McCoy sees Legislature as opportunity for leadership

Above: Sen. McCoy enjoys time with his wife, Shauna, and their children.

“Leadership is part and parcel of everything we do here on a daily basis.”

Sen. Beau McCoy recognizes leadership when he sees it. He has a degree in the subject and 10 years’ experience owning and running small businesses.

Term limits offer a unique opportunity for newer senators to move into leadership roles and chairing committees, the freshman senator said. Their responsibilities will be based not on their seniority in the body, but according to their personal strengths.

The Legislature is pretty fast paced, McCoy said, and the learning curve is steep. He’s still figuring out how to balance his responsibilities to his public office, his home improvement and contracting businesses, and his family. The senator said the “back and forth” from Elkhorn to Lincoln is a challenge.

“I get rolling very, very early in the morning. And I take a briefcase home most nights,” he said.

Such is the nature of the Nebraska Legislature, McCoy said, which was designed to bring everyday citizens together as part-time senators who would return to private life, having left in their wake a better state.

He marveled at how lawmakers in the days before cell phones and computers managed to keep their lives running at home while serving in the Legislature.

“Days tend to be very busy from start to finish, but thank goodness for technology,” he said.

McCoy has been involved in political campaigns since he was very young, but his campaign for a seat in the Unicameral was his first time as a candidate for public office. He said he was drawn to the opportunity of a new leadership role and the challenge of trying to make a difference for the state.

McCoy said growing up on a fourth-generation cattle ranch near Benkelman is helping him in his new role, as it provides the Omaha resident a perspective on rural issues that come before the Legislature.

McCoy and his wife, Shauna, have three children: Audrey, 5; Ryan, 3; and Nora, 1. “We have a busy house,” he said.

He and his wife are involved in the kids’ activities and are active in their church. When time allows, McCoy said, he reads nonfiction, biographies and historical fiction as a way to relax. Being so immersed in state issues, he tries to make time each day to catch up on national news.

And of course, they are big Husker fans and attend at as many games as possible on the weekends.

McCoy said his oldest daughter is just starting to get a sense of her father’s role as a state senator. All three children fully enjoyed campaigning, he said.

“Especially the parades.”