ELECTION 2026: Riepe, Knorr make the case to voters in NE legislative district

OMAHA, Neb. — The race to represent Nebraska's 12th Legislative District is entering its final days, with incumbent State Sen. Merv Riepe and challenger Christy Knorr making their cases to voters across Central Omaha, Ralston and West Omaha.

Riepe, a retired hospital executive, is running for a second consecutive term and his third overall after first winning a seat in the Legislature in 2014.

He faces Knorr, a registered nurse who said her own life experiences inspired her to run.

"At one time I was a welfare mom who lived in housing," Knorr said. "I had a caseworker who believed in me and gave me a chance and helped me get resources, and here we are now. I'm a practicing hospice nurse."

"Does your background play any role in you deciding to run?" 3 News Now's Jeremy Fredricks asked.

"As a nurse, I want people to be taken care of," she said.

Riepe is pointing to his experience in Lincoln, where he's been a swing vote on issues including abortion access and efforts to change Nebraska's presidential electoral system.

"I vote for what I think is right for the district and what I think makes sense," Riepe said.

That includes his opposition to changing Nebraska to a winner-take-all system for awarding presidential electoral votes.

"That includes winner-take-all," Riepe said. "And I stuck with that, and quite frankly, in the campaign, we've promoted that."

Knorr also supports keeping Nebraska's current system.

"Of course I'm going to vote to keep the blue dot," Knorr said. "It's important."

Knorr said she's focused on affordability and medical cannabis.

"Medical cannabis is really important to me," Knorr said. "We have not followed the will of the voter at all."

Riepe points to economic development and balancing the state budget as priorities.

"We have to balance the budget," Riepe said.

"But how do you get there if we're spending more money than we have?" Fredricks asked.

"Well, you have to find areas where you can cut, reduce, or, um, it's that simple," Riepe said. "You can't spend money you don't have."

Both Riepe and Knorr said they plan to continue speaking with voters through Election Day.

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