Sen. Matt Williams, who lives in Gothenburg in central Nebraska, now is the state senator in a legislative district in Sarpy County that edges the Iowa border half a state away.
Legislative District 36 was moved from rural Nebraska to the metro area during September's special session of the Legislature to accommodate redistricting demands imposed by the state's shifting population.
But Williams, a Gothenburg banker who has one more year to serve in the Legislature before he's term-limited at the end of 2022, didn't move with his district.
"Technically, yes, I now represent Legislative District 36 in Sarpy County," Williams said during a telephone interview. Â
"But, practically, I still represent the same people in old Legislative District 36," he said. "I feel like I represent the people who elected me."
There have been no trips to Sarpy County to introduce himself, Williams said, although he may accept some invitations to events in the fast-growing metropolitan Omaha county during the coming year.
There will be no change in his voting pattern, Williams said. He's still the senator from Gothenburg and he's still who he was.
"I think there's a misconception that senators would change their mode of operation after being redistricted," Williams said. "But they really don't.
"It was a really hard special session," he said. "I did the things I thought were necessary to achieve cooperation and agreement and compromise even if it was not pleasant for me."
When his "dear friend," Sen. Mark Kolterman of Seward, "made it very clear that he was not going to accept the original redistricting proposal" that would have moved his District 24 to Sarpy County, Williams went to Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, the redistricting committee chairwoman, to offer an alternative plan.
Move District 36 to Sarpy County, but protect his voters by not splitting either Dawson or Custer counties in the subsequent redistricting plan; to do so would diminish their voting strength.
The end result was that Dawson County — Williams' home county — contains roughly 65% of the vote in newly revised District 44 and Custer holds about 26% in the sprawling 43rd District.Â
"I wanted the people I represent to have the opportunity to elect someone who would represent them well," Williams said.
Listen now and subscribe: | | | |
And now Williams prepares for his final legislative session with a ton of big decisions awaiting the 49 senators.
Allocation of a billion dollars in federal pandemic relief funding, major tax and school funding reform proposals, and funding and development of rural workforce housing are among them.Â
"One of my goals will be to add some stability to the (workforce housing) funding that already is underway," he said, in an effort to help secure rural Nebraska's economic future.
Williams, who is on the board of directors of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Innovation Campus Development Corp., said he will seek $25 million in state funding to help secure a proposed new U.S. Department of Agriculture research center on the campus during the coming legislative session.
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Lincoln has secured initial federal funding for planning and design of the new USDA center that, Williams said, may ultimately be a $250 million project housed in two new buildings.
"It's a big deal," he said, and state funding support could "cement the deal.
"That's the icing on the cake," he said.
Williams, a graduate of UNL and its law college, will be a candidate for a seat on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents in 2022 and has been traveling through the 45-county district and raising funding for his campaign.