{"id":25777,"date":"2019-04-05T14:03:47","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T20:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=25777"},"modified":"2019-04-05T14:03:47","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T20:03:47","slug":"legislature-gains-a-radical-pragmatist-in-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=25777","title":{"rendered":"Legislature gains a radical pragmatist in Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Sen. Megan Hunt and her daughter, Alice, at home in 2018. <\/em><\/p>\n

By the time Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt wrote the business plan for Hello Holiday\u2014a boutique that supports the work of local designers, artists and activists\u2014she already had founded or co-founded a bridal accessory business, a shared co-working space and a nonprofit with the goal of reducing harassment at Omaha nightclubs and bars.<\/p>\n

That entrepreneur\u2019s adaptability, comfort with risk and realistic expectations about how things can go wrong will be useful as she balances her priorities with those of 48 other senators, Hunt said. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t have tunnel vision in entrepreneurship, and you can\u2019t have tunnel vision in politics,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause if you\u2019re just focused on this one goal \u2026 you\u2019re going to miss all these doors that open up along the way that might lead to something better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blair native and Dana College graduate said her pragmatic approach might surprise those who know her only by her reputation as a progressive activist interested in economic justice. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely radical\u2014I\u2019ll own that,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cBut there\u2019s a different playbook you can use when you\u2019re an activist\u2014a private citizen\u2014than when you\u2019re an elected official.\u201d<\/p>\n

As her first session in the Legislature unfolds, Hunt hopes her fellow senators discover that she is approachable and amenable to compromise. Hunt said she has found that same willingness to compromise in the other senators. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have our favorite issues that we\u2019re always going to hold a torch for, but in general we all want to be productive,\u201d she said. \u201cThe body is too small for us to jam each other up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite a busy legislative schedule, Hunt finds time to spend with her 8-year-old daughter, Alice. She spends nights and weekends running her business, and Hunt said she could not do her job in the Legislature without the support network provided by her business partner and employees, many of whom came to Lincoln to see her take the oath of office.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It was] just all these young women in the front row who just looked like the most fashionable people I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d she said. \u201cI admire them so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunt also likes to read, do crossword puzzles and dine at restaurants in the Dundee and Benson neighborhoods where she lives and works. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of great restaurants in my district that I love to support,\u201d she said. \u201cEverybody knows I don\u2019t cook, so I\u2019m showing up somewhere pretty much every night.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By the time Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt wrote the business plan for Hello Holiday\u2014a boutique that supports the work of local designers, artists and activists\u2014she already had founded or co-founded a bridal accessory business, a shared co-working space and a nonprofit with the goal of reducing harassment at Omaha nightclubs and bars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[253],"class_list":["post-25777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senator-features","tag-sen-megan-hunt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/MeetHunt_blog.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25777"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25791,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25777\/revisions\/25791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}