{"id":33908,"date":"2023-03-17T15:12:14","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T21:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=33908"},"modified":"2023-03-17T15:12:14","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T21:12:14","slug":"conrad-returns-to-the-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=33908","title":{"rendered":"Conrad returns to the Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Sen. Danielle Conrad with husband, Tom, along with children Caroline and Will, enjoying the arboretum on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad left the Legislature due to term limits in 2015, after serving for eight years, she recalls thinking that one should \u201cnever say never\u201d when it comes to returning to politics. But she embraced the opportunity for a shift in focus.<\/p>\n

Conrad took on the role of executive director at the ACLU of Nebraska \u2014 a move that allowed her to remain engaged in public policy and legislative issues while growing the organization to new heights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were a really small and scrappy team. We had a pretty modest budget and a four-person staff,\u201d she said. \u201cI was able to help build the organization during the eight years at the helm to a staff of about a dozen [people] and quadrupled the budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a meaningful endeavor and a labor of love, Conrad said.<\/p>\n

Having eight years away from public service also provided the opportunity not only to stay involved in key political issues facing the state through her work at the ACLU, she said, but also gave her a \u201clittle breathing room\u201d to nurture and expand her family.<\/p>\n

While daughter, Caroline, was born during Conrad\u2019s first stint in the Legislature in 2011, she and husband, Tom, welcomed their second child, Will, in 2016. Having the time to be present and engaged with her son was important \u2014 something she hopes her work at the Unicameral will allow other families the ability to do.<\/p>\n

The more flexible schedule also meant the family had time for more adventures, including fishing and embracing the outdoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the summer, we live at the swimming pool,\u201d she said, \u201cand in the winter we live at the sledding hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as much as she loved her new life, Conrad felt a calling to return to public service in 2022 to try and make a difference on a broader scale after witnessing \u201cstorm clouds\u201d on the political horizon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I could possibly do more with my unique experiences to try and make a positive difference then I just have to try,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This time around, Conrad had help from her children \u2014 who knocked on doors, checked off the walking list and put up yard signs on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n

It was a \u201creal family affair\u201d and a way to model for her kids that they should jump in when they see a problem in the community that needs to be solved or a challenge that should be taken on, Conrad said.<\/p>\n

Her experiences as a mother of two, a wife to a small business owner and supporter of her husband in caring for his aging parents have provided Conrad a deeper understanding of several key issues facing the state during her second time at the Legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my life experiences are much broader and much more diverse today than they were during my previous term of service when I came in as a single young professional, and I think those lived experiences provide a lot of significant benefits,\u201d Conrad said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad left the Legislature due to term limits in 2015, after serving for eight years, she recalls thinking that one should \u201cnever say never\u201d when it comes to returning to politics. But she embraced the opportunity for a shift in focus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33898,"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":[96],"class_list":["post-33908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senator-features","tag-sen-danielle-conrad"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Conrad3_blog.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33908","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=33908"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33910,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33908\/revisions\/33910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}