Six Nebraska state senators term-limited in 2020

By

Douglas Kronaizl

Twenty-five of Nebraska’s 49 state senate seats are up for election in 2020. Incumbents filed for re-election in 19 of those races. In the remaining six, incumbents are ineligible to run for re-election due to term limits.

Nebraska is one of 15 states where state legislators are subject to term limits, a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular office. In Nebraska, state senators can serve two consecutive four-year terms for a total of eight years. After that, they must wait four years—one full term—before they can run again in that district.

All six state senators prevented from running for re-election were elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. They are:

  • District 9: Sara Howard (D)
  • District 11: Ernie Chambers (I)
  • District 19: Jim Scheer (R)
  • District 29: Kate Bolz (D)
  • District 31: Rick Kolowski (D)
  • District 45: Sue Crawford (D)

This is the second time that Ernie Chambers has been term-limited. Chambers represented District 11 from 1971-2009. He was ineligible to run for re-election in 2008 after serving two four-year terms following the introduction of term limits in 2000. After waiting the requisite four years, he ran in District 11 again in 2012.

Nebraska’s state senate is officially nonpartisan, which means senators are not formally affiliated with a party. To learn more about how Ballotpedia determines partisan affiliation in Nebraska’s state senate, click here. For more information about the 2020 state senate elections in Nebraska, click here.