Debra Lynelle Fischer (néeStrobel; born March 1, 1951)[1] is an American politician and former educator serving as the seniorUnited States senator from Nebraska, a seat she has held since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Fischer is the third woman to represent Nebraska in the U.S. Senate (after Eva Bowring and Hazel Abel) and the first to be reelected.
From 1990 to 2004, Fischer served on the Valentine Rural High School Board of Education. In 2004, she was elected to the Nebraska Legislature, representing the 43rd district for two terms. Fischer ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012 and was initially seen as a long-shot candidate, but pulled off an unexpected victory against state attorney general Jon Bruning in the Republican primary; in the general election, she defeated former Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey. In 2015, she became Nebraska's senior U.S. senator after Mike Johanns retired. Fischer opposes abortion without exception, rejects the scientific consensus on climate change, and supports repealing the Affordable Care Act. She condemned Donald Trump supporters for storming the U.S. Capitol in 2021 and voted to certify the results of the 2020 election.
Early life, education, and career
Fischer was born Debra Lynelle Strobel on March 1, 1951, in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is the daughter of Florence M. (née Bock) and Gerold Carl Strobel.[2][3] Her father was the State Engineer/Director of the Nebraska Department of Roads under Governors Kay Orr and Ben Nelson and her mother was an elementary school teacher with Lincoln Public Schools.[2]
In 1972, Strobel married Bruce Fischer, from Valentine, Nebraska; she had met him at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.[2][3] She and her husband raised three sons on the Fischer family cattle ranch south of Valentine.[2][3] In 1987, she returned to the university and completed her B.S. degree in education.[3]
School board (1990–2004)
In 1990, Fischer was elected to the Valentine Rural High School Board of Education, serving until 2004. Governor Mike Johanns appointed Fischer as a Commissioner to the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Post-Secondary Education from 2000 to 2004.[4]
Nebraska Legislature (2005–2013)
Elections
In 2004, Fischer ran for the Nebraska Legislature from the 43rd legislative district in the state's Sandhills region. In the nonpartisan primary, she came in second in a field of seven, receiving 2,226 votes (25.1%); front-runner Kevin T. Cooksley received 2,264 votes (25.5%). In the general election, she defeated Cooksley with 8,178 votes to his 8,050, a margin of 50.4%–49.6%.[5]
In 2008, she won reelection unopposed.[6] Nebraska's term-limits law precluded her running for reelection in 2012.[7]
Tenure
Fischer's district was geographically the largest in the Nebraska Legislature, comprising 12 counties and part of a 13th.[8] During her tenure in the legislature, she did a weekly radio show on seven stations covering her district, and wrote a weekly column printed in several newspapers.[9]
In 2007, Fischer helped lead a filibuster against a bill to create a statewide smoking ban for indoor workplaces and public places. Commonly known as the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act, the bill passed and was signed into law in 2008.[10]
In 2009, Fischer was one of 14 co-sponsors of L.B. 675, which required abortion providers to display ultrasound images of the fetus at least one hour before performing abortions, in a position where the abortion seeker could easily view them. A spokesman for the National Right to Life Committee said the law was stronger than those of other states, which required only that the client be asked whether she wanted to see an ultrasound image. The measure passed by a 40–5 vote, and was signed into law by Governor Dave Heineman.[11]
Fischer chaired the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee[12] and helped pass the BUILD Nebraska Act through the Unicameral. This bill prioritized a quarter cent of the state sales tax for infrastructure projects.[13]
In January 2012, after incumbent Senator Ben Nelson announced his retirement, Fischer announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate.[14] The Republican primary campaign was expected to be a battle between Attorney General Jon Bruning and State Treasurer Don Stenberg; Fischer and three less well-known candidates were also on the ballot.[15][16]
During the campaign, environmentalists and others criticized Fischer because her family's ranch near Valentine grazed cattle on federal land, leasing it for about $110,000 per year less than the market rate on private land. Opponents of federal grazing leases argued that she should relinquish her family's permit if she wanted to remain "morally consistent" with her message of less government. Fischer argued that the poor quality of federal lands and the restrictions that come with federal leases make it inappropriate to compare them to private leases.[17]
During the campaign, Fischer was outspent by Bruning, who raised $3.6 million, and Stenberg, who spent $865,000. Fischer's campaign raised only $440,000. But Bruning and Stenberg spent much of their resources attacking one another; Fischer benefited from the damage that each did to the other's reputation. She was also aided by $725,000 in TV ads the Club for Growth bought attacking Bruning. Shortly before the election, she was endorsed by Nebraska U.S. Representative Jeff Fortenberry and by 2008 vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who recorded robocalls endorsing her; and a super PAC financed by former Omaha businessman Joe Ricketts paid for $250,000 worth of TV ads promoting Fischer and opposing Bruning.[15][18]
Fischer won the primary with 40% of the vote to Bruning's 35% and Stenberg's 18%. She took a plurality of votes in 75 of Nebraska's 93 counties. Bruning won 15 counties and Schuyler businessman Pat Flynn received a plurality in his home Colfax County. Fischer and Bruning tied in Kimball and Sioux counties.[16][19]
General election
In the general election, Fischer faced Democratic nominee Bob Kerrey, a former Nebraska governor and U.S. senator who was running for the seat he had held from 1989 to 2001.
During the campaign, Kerrey ran ads accusing Fischer of unprincipled conduct in the matter of a 1995 adverse possession suit, whereby the Fischers had attempted to obtain title to 104 acres (42 ha) of land adjoining their property.[20] Fischer maintained that their intent in filing the suit was to obtain a more manageable boundary for their ranch after repeated attempts to purchase the land had failed; according to an Omaha World-Herald analysis, the Kerrey campaign's statements about Fischer's actions in the Legislature failed to mention her support for a compromise measure that would have allowed NGPC to buy the land.[21] A Fischer spokesman accused Kerrey of "reckless disregard for the truth" and "gutter politics" in the matter.[20]
Fischer defeated Kerrey, 58%–42%. She won mainly by swamping Kerrey in the state's rural areas. She won 88 of Nebraska's 93 counties. Kerrey won only Douglas, Lancaster, Saline, Thurston, and Dakota Counties.[22]
Fischer ran for reelection in 2024.[24] She defeated Arron Kowalski in the Republican primary election in May. She faced independent candidate Dan Osborn, a former union leader, in the November general election.[25] Fischer defeated Osborn by 6.7 points, after being reelected by 19 points in 2018.[26]
Fischer became the third female U.S. senator in Nebraska's history, and the first since 1954.[27][28] She was the first elected to a full term: of the earlier woman senators, Eva Bowring was appointed in 1954 to occupy the seat vacated by Dwight Griswold's death until a special election could be held to replace him later that year;[29]Hazel Abel won that special election to finish Griswold's term, but did not seek a full term.[30]
The American Conservative Union's Center for Legislative Accountability gave Fischer a lifetime rating of 81.12 as of 2021.[33] The politically liberal Americans for Democratic Action gave her a 2019 score of 0%.[34]
Abortion
Fischer supports a national abortion ban without exceptions for rape or incest.[35] She supports the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.[36]
Climate change
Fischer rejects conclusions by the international scientific community that human emissions of greenhouse gases are the primary cause of global warming in recent decades. In May 2015, a legislative aide said, "the senator acknowledges the climate is changing but believes it is due to natural cycles."[37][38]
Gun access
After the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, Fischer said any legislative proposals to restrict people on the terrorist watchlist from buying guns would not stop mass shootings. She said that preventing self-radicalization was more important than restricting gun access.[39]
In June 2020, Fischer expressed support for the Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County that "extended Civil Rights Act protections to gay, lesbian and transgender workers", saying, "It's important that we recognize that all Americans have equal rights under our Constitution. I'm fine with it."[43]
2020 presidential election
Before the January 6, 2021, United States Electoral College vote count, Fischer announced that she would vote to certify the election results.[44] She was on Capitol Hill to participate in the count when Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. During the attack, Fischer tweeted: "These rioters have no constitutional right to harm law enforcement and storm our Capitol. We are a nation of laws, not some banana republic. This must end now."[45]
On May 28, 2021, Fischer voted against creating an independent commission to investigate the 2021 United States Capitol attack.[46] In January 2024, she endorsed Trump's 2024 presidential election campaign.[47]
Fischer and her husband, Bruce, operate a family ranch, Sunny Slope Ranch, near Valentine, Nebraska. Their children own most of the stock in the family corporation, while the elder Fischers retain a minority share. In 2020, Fischer and her husband moved to Lincoln, Nebraska.[49]
Electoral history
2012 U.S. Senate primary election results, Nebraska[50]
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