BELLEVUE, Neb. — The chair of the legislative Committee on Government, Military and Veterans Affairs won’t ask again for the top post in 2027, but two Air Force veterans have already tossed their names into the ring to succeed her.
State Sen. Rita Sanders, a former eight-year mayor of Bellevue who previously worked for former U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, has served on the Government Committee for six years, including two years as vice chair and two more as chair.
But come 2027, she is seeking a different committee role before she is term-limited after 2028.
In an Oct. 28 letter endorsing her vice chair for the top spot, Sanders said she wants to work on policy priorities “which I have not been able to give adequate attention while serving as chair.”
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Those priorities, she told the Nebraska Examiner, are on the Natural Resources Committee, including water, energy and emerging attention on artificial intelligence.
She said she also believes in making room for “amazing upcoming leaders.”
“I only have two years left. I don’t have to be in any position of power; I’m not looking at running for any office at all,” Sanders said Tuesday. “So let me just step a little bit aside.”
The Government Committee will be front and center concerning election laws and rules about citizen-led petitions, especially with a new secretary of state having been elected this fall.
Leadership votes are selected by secret ballot on the first day of each legislative session.
‘Continuity from the first day’
So far, two U.S. Air Force veterans have announced their intentions to succeed Sanders — state Sens. Bob Andersen of north-central Sarpy County and Victor Rountree of Bellevue. More senators could announce their candidacies before the legislative session begins Jan. 6.
The Legislature in 2027 will consist of 30 Republicans, 18 Democrats and one registered nonpartisan. At least 25 votes are needed to elect a chair among the 49 lawmakers. Sanders and Andersen are Republicans. Rountree is a Democrat.
Andersen, Sanders’ vice chair, served in the Air Force for 21 years and, for the past 23 years, has been a defense contractor. In an Oct. 29 letter announcing his run for the chairship, he said he was continually put in positions of authority in active duty that required strong leadership.
He said he worked alongside Sanders on the “full breadth” of the committee’s purview, from elections and operations of government to issues facing service members, families and veterans. Andersen added that Sanders served with “distinction” and that he was “grateful for her confidence and for the example of fair, steady leadership she has set.”
“I understand the committee’s procedures, its workload and the stakeholders who come before it,” Andersen wrote. “I am prepared to provide continuity from the first day of session.”
As a defense contractor, Andersen said, he was a senior adviser to leadership in the 55th Wing and 55th Operations Group at Offutt Air Force Base. He also worked on allied, joint and international military programs while working with virtually all national-level agencies.
“As a veteran, I know firsthand the programs and services available to Nebraska’s veterans, and where those programs can be strengthened,” Andersen said.
Andersen said he’s worked extensively with the Nebraska National Guard and serves as a member of the Offutt Advisory Council. He said this service has allowed him to strengthen the Legislature’s relationship with the U.S. Air Force and Nebraska Air National Guard, partnerships he said are “critically important” to Nebraska’s economy, communities and national defense.
Getting Nebraska ‘mission ready’
Rountree, meanwhile, joined the U.S. Air Force in 1980 and retired in 2010. He said in his 30 years of active duty, he served in 12 locations, including the United Kingdom; Germany; Washington, D.C.; South Korea; Bahrain; and, finally, Nebraska. He deployed to the Middle East after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
“As chair I would work to protect our elections, support our veterans and ensure that Nebraska is mission ready,” Rountree wrote in his Tuesday letter.
Rountree noted that in his first two years as a state senator, he’s led legislation to cut taxes for disabled veterans and support military families statewide, legislation he said “works for all Nebraskans.”
During his military career, Rountree was promoted to the highest enlisted rank, chief master sergeant, and served as superintendent of the 55th Comptroller Squadron at Offutt. He said he supported the functions of Air Combat Command’s largest wing with over 14,500 personnel and managed the wing’s $176 million budget, with total accounting of $1.3 billion in tenant unit funds.
Through the Air Force, Rountree said, he earned a degree in accounting, completed further training in financial management and “worked to ensure that every dollar was accounted for.”
After retiring in 2010, Rountree said, he entered the federal workforce as chief of financial management and analysis for the 55th Wing at Offutt. In 2017, he became an educator for Bellevue Public Schools, and in 2019, he joined FEMA to assist after historic state floods.
“I worked with devastated areas across the state, helping them assess damage and rebuild stronger and more resilient communities,” Rountree wrote. “I coordinated federal, state and local funds to ensure projects were able to progress while abiding by federal regulations.”
Leadership vision
If chosen as chair, Andersen said he would run a committee that is “fair, prepared, open to every member and every Nebraskan who comes before it.”
“I will give each bill a thorough and respectful hearing, collaborate with senators across the body regardless of where they stand on a given issue and work to keep Nebraska a state where those who serve, and those who have served, are proud to live,” Andersen wrote.
Rountree said his service on the Judiciary, General Affairs and Urban Affairs committees, in addition to his “distinguished” military background, have prepared him for a chairship.
“I look forward to discussing with you how we can work as a body to support the needs of our veterans and what we can do to strengthen our election integrity,” Rountree wrote. “The government must be responsive to the people of Nebraska, and as your chair, I will make sure that our taxpayers are at the forefront of every decision made.”
Andersen and Rountree can both run for one more four-year term in 2028.
A new secretary of state
Whoever is selected as Government Committee chair — Andersen, Rountree or someone else who hasn’t come forward yet — will also be working with a new secretary of state who has called for changes to how Nebraska runs its elections.
Secretary of State-elect Scott Petersen has called for changes to mail-in ballots, for instance, to boost what he said are concerns from Nebraska voters on election integrity.
On election night at a watch party for Gov. Jim Pillen, Petersen told the Nebraska Examiner he’s looking forward to “doing some great things for Nebraska” but acknowledged a shifting Legislature more toward the middle as three Republican-held seats moved to the left.
“I was hoping for a better Legislature, so we lost some legislative seats,” Petersen said. “We’re gonna have to regroup there, but you know what? We’ll figure it out. Looking forward to working with the governor. He’s a good man. He loves Nebraska, and I’m looking forward to being part of the team.”
Choosing committee assignments
Whether Sanders might land a different leadership role in 2027 remains to be seen. She said some have approached her about chairing the Legislature’s Committee on Committees, an internal 13-person group that sets the new slate of committee assignments at the beginning of each two-year Legislature, or when there’s a vacancy, for all 49 lawmakers.
“Every day I’m going to just have to contemplate and take consideration of what’s going on,” Sanders said of the next two months.
Committee assignments are made by three legislative “caucuses,” the members of which roughly comprise the legislative districts within Nebraska’s three congressional districts.
Of the three caucuses, membership is as follows:
- 1st Congressional District — 10 Republicans, six Democrats.
- 2nd Congressional District — five Republicans, 11 Democrats, one registered nonpartisan.
- 3rd Congressional District — 15 Republicans, one Democrat.
Sarpy County is in both the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts, with Andersen part of the 2nd District caucus while Sanders and Rountree are part of the 1st District caucus.
The membership of the Government Committee was central to partisan disagreements on the Committee on Committees two years ago. During deliberations, the Government Committee moved from an initial 3-5 Republican-minority split to a 5-3 Republican-majority makeup.
Sanders, who serves on the Committee on Committees, pushed for Andersen to join her. She had broken from conservatives to support a 4-4 split that got her Andersen but no majority.
In the end, the 1st Congressional District caucus representatives gave up two seats, previously held by state Sens. Danielle Conrad and Jane Raybould, who are both Democrats from Lincoln. The move allowed Andersen to join two Democrats and one nonpartisan progressive from the 2nd Congressional District on the committee. Both Conrad and Raybould were moved to the Natural Resources Committee.
Raybould, who didn’t seek reelection this year, had protested the move in song.
The next ‘industrial revolution’
While serving as mayor, Sanders said, she learned everything about the local levee and had found funding for the city near the river basin. When she first joined the Legislature in 2021, she wanted to be on Natural Resources, but her colleagues placed her on the Government Committee. Offutt Air Force Base is located within her Legislative District 45 in Sarpy County.
Sanders said Nebraska’s system of natural resources districts and levees is “near and dear” to her heart. As some view AI as an “industrial revolution,” she wants to be where the action is.
“I’m not sure we can have the serious chatter about it unless we have our infrastructure of our energy in place,” Sanders said.
In 2023, Sanders joined legislative efforts to examine the feasibility of small modular nuclear reactors, which the Nebraska Public Power District took up and has narrowed to four communities as of May: Beatrice, Brownville, Norfolk and Sutherland. Sanders was part of a trio of lawmakers who went to France to review nuclear and renewable energy capabilities, too.
State Sen. Barry DeKay of Niobrara, a former board chair for NPPD, joined Sanders in the trip to France. He will seek to chair Natural Resources in 2027. The current chair, state Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth, is term-limited. DeKay chairs the Agriculture Committee.
Said Sanders: “That would be an exciting place to be and really try and put everything I’ve learned over these years on that committee, if I can do that.”
Sanders joked that her leaving the Government Committee would be fine and, if Andersen wins, it “gives him room to breathe without me in the shadow there.”
Sanders said her leaving the Government Committee was thought through and wasn’t because of health issues. She had scheduled open-heart surgery last week due to a failing aortic valve but returned home this week for recovery, which she said is going well.
She said her colleagues have taken into consideration multiple health challenges of lawmakers over the years and have always been “exceptional” about giving time to work when needed or when to plug back in.
“I’ve not felt like anyone’s tried to railroad me or leave me out of any side discussions or upcoming discussions,” Sanders said.
Sanders said challenges between lawmakers are often highlighted in media reports, but “there’s also some greatness in each one of the legislators down there that we will work together.”
The next legislative session begins Jan. 6.
This story is provided by States Newsroom, a nonprofit state news network and Blox Digital content partner.
