With the endorsement of the lawmaker he’s hoping to replace, the director of a Lincoln-based child care and education policy group announced his candidacy Thursday for a seat in Nebraska’s Legislature.
Jason Prokop, the head of First Five Nebraska, is running to succeed term-limited Sen. Anna Wishart, as the representative for District 27, which includes parts of west Lincoln and Lancaster County.
A registered Democrat who lives in Lincoln, Prokop announced his run Thursday with an endorsement from Wishart — along with endorsements from a laundry list of the state’s most notable Democratic politicians, including former U.S. Sens. and Govs. Ben Nelson and Bob Kerrey, former state Sen. Adam Morfeld and state Sens. Jane Raybould and Eliot Bostar.
“I’m running for the Nebraska Legislature to refocus our government on the priorities that people care about,” Prokop said in a news release, listing “pocketbook issues” that include fixing Nebraska’s tax system, providing “real property tax relief” and growing the economy.
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Prokop also said he hopes to focus on making health care more affordable and public safety issues.
The nonprofit head previously worked as a senior adviser to Nelson during his time in the Senate, among other stops in Prokop’s long career in the public policy realm.
He’s also been the chief of staff for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the external affairs manager for the Nebraska Department of Transportation.
“I’ll take my experience to the Legislature and deliver results for Lincoln and Nebraska,” he said in the news release.
A resident of south Lincoln, Prokop grew up in Crete, where he graduated from Crete High School before attending Nebraska Wesleyan University, where he studied political science and communications.
He and his wife, Jennifer, have two children.
In running to replace Wishart — who called Propkop “a trustworthy leader with experience and a strong work ethic” — he is vying for a seat in a district that was reshaped by new boundary lines in 2021 that left the district with fewer voters but more conservatives than it had when Wishart last won reelection in 2020.
In 2020, District 27 had 23,603 registered voters, including 8,180 Republicans, 9,043 Democrats and 5,934 nonpartisan voters.
Now, the district has about 2,000 fewer total voters, including 8,192 Republican voters, 7,388 Democrats and 5,774 registered nonpartisans.
Photos: Opening day of the 2023 Legislature
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