Ben Nelson

Earl Benjamin "Ben" Nelson ( born May 17, 1941 in McCook, Red Willow County, Nebraska ) is an American politician (Democratic Party). He was between 1991 and 1999 the 38th Governor of Nebraska. From 2001 to 2013 he represented this state in the U.S. Senate.

Early years

After primary school, Nelson studied at the University of Nebraska philosophy and law. In 1970 he made ​​his law degree. After admission to the bar he practiced in his profession. At the same time he also made in the insurance sector and in politics career. Between 1975 and 1976 he was head of the State Insurance Fund in Nebraska (Nebraska Department of Insurance ). In the years 1976 and 1980 he was in Nebraska campaign manager of Democratic presidential candidates. Between 1980 and 1981 he was employed in a managerial capacity at the Central National Insurance Group. Subsequently, he was until 1985 Vice- President of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. In 1985 he became a partner in one of the most well-known law firms in Nebraska.

Governor of Nebraska

In 1990, Nelson was elected governor of Nebraska. He took up his new position on 9 January 1991 and could exercise after a successful re-election in 1994 to 7 January 1999. One of his goals was to bridge the antagonism between the countryside and the cities in Nebraska. He reformed the administrative system and made it more efficient. Instead of an expected increase in household costs of about 13 %, he managed the expenditure by 6.1%. He also reformed the penal laws in order to reduce the crime rate. During his tenure, found the first three executions in Nebraska since the reintroduction of the death penalty held in 1973. In addition, he sat down for an improvement of health care.

U.S. Senator

After the end of his tenure, Nelson competed successfully for the succession of U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey; early as 1996 he had sought a mandate in Washington, but lost to Chuck Hagel. This time he won the election against Don Stenberg, Republican Attorney General of Nebraska, nearly 50.9 percent of the vote and moved into the Congress on January 3, 2001. In 2006 he succeeded against Pete Ricketts re-election; This time he scored a clear majority with 63.9 percent of the vote. He is a member of the Agriculture Committee, the Grants Committee, the Armed Services Committee and the Rules Committee. Nelson is widely recognized as the most conservative member of the Democratic faction and has often voted with the Republicans. As the only Democrat he voted in 2010 against the nominated as Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.

In the congressional elections in 2012 Nelson did not occur again. Former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey applied for the Democrats to succeed and entered it against Deb Fischer, who surprisingly won the Republican primary. Fischer was also able to prevail in the general election in November 2012.

Ben Nelson is married and father of four children.

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