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Voters in parts of west Lincoln and Lancaster County will face a distinct choice this election cycle as they consider who will replace term-limited Sen. Anna Wishart in Nebraska's Legislature.

Jason Prokop, a registered Democrat and the head of a child care policy advocacy group, will square off with Dawn Liphardt, a longtime accountant who also serves as the executive director of the Nebraska Republican Party.

Prokop, a 42-year-old Crete native and graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University, with Liphardt, a 58-year-old who earned a business degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln after growing up in the Capital City and attending Lincoln High School.

Races for Nebraska's single-house Legislature — and the body itself — are formally nonpartisan. But the two candidates running to replace Wishart, a Democrat who has endorsed Prokop, offer differing views on a host of issues, including the nonpartisan nature of the job they are after.

"(Voters) are tired of partisan division, quite frankly," Prokop said. "I hear that — that's a frequent refrain that I hear."

Liphardt, meanwhile, said that voters from across the political spectrum are supporting her campaign, but said the nonpartisan nature of the Legislature leaves "voters a bit confused."

"Some want to know what party affiliation you are," she said. "Others don't care. They just say they're fine. I think that this should be brought forth and debated and discussed, and the Second House (voters) ... should decide how they want to move forward. Is this something they want to keep, or do they want to make a change?"

The two are vying to represent a district that was reshaped by redistricting in 2021. District 27 — which runs as far north as Superior Street and is bordered in the south by West Saltillo Road — had 23,603 registered voters in 2020, including 9,043 Democrats, 8,180 Republicans, and 5,934 nonpartisan voters.

Now, Republicans hold a voter registration advantage in the district, which includes more of Lancaster County and less of Lincoln than it did four years ago. District 27 now has 22,570 voters, including 8,444 Republicans, 7,536 Democrats and 5,960 registered nonpartisans.

Prokop: I will be 'solutions-oriented' senator

As he has knocked on the doors of voters across District 27, Prokop, the director of the policy advocacy organization First Five Nebraska, insists that what he hears most often from voters is not about inflation, housing or even property taxes.

"It's not even an issue that comes up the most," he said, adding: "But is — they are looking for someone who is solutions-oriented, is going to do the hard work and is going to work constructively with their colleagues in the Legislature.

"That kind of fits me to a tee," he said.

A father of two whose prior work experience in Nebraska's Department of Transportation and on former U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson's staff has been "steeped in public service and government service," Prokop hopes to be a "pragmatic" and "constructive" lawmaker who listens to his constituents.

In the Legislature, Prokop said he hopes to tackle the accessibility and affordability of child care — an issue out of the workforce, unable to find care for their children or unable to justify the cost.

Prokop said he also aims to keep taxpayer dollars in Nebraska's public schools — an issue that will go directly before voters this fall in the form of a referendum vote on a private school scholarship program — and help solve the state's mounting property tax burden.

"There is not a silver bullet that solves the problem," he said of Nebraska's rising collective property tax bill, which has increased by about $2 billion since 2013 and was the subject of a special legislative session this summer that ended without a substantial fix.

Prokop said lawmakers need to take a critical look at how the state funds local school districts — the primary recipient of property tax revenue — while maintaining local control. He also said the state needs to "look at how (property) valuations are done and have a fair valuation system."

"I can't tell you how many people I've talked to, particularly some of the older residents in LD27, and just hearing about the year-over-year increases," he said. "They're worried about whether or not they're going to be able to stay in their houses. That is a really concerning issue."

Prokop said he also hears from residents about abortion access, which voters will face an either-or-vote over this November. He said he plans to vote for an initiative that would ensure women access to the procedure up until fetal viability and against a measure that would enshrine Nebraska's 12-week abortion ban into the state constitution.

"I think the vast majority of folks I've talked to ... think that women and doctors, in consultation, are the best qualified to make those types of decisions when it comes to reproductive health, and I'm right there with them on that," he said.

Prokop, who touts endorsements from Nebraska State Education Association and the Lincoln Police Union, has raised $228,955 and spent $153,091 on his bid for office this year, according to the latest campaign finance disclosure filings.

His top donors include the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys and Democracy Nebraska, a PAC based in Lincoln that has donated to other progressive candidates.

Liphardt: 'I've been called to use my skillset'

It's been decades since Liphardt's last crack at running for office, when she was elected the president of Lincoln High's student council.

But she has spent the past 40 years serving in different ways — raising two children in Lincoln and working as an accountant and small business operator after working two jobs to put herself through business school at UNL.

Now, with her children having graduated from Lincoln Southwest, Liphardt is hoping to bring her work ethic to Nebraska's statehouse, where she is aiming to use her expertise as a tax professional to help solve the state's property tax woes.

In fact, she said, it's not just the No. 1 issue she encounters as she canvasses the 27th district.

"There are what I consider three top issues," Liphardt said. "Property taxes, property taxes and property taxes."

The longtime tax preparer said she has "five pages of ideas" on how to relieve Nebraska's collective property tax burden — but knows no set of solutions can advance in the Legislature without the support of a broad coalition of lawmakers.

One potential fix she identified, though, is a rethinking of how county assessors determine a home's value. Liphardt said she would like to see annual valuation increases capped at the rate of change in the consumer price index, which measures inflation.

"I believe I've been called to use my skillset to help with resolution of this issue," she said.

Liphardt, who sits on the board of Disrupting Traffick, a local nonprofit dedicated to fighting human trafficking, said she is interested in taking up that cause in the Legislature. She said she hasn't pinned down specific legislation that might advance the fight against trafficking, an issue that state leaders have repeatedly highlighted even as criminal prosecutions of alleged traffickers remain rare in Nebraska.

Liphardt also said she would work as a lawmaker to help individuals incarcerated in the state's prisons and jails succeed, and would aim to elevate trade schools to encourage more high school students to pursue careers as electricians or plumbers.

The 58-year-old said abortion access "does not come up at the doors" when she talks with voters. Liphardt, who adopted her children and  that would have outlawed abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, described herself as unapologetically anti-abortion.

"We need to have compassion, first and foremost," she said. "And we need to have respectful dialogue. We don't have a disagreement problem — we have a disrespect problem."

Endorsed by the Nebraska Federation of Independent Business and including Gov. Jim Pillen, Liphardt has raised $87,522 and spent $45,165 on her bid for office this year, according to the latest campaign finance disclosure filings.

Her top donors include the roofing company Stonebrook Exterior and Charles Herbster, a right-wing Falls City businessman and policy adviser to former President Donald Trump who finished second in Nebraska's gubernatorial GOP primary in 2022.