{"id":33554,"date":"2023-02-24T17:49:03","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T23:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=33554"},"modified":"2023-02-24T17:50:56","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T23:50:56","slug":"ballard-takes-on-new-capitol-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=33554","title":{"rendered":"Ballard takes on new Capitol role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Sen. Beau Ballard and Cosmo relax at James Arthur Vineyards \u2014 the family business in Raymond, Nebraska. <\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not often that someone as young as Sen. Beau Ballard can say they\u2019ve spent half their lives in politics. The recently appointed senator began knocking doors and talking to constituents at age 12 while helping on his grandfather\u2019s 2008 campaign for the legislative seat Ballard now holds. <\/p>\n

Although that run was unsuccessful, Ballard said, it gave him \u201cintimate\u201d knowledge of Legislative District 21 and is an experience he carries with him to this day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been talking to constituents and voters in this district for a little over a decade,\u201d Ballard said. \u201cI know this district and think I can be a strong voice for the constituents of District 21.\u201d<\/p>\n

His early political experience led to an internship at the U.S. House of Representatives and with a Colorado state senator before Ballard became a legislative aide for then-Sen. Mike Hilgers. <\/p>\n

Hilgers was elected as Nebraska\u2019s Attorney General in November 2022, creating a vacancy in LD21. Ballard was appointed to the seat \u2014 an experience he calls one of the greatest honors of his life.<\/p>\n

His time working with Hilgers in particular helped Ballard to understand Capitol dynamics, bill drafting and the committee process, but he said it\u2019s still \u201cwildly different\u201d to be \u201cthe guy pressing the button.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not handling his duties as a state senator, Ballard can be found playing basketball on Saturday mornings at his old high school stomping grounds, walking his beloved cocker spaniel, Cosmo, or managing one of his businesses.<\/p>\n

Ballard owns BJB Strategies, a political consulting firm he started in 2021 that aims to help candidates run for office.<\/p>\n

He also co-owns Rabbit Hole Bakery, located in Lincoln\u2019s Historic Haymarket, where he handles business operations and finances while his business partner, Amanda, handles the baking. His favorite pastry is the macaron, he said, because they remind him of sitting in a caf\u00e9 in Paris. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t do any of the baking \u2014 you don\u2019t want that,\u201d Ballard laughed. \u201cBut, I love to travel, and I noticed that there was a need for a bakery in downtown Lincoln and so it\u2019s an opportunity to fill a void in this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Food also serves as another connection to the new senator\u2019s love for public service, one he traces back to his grandmother. She worked as a lunch lady and Ballard recalled that she \u201calways knew when somebody needed a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just wanted to serve and to be generous with her time, talents and treasures and I think that\u2019s what public servants should strive to do \u2014 not do it for themselves, but do it for their community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not often that someone as young as Sen. Beau Ballard can say they\u2019ve spent half their lives in politics. The recently appointed senator began knocking doors and talking to constituents at age 12 while helping with his grandfather\u2019s 2008 campaign for the legislative seat Ballard now holds. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33557,"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":[274],"class_list":["post-33554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senator-features","tag-sen-beau-ballard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ballard_blog.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33554","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=33554"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33598,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33554\/revisions\/33598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}