Former state Sen. Ernie Chambers is reentering the race for the Nebraska Legislature as a write-in candidate.
Chambers in July, leaving incumbent state Sen. Terrell McKinney as the lone named candidate on the ballot to represent North Omaha’s District 11.
On Tuesday, Chambers filled out paperwork at the Douglas County Election Commission office to file as a write-in candidate for the Nov. 5 general election. It will become official when he sends in forms and a $120 filing fee to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office.
Chambers, 87, and the longest-serving Nebraska legislator in history, previously had qualified for the general election by finishing second — by four votes — to McKinney in the May primary.
Chambers said Tuesday that he decided to file as a write-in candidate because people from North Omaha told him they wanted to be able to vote for him and because his presence on the ballot may encourage more people to turn out.
“I’m really convinced that if people become aware that they can write my name in, they will vote when they otherwise would not have and I’m hoping that when they come they’ll vote in other races, especially for Kamala Harris,†Chambers said.
Voters can write in anyone they want. But if candidates don’t file as write-ins, they couldn’t take office, even if they got the most votes, said Valerie Stoj, Douglas County Election Commission spokesperson.
Chambers did not publicly explain in July why he was withdrawing from the race. He wouldn’t say on Tuesday, either.
“I thought that I was through with politics, and when I withdrew, there wasn’t anything for me to tell the public, because it had nothing to do with politics at all,†Chambers told the World-Herald. “It’s a situation where I was really through with it. Then people started calling me, and they said, ‘You’ve got to run.’â€
Asked how many people had approached him, he said he couldn’t begin to count.
“I got so many calls from people, a lot of them older people, and they said that as long as they were voting, I was the one they voted for,†Chambers said. “They didn’t see anybody who served in the office like I did and whenever they needed something, I was there.â€
Chambers, who has been term-limited out of office twice, said he told supporters that he won’t spend money on the race and won’t campaign.
McKinney said Tuesday that he wasn’t sure what to say about Chambers’ reentry.
“At the end of the day, I am still running the race and doing what I can to get out the vote in North Omaha and make sure our people vote,†he said. “I kept campaigning even when he was not on the ballot and I’ll keep doing the job and doing the work.â€
McKinney said Chambers had not talked to him about either decision. McKinney said Chambers had told him at a community event earlier in the year that “it wasn’t personal, it wasn’t animus toward me or anything like that.â€
Chambers said he “was not intending to play a game†when he took his name off the ballot.
“I wanted to be a gentleman about it,†Chambers said. “I wanted to do it at a time when somebody else, if they chose to run, would have enough time to file for the office and be on the ballot.â€
He had represented Omaha in the Legislature from 1971 through 2009 and from 2013 to 2021. Voters elected McKinney in 2020.
Former state Sen. Ernie Chambers talks with Valerie Stoj, public relations coordinator for the Douglas County Election Commission, while filling out paperwork Tuesday at the commission’s office in Omaha. He is reentering the race against incumbent Sen. Terrell McKinney for North Omaha’s District 11 seat in the Nebraska Legislature.