A Freshman Senator
A senator's inside view of life in the Unicameral.
By State Sen. Jeanne Combs
Photography by George Burba
In January 2002, I was having dinner with friends and we were discussing the retirement of Sen. George Coordsen. One of our friends told my husband, Ronald, that he should consider running for the open seat. Being a man of firm convictions and colorful expressions, my husband informed our friend that the number of votes he'd be likely to garner would be as scarce as hen's teeth. Ron said that I should be the one to run.
I didn't think about it seriously at the time, but over the next few days I realized that it was still on my mind. I've been actively involved in politics since graduating from high school, but I'd never considered running for office before. I was simply too busy.
However, I realized that I was too busy
because most of my time, both at work and at home, was spent advocating for
others. It didn't take me long to understand that advocating from a position
in the Nebraska Legislature would be more effective than advocating from my
home, so I decided to run. That's how it started and now here I am, representing
the 32 nd District and loving it. 
I remember the day I was sworn in like it was yesterday. A big group of my supporters came with me to the Secretary of State's office and we all crowded in for the short ceremony. My folks were there too, and I remember thinking that I'd never been prouder in my life — proud to have been chosen by friends and neighbors to look after their interests in state government. I thought it would be a hard moment to top, but it didn't take long at all and, thankfully, it keeps occurring.
The rest of the story (and many more photos) is available in the January/February 2005 issue of Nebraska Life.
