{"id":34020,"date":"2023-03-31T16:15:20","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T22:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=34020"},"modified":"2023-03-31T16:15:20","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T22:15:20","slug":"armendariz-brings-moderate-voice-to-the-capitol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=34020","title":{"rendered":"Armendariz brings moderate voice to the Capitol"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Sen. Christy Armendariz (fourth from left) with family at her son’s wedding in 2022.<\/em><\/p>\n

According to Omaha Sen. Christy Armendariz, the most important approach that a person can take to life and lawmaking is to open one\u2019s mind, talk less and listen more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a negotiator by trade and \u2026 listening to all sides of an argument \u2014 maybe from a 30,000 foot view if you can \u2014 instead of having a real emotionally vested interest in it [benefits] all people,\u201d Armendariz said.<\/p>\n

A native of northeast Omaha, Armendariz recalls hunting for garter snakes, playing in the mud and fishing with her older brother \u2014 all activities that involved her favorite place: the outdoors.<\/p>\n

Now, as a busy state senator with a full-time job, Armendariz\u2019s solace remains the outdoors \u2014 except now that looks like grabbing a pair of headphones, hopping on her lawn mower and trimming the grass around her acreage.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I like getting on my 60-inch, zero-turn lawn mower and just zoning out after so much work and my mind being so full,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s my reprieve \u2014 at least for six months of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating from Omaha Tech High, Armendariz married husband Ralph and became a mother to three children: Lauren, Alex and Gabrielle. In 2004, when Ralph unexpectedly lost his job, Armendariz said she realized that not having a college education left her unable to help the family financially when they needed her the most. She started taking business classes, a decision that would change her life in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

Armendariz earned a degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2009 at age 42. She said education not only opened up career opportunities, but also helped her find the extroverted side of her personality and reach her full potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter I went back and got my degree, my whole outlook changed from what it was before and I pretty much became unstoppable after that,\u201d Armendariz said.<\/p>\n

She stepped into enterprise sales and later accepted a position at Nebraska Methodist Health System in Omaha where she continues to negotiate health care contracts. Her job also provided her the opportunity to obtain an M.B.A. from Nebraska Methodist College in 2021.<\/p>\n

Armendariz didn\u2019t start out with a plan to run for office, but the combination of confidence gained from career success and her belief that the Legislature could benefit from more moderate voices, led her to run for the open District 18 seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a vast middle that wasn\u2019t getting heard and I just decided, \u2018I can do that,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI have a voice and I think I can have that conversation in a productive way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armendariz hopes to embody the theme of her campaign during her time at the Capitol: bringing the question, \u201cWhat would a reasonable person do?\u201d back into lawmaking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to Omaha Sen. Christy Armendariz, the most important approach that a person can take to life and lawmaking is to open one\u2019s mind, talk less and listen more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34021,"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":[275],"class_list":["post-34020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senator-features","tag-sen-christy-armendariz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Armendariz_blog.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34020","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=34020"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34030,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34020\/revisions\/34030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}