Laura Ebke


Laura Ebke is a politician from the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. A resident of the city of Crete in the southeastern part of the state, she served a single term in the Nebraska Legislature, from 2015 to 2019. Originally a member of the Republican Party who described herself as "a conservative libertarian", Ebke changed her registration to the Libertarian Party in 2016; she was thought to be the first Libertarian member of the officially nonpartisan legislature. In July, 2020, Ebke was elected to member-at-large of the Libertarian National Committee.

Early life and career

Ebke was born Laura Schwab on June 2, 1962, in Manhattan, Kansas. She was raised in Fairbury, Nebraska, where her family had a history of political involvement. One of her grandfathers served as the city's mayor; the other served on the city council. Her mother sat on the Fairbury School Board. Her father, Ron Schwab, was also the city's mayor and, in 2006, ran unsuccessfully against Russ Karpisek for the 32nd District seat in the Nebraska Legislature.
Ebke graduated from Fairbury High School in 1980. While in college, she married Russ Ebke. Russ attended medical school in Omaha; then, after his residency, had a five-year commitment to the U.S. Navy, during which the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and then to North Carolina. During their stay in Tennessee, Ebke completed her bachelor's degree, then earned a Master of Arts degree in political science at the University of Memphis. Russ completed his stint in the Navy in 1995, and the family moved to Crete. In 2005, Ebke received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She subsequently taught part-time at several colleges, among them Southeast Community College.
In 2002, Ebke won election to the Crete School Board, on which she served for 12 years. In 2008, she became the chair of the newly chartered Nebraska chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus, an organization promoting libertarian positions within the Republican Party.

2014 election

Crete and Fairbury both lay within the 32nd Legislative District, encompassing Fillmore, Jefferson, Saline, Thayer, and the southwestern corner of Lancaster counties. In 2014, incumbent legislator Russ Karpisek, a Democrat who had defeated Ebke's father in 2006 and then run unopposed in 2010, was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term under Nebraska's term-limits law. In June 2013, Ebke announced that she would run for the seat.
In January 2014, Crete veterinarian Phil Hardenburger announced his candidacy. Hardenburger, a registered Democrat who described himself as "more of a centrist", stated that high property taxes were among his chief concerns; he favored relieving them by revenue-increasing adjustments in the state's corporate tax and by increasing state aid to cities and counties. Ebke, too, expressed concern about property taxes, but favored keeping them in check via a lid on local tax levies. Hardenburger supported the use of human embryonic stem cells in research, and abortion in cases of rape, incest, or danger to maternal health; Ebke described herself as "unequivocally... pro-life". Hardenburger decried the Legislature's decision not to expand Medicaid under the provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act; Ebke declared herself opposed to the expansion of Medicaid.
In the nonpartisan primary election, Ebke received 4401 votes, or 55% of the total; Hardenburger, 3576 votes, or 45%. As the only two candidates, both moved on to the general election. Hardenburger attributed his showing in the primary to a low turnout of Democratic voters. The Democratic party hoped for a higher turnout of sympathetic voters in the general election, when a measure to increase the state's minimum wage was on the ballot; in the District 32 race, Hardenburger favored an increase while Ebke opposed it.
Over the entire course of the campaign, Ebke raised $76,000 and spent $74,000. Major contributions included $6300 from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry PAC, $5000 from the Republican State Leadership Committee, and $2500 from the Nebraska Realtors PAC. Hardenburger raised over $76,000 and spent all but $450 of it. Major contributions to his campaign included $25,000 from the Nebraska State Education Association PAC, $4000 from the Lincoln chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters, $3500 from the Associated General Contractors Highway Improvement PAC, $3000 from the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys PAC, and $3000 from the United Transportation Union PAC. The Nebraska Bankers State PAC contributed $4000 to Ebke's campaign and $2200 to Hardenburger's.
In the general election, Ebke narrowly defeated Hardenburger, with 6102 votes, or 50.7% of the total, to Hardenburger's 5941 votes, or 49.3%. Hardenburger won in Saline County, where Crete is located; but Ebke won in the other four counties that lay wholly or partly in the district.

Legislative tenure

2015 session

In the 2015 session of the Legislature, Ebke was named to the Business and Labor Committee, the Judiciary Committee, and the Urban Affairs Committee.
Among the "most significant" actions taken by the Legislature in its 2015 session were three bills that passed over vetoes by governor Pete Ricketts. LB268 repealed the state's death penalty; LB623 reversed the state's previous policy of denying driver's licenses to people who were living illegally in the United States after being brought to the country as children, and who had been granted exemption from deportation under the Barack Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program; and LB610 increased the tax on gasoline to pay for repairs to roads and bridges. Ebke voted in favor of the death-penalty repeal, and to override Ricketts's veto of the measure; she voted for passage of LB623, and abstained on the veto-override vote; and she voted against the gas-tax increase, and to sustain the gubernatorial veto.

2016 session

In its 2016 session, the Nebraska legislature passed three bills that Ricketts then vetoed. LB580 would have created an independent commission of citizens to draw new district maps following censuses; supporters described it as an attempt to de-politicize the redistricting process, while Ricketts maintained that the bill delegated the legislature's constitutional duty of redistricting to "an unelected and unaccountable board". Ebke voted against the bill in its 29–15 passage. Sponsor John Murante opted not to seek an override of the governor's veto.
A second vetoed bill, LB935, would have changed state audit procedures. The bill passed by a margin of 37–8, with 4 present and not voting; Ebke was among those voting in favor. The bill was withdrawn without an attempt to override the veto; the state auditor agreed to work with the governor on a new version for the next year's session.
A third bill passed over Ricketts's veto. LB947 made DACA beneficiaries eligible for commercial and professional licenses in Nebraska. The bill passed the Legislature on a vote of 33–11–5; the veto override passed 31–13–5. Ebke voted for the bill, and for the override of Ricketts's veto.
The legislature failed to pass LB10, greatly desired by the Republican Party, which would have restored Nebraska to a winner-take-all scheme of allocating its electoral votes in U.S. presidential elections, rather than continuing its practice of awarding the electoral vote for each congressional district to the candidate who received the most votes in that district. Supporters were unable to break a filibuster; in the 32–17 cloture motion, Ebke was among those who voted for the bill.

Party change

Following the 2016 legislative session, Ricketts addressed a state Republican convention, criticizing several Republican state legislators for failing to support his position on various issues, and calling for the election of more "platform Republicans" to the legislature. Ebke was one of thirteen legislators who signed a letter criticizing Ricketts for conduct that they described as placing partisanship ahead of principle. Shortly thereafter, Ebke changed her registration from the Republican to the Libertarian Party. She was thought to be the first Libertarian member of the Nebraska legislature.

2018 election

In 2017, Al Riskowski, a registered Republican and the former director of the Nebraska Family Alliance, announced that he had secured Ricketts's endorsement in a run for the 32nd District seat in 2018. The Lincoln Journal Star describes the NFA as a "conservative policy group"; the organization's website states that it "exists to advance Family, Freedom and Life by influencing policy, mobilizing prayer and empowering people".
In the primary election, Riskowski came in third with 23 percent of the vote, Ebke won 33 percent, and farmer Tom Brandt won 44 percent. Brandt and Ebke advanced to the general election.
Ebke lost her bid for re-election to Brandt, receiving 43.68% of the votes to Brandt's 56.32%, in the general election held on November 6, 2018.