Western Nebraska couple, former K-12 educator challenging District 48 incumbent

Three political newcomers, including a husband-wife duo, are hoping to replace incumbent Brian Hardin in Legislative District 48.

The senator won his first term in 2022 against his challenger by around 500 votes. He now chairs the Nebraska Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, which oversees the Department of Health and Human Services, a state agency that consumes much of the state budget.

Hardin has supported proposed tax cuts to DHHS. He wrote in an emailed statement to Nebraska Public Media News, “Constant diligence must be provided to make sure the people who need help are getting it in a quality and timely way. That also means we have to root out waste, abuse and neglect where we find it. Every dollar that goes to a wasteful purpose is cheating someone who is in genuine need.”

The department has been a large target of cuts proposed by Gov. Jim Pillen to deal with the state’s increasing budget shortfall.

Senators are considering several options to fill the financial hole, such as eliminating sales tax exemptions, increasing certain taxes or cutting millions in state spending and program operations. Some senators have repeatedly pressed the body to roll back the 2023 tax cuts that sharply cut top income tax rates and corporate tax rates, arguing those have severely shortened the state’s tax revenue.

Hardin said he believes the Legislature needs to reconsider tax policy, but “tax policy ideas take a lot of courage and 34 votes – 33 in the Legislature and a governor who agrees.”

The senator from Gering said property taxes are a significant issue, but he does not see creating more sales and excise taxes as a way to fix high property taxes. The Legislature on Wednesday shot down a proposal to increase cigarette taxes from $0.64 to $1.64 per pack, with a core group of senators arguing against increasing taxes this session. Hardin was excused from the vote and did not weigh in on the measure.

Jessica Landers, Sam Landers and Kurt Zadina filed to challenge Hardin for his seat that covers three western Nebraska counties: Scotts Bluff, Banner and Kimball. All three have western Nebraska ties and say they’re frustrated with the lack of resources coming into the Panhandle and the changes lawmakers have made to voter-approved ballot measures.

Zadina is a retired K-12 educator who’s spent time in Nebraska school districts from Mitchell to Plattsmouth. He said several people pushed him to run, saying they didn’t feel their voices were being heard in the Legislature.

“If they vote an initiative in, then I’m going to stick with the way that this district voted,” Zadina said. “Unfortunately, over the last 10 years, we’ve passed different initiatives and referendums and the Legislature has liked to say, ‘No, we know better.’ No. The voters voted this way. You follow it.”

The Nebraska Legislature has either reworked or slow-walked legislation voters overwhelmingly approved in the last few election cycles, including minimum wage increases, casino gambling and medical marijuana legalization.

When asked about this, Hardin wrote, “This minimum wage change from 2022 comes at a time when NE is now $845M behind on the State Checkbook. Of particular interest to me is the number of health-related organizations who have come to me complaining that they cannot keep up in the HHS area for budgeting related to many of their workers because of the upward minimum wage changes.”

Two of the three counties in the 48th District, Kimball and Scotts Bluff, voted to support minimum wage increases in 2022 and medical marijuana legislation in 2024. Banner County residents narrowly rejected both issues.

Hardin acknowledged that the number of low-paying jobs in the Panhandle is a large concern, writing, “In LD48 there are LOTS of jobs. But many of those don’t pay well enough to build future equity. We MUST attract those who provide jobs. Much of my time goes into attracting and strategizing with potential companies to come into western NE – especially the ag space.”

Since voters elected to increase the minimum wage in Nebraska in 2022, several lawmakers with business ties have persistently pushed legislation that would lower and slow down wage increases for certain workers. Their efforts succeeded in February when the legislature passed a bill to lower Nebraska’s minimum wage from $15 an hour to $13.50 for young workers and to slow down future minimum wage increases for others. The measure narrowly passed with Hardin voting in support.

Legislators have also refused to pass meaningful legislation regarding medical marijuana, which voters approved in 2024. A bill brought by Sen. John Cavanaugh seeks to protect doctors who prescribe medical marijuana treatments to their patients. He said medical professionals haven’t given out prescriptions since it became legal due to fear that officials who oppose the practice may try to revoke their medical licenses. But other lawmakers have acknowledged it could face an uphill battle in the full Legislature, even though it was voted out of committee.

Several Nebraska officials, including Pillen, Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Secretary of State Bob Evnen have created obstacles for medical marijuana advocates since the proposed legislation was submitted as petitions for the ballot in 2024. And even though the Omaha Tribe in Nebraska has legalized both medical and recreational marijuana, there are concerns as to how state officials could interfere once the tribe’s dispensaries and marijuana operations are up and running.

Medical marijuana advocates have attended meetings at the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission, saying state leaders’ interference on the board has greatly silenced the will of the voters and what they passed.

Sam Landers, a retired military vet and part-time massage therapist, said that was also a big spark for him to join the race.

“The most important part of why I’m running is to listen to the constituents, because that is something that our state government’s failing to do – between subverting minimum wage increases to medical marijuana, where they are making it almost impossible to get ahold of the medicine that some people do need,” Landers said.

Both Landers and Zadina said they were disappointed with medical resources dwindling for western Nebraska. Landers said there’s a large gap in mental health care that needs to be addressed.

“I don’t think our district is being represented very well in Lincoln,” Landers said. “I see very little in resources coming out this direction when we actually need them pretty darn badly, considering how much money we make for Lincoln with all our farming, all our industry out here.”

Landers lives in Scottsbluff, where the city’s trauma center, Regional West, recently decided to downgrade its trauma level designation due to staffing requirements and financial stability. For decades, it was the only Level II trauma center west of Kearney. While the center will still be able to offer care to trauma patients, it can’t guarantee staff will be available around-the-clock for certain specialty care.

In addition, rural hospitals have voiced concerns that they will lose out on financial support from President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which stripped away about $1 trillion in federal Medicaid spending between 2025 and 2034. New legislation called the Rural Health Transformation Program will delegate $1.1 billion to Nebraska for health care funding, but rural health advocates warn the funding left out or underfunded investments that Nebraska’s rural hospitals and health policymakers believed to be important.

Jessica Landers, who’s married to Sam Landers, brings law enforcement and a legal background to the race. Landers was a police officer in Ravenna and is now a lawyer in Scottsbluff. She said more resources need to be dedicated to boosting the number of attorneys to represent growing case loads in western Nebraska.

“We have a ‘professionals’ problem out here, and it’s not just attorneys. It’s doctors. It’s dentists. It’s optometrists. It’s the medical profession,” Landers said. “I love this area, and I want to share that passion with the rest of the state.”

Along with ensuring more tax revenues flow back into western Nebraska, Landers is also focused on developing policy that can better address car crashes that kill or seriously hurt Nebraskans. The state just finished a year that saw a large increase in pedestrians killed by vehicles.

Landers would like to introduce legislation that could better address penalties toward drivers who seriously hurt people in street racing crashes. She said she’s been wanting to write “J.P.’s Law” for nearly a decade after she prosecuted a case in which a man sustained life-threatening injuries during a street racing crash.

Both Jessica and Sam Landers said they support each others’ campaigns and that they aren’t identical candidates.

“We talked about it, and then out of the blue, he said, ‘Well, why don’t we both run?’ Let the voters decide? And I thought that was a really good idea,” Jessica Landers said.

Voters will see both Landers, Zadina and Hardin on their primary ballot when they go to vote in the May 12 primary election. The two candidates with the most votes will move onto the general election that’s slated for Tuesday, Nov. 3.