State Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Omaha is running for the Democratic nomination for the District 2 seat on the Nebraska Public Service Commission in 2026. (Courtesy of DeBoer campaign)
OMAHA — Term-limited State Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Omaha will look to trade her legislative experience next year for a seat on Nebraska’s regulatory-focused Public Service Commission.
DeBoer announced her candidacy this week to seek the Democratic nomination for the Public Service Commission’s seat in District 2, which consists of the eastern half of Douglas County. DeBoer was first elected to the Legislature in 2018. She has served the past seven years on the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, which intersects with the PSC.
That committee and lawmakers generally often look at the state’s regulatory structure and laws around broadband, pipelines, taxi cabs, railroads, 911 and more. The laws the Legislature passes often leave the crafting of related regulations to the Public Service Commission.
“There’s a real synergy between the work that I’ve been doing the last seven years and what happens over at the PSC,” DeBoer told the Nebraska Examiner. “It seemed like a natural fit, and there’s some things I want to continue to work on.”
PSC priorities
DeBoer highlighted her work around 911 emergency communications services and efforts to defend broadband programs. This spring, she passed a bill to modernize the state’s 911 laws, passed a bill to reduce “anti-competition red tape” in the transportation industry and prevented cuts to broadband programs after discovering some supposedly unspent funding could not be repurposed.
Among DeBoer’s priorities, she said she has seen an “urgent need” for improved and modernized broadband, transportation and infrastructure.
Also under Public Service Commission jurisdiction: grain, manufactured homes and recreational vehicles, modular housing units, transmission lines and rights-of-way and water or natural gas utility services.
An Omaha native, DeBoer was raised in northwest Omaha’s Maple Village. She is a 1996 graduate of Hastings College, before going on to earn four advanced degrees: a law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law, a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, a master’s degree in theology from Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and a master’s degree in religious studies from Syracuse University.
DeBoer had also begun work on a doctorate degree on the philosophy of religion prior to becoming a state senator.
In the Legislature, DeBoer has served on the Judiciary and Rules Committees during her tenure, including her current role as vice chair of both committees. She chairs the Legislature’s Planning Committee that helps the state identify emerging trends, assets and challenges, as well as assess long-term implications of legislative decisions.
District 2 partisan makeup
Commissioner Christian Mirch, a Republican appointed to the post by Gov. Jim Pillen after a vacancy, represents District 2 on the PSC, which now consists of all Republicans. He succeeded Democratic Commissioner Crystal Rhoades in January 2023 after voters elected Rhoades clerk of the Douglas County District Court.
Mirch, a 2022 legislative candidate, is a former Omaha police officer and former clerk to now-former Nebraska Chief Justice Mike Heavican. He is serving the remaining four years of Rhoades’ term.
Mirch told the Examiner this week that he hasn’t made a decision about whether to run in 2026 but welcomed DeBoer to the race.
“I’m just focused on ensuring that we’re doing the best work that we can for our constituents,” Mirch said Wednesday.
Public Service Commissioners are elected to six-year terms with an annual salary of $75,000. The office is established in the Nebraska Constitution.
This will be the first time the Public Service Commission’s 2nd District will face voters since the latest redistricting in 2021.
The new 2nd District is the only Public Service Commission district to skew blue, according to an Examiner analysis of precinct-level voting patterns in Douglas County. As designed, its voters have heavily favored Democratic candidates for president and Congress and embraced progressive-leaning ballot measures in recent elections.
Pledge to ‘fight’ for constituents
This will be the first time DeBoer has run in an officially partisan race. Legislative races are officially nonpartisan, meaning lawmakers don’t caucus by political party. Party identity doesn’t appear next to those candidates’ names on the ballot, and the top two candidates advance from the primary election, regardless of party.
DeBoer said she wants PSC District 2 constituents, some of whom she already represents, to know she’ll work to ensure efficiency and continue to “fight for them and their needs.”
“I’ve brought bills to reduce red tape, lower fatalities on our highways and keep our transportation and road construction workers safer,” DeBoer said. “On the floor, I have stood up against cuts to broadband programs and worked towards infrastructure that moves our state forward. I’m running to continue this work on the Public Service Commission.”
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