State Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar. Sept. 20, 2023. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — Southeast Nebraska will elect a new state senator this year after State Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar changed course and decided not to run for re-election.
Slama, a lawyer who earlier announced that she was running for a second term, said in a statement that she was stepping back to focus on her family, including a newborn child.
State Sen. Julie Slama and other backers of a voter ID initiative submit signatures in July 2022. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)
She is the only incumbent senator who had said she would run who did not file to do so. She called serving in the Legislature an “honor and privilege.”
“I’ve decided to begin a new chapter as an attorney in the private sector and focus on the joys and responsibilities of being a new mom,” she said in a statement Thursday, the deadline for incumbents to file for re-election.
More to come?
Slama might not be finished with her political career, however. She steps away from the race with $146,000 raised cash on hand, more than any of her legislative peers.