Carolyn Bosn will finish out the remainder of state Sen. Suzanne Geist’s term representing District 25 in the Legislature, after the Lincoln senator resigned in order to focus on her mayoral campaign.
Gov. Jim Pillen named Bosn to the seat on Thursday afternoon, a little more than a day after Geist announced she would step down from the seat representing southeast Lincoln and Lancaster County.
“I promise I will work hard to earn the trust of the residents of District 25 as well as my legislative colleagues,†Bosn said at a news conference. “I recognize I have big shoes to fill and I share many of (Geist’s) values.â€
Pillen said he began “reaching out to different people across†Lincoln after learning that Geist was planning to run for mayor. Geist finished second in Tuesday’s primary with nearly 33% of the vote. Incumbent Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird received close to 50% and challenger Stan Parker finished with 17%.
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“The process (to find a replacement) started a long time ago,†Pillen said.
He and Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly ultimately interviewed Bosn and another person — they didn’t specify who — in the last week. Geist announced she was resigning on Wednesday at noon; Pillen announced he would name her replacement a little more than an hour later.
On Thursday, Pillen said Bosn and her husband, Reggie, are “Nebraska all the way.†He called her a hard worker, honest, intelligent and experienced.
“She is the right who,†said Pillen, who added he has known the Columbus native for most of her life. “Carolyn has an extraordinary public-servant heart. It’s as pure as gold.â€
A graduate of Columbus High School, Bosn earned a bachelor of arts in political science from Baylor University and a law degree from Creighton University.
She has worked in county attorneys’ offices in several counties, including in Lancaster County, where she was a deputy county attorney between 2010 and 2017, where she handled cases related to juvenile law offenses, child neglect and abuse, domestic assaults and narcotics.
Kelly, who worked with Bosn as Lancaster County Attorney when he served in that office, said she was the right person to fill the vacancy in the Legislature.
“She knows how to work with people for common goals that make us a better state,†Kelly said.
Bosn said she stepped away from the county attorney’s office in 2017 to raise her four children, volunteer at their school, and help run her husband’s small business.
An adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law’s trial advocacy program, Bosn also helps coach the trial team.
After she’s sworn in next week, Bosn will drop right into the middle of what has been a contentious and often brutal legislative session.
Just before adjournment on Thursday, Speaker John Arch announced the Legislature would take up Sen. Joni Albrecht’s LB626 on Wednesday.
The Thurston senator’s bill would prohibit women from seeking an abortion if cardiac activity is detected in the fetus, something that can happen around six weeks gestation. Opponents say that takes place before many women know they are pregnant and effectively amounts to a total ban.
Bosn said that like Geist she supports the bill —“I absolutely do,†she said when asked at Thursday’s press conference — and said she believes life begins at conception.
She added she’s not fully informed of an amendment from Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston that would lower Nebraska’s existing 20-week ban to a 12-week ban but would “read up on it†in the coming days.
Riepe’s amendment was offered after the senator said he regretted joining Albrecht as a co-signer on LB626.
Bosn said her other legislative priorities for the remainder of the term that expires in January 2025 will be supporting law enforcement, improving community safety, reducing taxes and cutting spending.
“Those would be areas I feel strongly about and would like to try and improve for Nebraskans,†she said.
She also said she intends to seek a full four-year term to the seat in the 2024 elections. Pillen said he appointed Bosn because she wouldn’t simply be a “placeholder†in the Legislature.
Geist, a Republican, won election to the District 25 seat in 2016 and was reelected in 2020.
As one of the longest-serving members currently in the Legislature, Geist’s resignation will leave several high-profile vacancies, including one committee chair position that will require the attention of the Legislature in the next week and beyond.
Sen. Mike Moser of Columbus, the vice chair of the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, will serve as acting chair following Geist’s departure until Arch schedules a new election in the 49-member body.
The Legislature’s Committee on Committees will assign Bosn to vacant committee seats, likely to Geist’s seats on Transportation and Telecommunications and Judiciary, when it meets next week, which follows recent precedent. Bosn’s committee assignments will need the approval of the full body.
An open spot from Nebraska’s first district caucus on the Executive Board will also need to be filled, Chairman Sen. Tom Briese of Albion said. The first district caucus, which includes Lincoln, will choose a new member, subject to the approval of lawmakers.
And Geist’s departure also leaves open a seat on the Performance Audit Committee, which is filled by the Executive Board. Briese said interested senators should apply to fill the seat before noon on Wednesday.
Responsibility for the 12 bills introduced by Geist this year can be assumed by co-sponsors, or other senators who submit a letter indicating they will take on those duties.
Any bills unable to find a home will be indefinitely postponed.
Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh said she didn’t fault Geist “resigning to do what is best for her,†but said the timing is disruptive to the Legislature’s work over the remaining 31 days.
Cavanaugh also criticized Pillen for appointing a new senator in secret without input from voters in District 25, who she said will be represented by “a gubernatorial appointee with personal ties to the governor and personal ties to the lieutenant governor.â€
“This appointment reeks of cronyism and that is not fair to the appointee and that is not fair to the people of LD25,†she said.
Pillen said it was his responsibility to ensure the people of that district do not go unrepresented in the statehouse, and said his office followed the same process when he appointed Sen. Beau Ballard to represent northwest Lincoln and Lancaster County in December.
“No matter what decisions you make, there is going to be people that criticize that. That’s OK,†Pillen said. “Every set of circumstances is different. We followed the same process, we had to move quickly, and that’s what we did.â€
Unofficial final results roll in for Lincoln 2023 primary election
Lincoln Mayor
Candidate | Party | Votes |
---|---|---|
Suzanne Geist | Republican | 35,404 |
Leirion Gaylor Baird (I) | Democrat | 42,072 |
Lincoln City Council
District | Candidate | Party | Votes |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Taylor Wyatt | Republican | 7,652 |
1 | James Michael Bowers (I) | Democrat | 8,472 |
2 | Tom Duden | Republican | 15,106 |
2 | Bailey Feit | Democrat | 12,351 |
3 | Elina Newman | NP | 6,979 |
3 | Justin Carlson | Democrat | 10,957 |
4 | Brodey B. Weber | Democrat | 6,365 |
4 | Wayne Reinwald | Republican | 4,421 |
Lincoln Airport Authority
Candidate | Party | Votes |
---|---|---|
Chris Stokes | Republican | 36,022 |
Chris Hove | Republican | 28,891 |
Nathan Janulewicz | Democrat | 22,068 |
Vanessa Emlich | Democrat | 25,066 |
Lincoln Board of Education
District | Candidate | Party | Votes |
---|---|---|---|
2 | Piyush Srivastav | Democrat | 7,903 |
2 | Emmy Pollen | Republican | 5,251 |
4 | Annie Mumgaard (I) | Democrat | 3,395 |
4 | Alaina Brouillette | Republican | 2,299 |
6 | Bob Rauner (I) | NP | 8,016 |
6 | Richard R. Aldag IV | Republican | 4,959 |