, Derner said, he looked for a candidate to support in the legislative race and ultimately decided to jump in himself, finding similar frustrations from voters that Nebraska politics feels different.

“Politics was not on my radar until, honestly, last session,” Derner said.

Derner said that if elected, he would work to change the culture of the Legislature in lawmaking and highlight the body’s historically nonpartisan nature by listening to Nebraskans.

He has helped coordinate a local farmers market for the past decade and helped start a church in the community: Neighbors United Methodist Church.

Paseka

Bryan Paseka

Age: 39

Registered party: Democrat

Education: College degree in criminology and criminal justice jointly from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Nebraska at Omaha

Work experience: Nebraska Department of Corrections, railroad worker and union officer

Political office: None

Paseka grew up in Fremont before coming to Lincoln where he earned a joint degree in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Nebraska’s Omaha and Lincoln campuses.

He got his start working in Omaha’s prison system for five to six years before beginning a career with a local railroad, where he’s been an avid union member and elected union leader.

Paseka said his local union chair recommended him for a union officer position because of his heartfelt and caring nature and his work to ensure fairness. 

“I kind of just see this as a natural extension of that, kind of a next step,” Paseka said.

In District 21, he added, there’s an “appetite” for something different, including more progressive politics, such as women’s rights (his main issue), LGBTQ rights and public school funding.

Paseka said he’s “not naive to the fact” that he is underfunded compared to his opponents, who have each raised six figures, while he hasn’t yet raised enough funds to require a campaign finance disclosure filing — that threshold is $5,000.

He said the fundraising imbalance won’t stop him from “at least trying to push the conversation where I believe it should be.”

Property taxes and spending

One of the top issues for the candidates among other statewide races is property taxes, which Ballard said is because the state has a problem of spending “beyond our means.”

His answer is to partner better with local subdivisions and school districts so that when property valuations go up, there is a mechanism to bring levies down.

“Kind of like a teeter totter effect because if we don’t reduce our spending, it doesn’t matter if we increase sales taxes or get rid of exemptions,” Ballard said. “It’s never going to be the silver bullet if we don’t address our spending problem.”

He said the state must fulfill its obligations, such as to public education, infrastructure and caring for the state’s most vulnerable residents, which will require cutting “the fat around the edges.” This includes unnecessary positions or administrative work and to “just use our dollars wisely,” he said.

Paseka expressed caution with lowering such taxes if lawmakers do not understand that lowering such taxes would reduce the funds available for other priorities, such as schools or social safety nets that are “already blinking red” in funding.

He pointed to alternative revenue streams, which could include decades of tax exemptions, legal avenues for gambling or marijuana and making the tax code more progressive.

“If Nebraska policies have made you into this you should feel ready to give back in some capacity,” Paseka said.

Public school funding is his No. 1 priority, which he said could be threatened under the new “voucher system” that provides state funds for students to attend private K-12 schools.

Derner said that while he’s no expert on taxes, a rule he has is when an issue is important to many, it must be addressed in a meaningful way.

Relief should be targeted to homeowners and Nebraska residents, he said, but it has to go beyond a tax shift, which “doesn’t make sense to a lot of people.”

Derner said he also wants the state to pick up more of the tab to alleviate a reliance on property taxes and provide skills for high paying jobs, such as through career and technical education.

“When we have more people with better jobs, it’s like the rising tide lifts all boats,” Derner said.

K-12 schools and higher education

Derner said a top concern among voters is high quality teachers, so recruitment and retention must be key as the country faces generational challenges of retirements and fewer students entering K-12 schools.

“It’s not a time right now where young people are [perceiving] teaching as this noble, well-respected career — it’s kind of been dragged into the public square,” Derner said.

A major challenge in both K-12 and higher education is preparing students for a changing world and giving them the tools they need to be successful, he added, so he’s proud of the Legislature’s recent investments in reading and computer science instruction.

Ballard celebrated historic investments in public education to “put our money where our mouth is” and said recruitment and retention of teachers is critical, as is providing more care for students with reading or learning disabilities.

Paseka pointed to a need for more funding to get more teachers, which could help in student-to-teacher ratios so a child does not “slip through the cracks.”

He said trade schools could also teach students early that “it’s good to work with your hands.”

“If I was smart, I probably would have gone right to a trade school instead of college because that’s where I ended up,” Paseka said.

Economic development, workforce and housing

Paseka said the state should invest more in affordable and attainable housing and lawmakers should pass policies to change how outside corporations can come in, buy property and flip houses for profit.

“I understand that walks into a bit of a tricky area where you might be putting your thumb on the scale of the free market, but, boy, I think that’s definitely something that needs looked at,” Paseka said.

Derner said it must be a “toolbox approach,” such as supporting the right tools that will be effective and give the biggest “bang for our buck.” This includes supporting early stage entrepreneurs and business expansion.

“There’s no silver bullet solution to economic development, but there are some tools that are more useful than other tools,” Derner said.

Ballard said he wants the governor to cut back on unnecessary red tape that won’t compromise safety while investing in more middle-income and rural workforce housing.

As a firm believer that once people get to Nebraska, they will stay, Ballard said, he passed a bill to incentivize out-of-state workers to move to the state. He said downtown development and recreational opportunities — such as the lake between Lincoln and Omaha, which he said is “kind of touching the third rail” on hot button issues — could also draw people in.

“We just need to market ourselves better, say that Nebraska is the best place to live and work or raise a family,” Ballard said. “But they have to come for the jobs.”

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