Nebraska Democrats don’t hold vote to censure Omaha senator

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - This year in the Nebraska legislature, Omaha State Sen. Mike McDonnell voted to support LB574, a bill that restricts gender-affirming care for minors.

McDonnell also voted to support LB626, the bill that further limits abortion access.

He was the only Democrat to support those issues, which is frustrating for members of his own party.

“We have a party platform that members of the party discuss and debate often, and we want to get democrats elected, but we want those democrats to align with that party platform that we discuss in depth and vote on, and Mike Mcdonnell does not uphold those values,” said Angie Philips, a board member on the Nebraska Secular Democrats, a faction of the state party.

Philips ran for U.S. Senate in 2020, falling short of the bid to Chris Janecek.

Philips and the Nebraska Secular Democrats created a resolution to censure McDonnell, and if passed, it would have effectively removed all support for him from the state Democratic party.

“We’re not talking about simple disagreements, you know, we’re talking about basic human rights,” Philips said.

Following the state meeting, Philips made the decision to leave the Democratic party, after being a member since registering to vote at 18 years old.

“We don’t want any Democratic resources going to a candidate that would openly and proudly take away women’s rights and create laws that would harm the trans community,” she said.

Philips says she feels as though the party and its leaders aren’t operating at the capacity it should be. In the future, she says she hopes to fill the gaps that she thinks the party is lacking.

University of Nebraska-Omaha Political Science professor Randy Adkins says it’s not uncommon for parties to go through disruptive phases.

“A lot of that is based on leadership and entrepreneurship. I think that cycles over time. If the party is less cohesive right now, in three years it might be more cohesive,” Adkins said.

However, Adkins does say that it’s typically more common for the majority party in the state, or nation, to see fractures among leadership.

“[It’s] almost like lanes on a highway,” Adkins said. “You might be on a two, three, or four-way highway, and there are different members of the party that are choosing different lanes. They’re all going in the same direction but they’re choosing different lanes, and because of that it seems like they’re out of step with each other, and some of them are trying to go faster while others are going slower.”

Just last year, the Nebraska GOP saw a complete shift in party leadership following a bitter primary between Pete Ricketts and Charles Herbster.

Adkins says situations, including the one with Senator McDonnell, are typically outliers.

He also adds that internal party politics do have impacts, whether the average voter is paying attention to the party organization or not.

“While we’re talking about process-related things here, the process does impact policy, and so I think we’ve seen that especially in the state legislature this year, as we did have one or two senators on the minority side who peeled off and voted with the majority and ended up breaking the filibusters,” Adkins said. “So that party cohesion is very important for political parties whether in the majority or minority to maintain the policy outcomes they want.”

Following the failure to reach quorum, the Nebraska State Democrats released a statement, which condemned McDonnell’s votes.

Philips says she nor the Nebraska Secular Democrats agreed to the released statement.

Senator Mike McDonnell released a statement following the censure resolution, which stated the following:

“I am a Christian and a lifelong member of the Roman Catholic Church. When I registered as a Democrat in 1984, I was pro-life. When I ran for Legislative District 5 in 2016, and re-election in 2020, I ran as a pro-life candidate. The proposed censure and admonishment of me by the Nebraska Democratic Party, because I am pro-life, is not going to change my informed conscience and religious beliefs!”

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