Former Nebraska State Sen. Lynne Walz kicks off 2026 Democratic bid for governor

FREMONT, Neb. — Former State Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont confirmed Wednesday she will run as a Democratic candidate for Nebraska governor in 2026 after a statewide listening tour.

Walz launched an exploratory committee for governor in November and hinted she would enter the race if her concerns for the state matched those of Nebraskans. She hosted 10 listening sessions in December, from Scottsbluff to Omaha, as well as additional private events with local community leaders.

“What I found traveling across Nebraska is that we all have more in common than what divides us,” Walz told the Nebraska Examiner. “People really are ready for a change, and I think that, together, we can make a change.”

Former State Sen. Lynne Walz steps toward run for Nebraska governor

Walz said she heard a common theme touring the state: “Government is no longer working for the people.”

Those concerns include whether state officials uphold the public’s right to petition the government for ballot measures and respect the “will of the voters” or whether officials support “average” Nebraskans, help small business owners and hear the voices of everyday people.

She said the focus should be on daily issues, not divisive national issues or Washington, D.C.-style politics of “corruption or secret deals” that benefit the few.

“Nebraska is full of possibilities, and we need a governor who will focus on creating and attracting good-paying jobs, supporting our public schools and lowering the cost of food, health care and day care,” Walz said Wednesday.

As of Jan. 1, Nebraska had 1.25 million registered voters, according to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office — 49.5% Republicans, 26% Democrats and 22.2% registered nonpartisans.

Walz said she plans to “stick to the issues” and focus on what daily concerns people want the government to focus on. She said leaders should be honest, transparent, supportive and unifying, not try to pit “neighbor against neighbor.”

She said she doesn’t care about party affiliation but cares that Nebraskans work together on “making Nebraska prosperous again.”

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, is seeking a second four-year term this year. Earlier this month, Pillen’s campaign announced he had $10 million cash on hand for his reelection bid.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Pillen’s campaign said it welcomes “liberal Democrat Lynne Walz” to the race and pointed to her family connection to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. He is her distant cousin, once removed, through her husband, Chris, a registered Republican. Walz’s campaign said Lynne Walz and her husband have met Gov. Walz once, in 2024.

Pillen’s team said it looks forward to reminding Nebraskans about her legislative record, where the campaign says Walz “fought to allow sex change surgeries on children, expanded abortion, opposed tax relief, opposed Second Amendment rights and voted for free needles to drug addicts.”

“She is at home with today’s radical national Democrat party and very out of step with hardworking Nebraskans,” the statement reads.

In 2023, Walz was seen as a swing vote on gender care and abortion. She had introduced an amendment that would have prohibited genital transition surgeries for minors but restricted access to nongenital surgeries. She was one of four registered Democrats in the officially nonpartisan Legislature to support a bill banning a second-trimester abortion method in 2020.

In November, Walz told the Examiner that “sensitive and personal” health care decisions should be left to family members and women making such decisions.

“I don’t think it’s something that the government should be interfering in,” Walz said.

Walz voted against Pillen-backed bills in 2023 to allow concealed carry without a permit and broad income tax cuts, including for the state’s top earners. She supported a bipartisan effort in 2024, which Pillen vetoed, to allow local needle exchange programs meant to reduce community spread of infectious diseases.

In 2024, Walz disagreed with Pillen’s property tax relief plan, which required expanded sales taxes, but she worked on an alternative, bipartisan plan. She had previously worked on property tax bills in 2022 with former Republican State Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha.

Brandon Bayer, a senior adviser to Walz, said in response that Pillen’s team was distracting from the “real issues that matter.”

Between 2017 and early 2025, Walz represented conservative-leaning Dodge County in the Nebraska Legislature. Her district expanded to include Valley in 2021. Her legislative colleagues elected her as chair of the Legislature’s Education Committee for 2021 and 2022.

Walz is a realtor, local church leader and mother of three. She is also a former fourth- and fifth-grade teacher. Before teaching she had been a live-in caregiver for three women with developmental disabilities and worked various jobs to make ends meet, including at 3M and her local Hinky Dinky deli.

If elected, Walz would be the first Democratic governor since 1999 and the second woman in the role; former Gov. Kay Orr, a Republican, served between 1987 and 1991.

“It’s about the people who want change,” Walz said. “Let’s bring that change together.”

Walz will run in the May 12 Democratic primary for governor. The general election is Nov. 3.