{"id":38097,"date":"2025-03-21T11:01:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T17:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=38097"},"modified":"2025-03-21T11:01:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T17:01:53","slug":"mckeon-brings-light-touch-to-the-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=38097","title":{"rendered":"McKeon brings light touch to the Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Helping Nebraskans succeed in the ag industry is one thing that is no joking matter for Sen. Dan McKeon.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you hear a distinctive belly laugh in the Capitol\u2019s legislative chamber, the hallways or the cafeteria, odds are good that Amherst Sen. Dan McKeon is nearby.<\/p>\n

The freshman lawmaker said he learned long ago that comedy is a good way to both defuse tense situations and build relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith my humor, I\u2019m trying my best to connect with each and every one of my fellow senators,\u201d McKeon said, adding that the quest sometimes requires props.<\/p>\n

He jokingly told his two seatmates in the Legislative chamber, who spend more time on the microphone than he does, that he would bring in a roll of duct tape to leave on their shared desk space.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told them that I\u2019ll just slide it their way if either starts talking too much,\u201d he laughed. \u201cThey\u2019ll know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

That humorous approach also helped when wooing Traci, his wife of almost 30 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told her when we were dating that I couldn\u2019t promise her a lot of things, but I could promise that her life would never be boring,\u201d McKeon said.<\/p>\n

True to his word, the District 41 senator has been a farmer, crop consultant, National Guard member, wrestling coach and referee during their long marriage \u2014 along with being a member of several agricultural organizations and leadership groups.<\/p>\n

McKeon\u2019s roots in agriculture run deep, back to the moment he was born. He was delivered by his father on the family\u2019s Sherman County farm, just outside of Sweetwater. McKeon attended school in Ravenna, where he was a standout in wrestling and football and eventually earned the honor of being an Eagle Scout.<\/p>\n

Wanting to pass on those values and skills, McKeon led a scouting organization for several years. He also coached junior high wrestling for 15 years and was a wrestling official for 33. His two sons also earned the rank of Eagle Scout.<\/p>\n

His heart remained in agriculture, however, and McKeon has found ways to stay involved in the industry no matter what else he has going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always had dirt on my boots,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been in ag my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing he didn\u2019t envision was being a state senator, until the opportunity found him.<\/p>\n

McKeon first vied for the seat he currently holds when former Sen. Tom Briese was selected as the new state treasurer and the governor was looking for an appointee to fill the rest of Briese\u2019s term.<\/p>\n

McKeon spoke with several people before finally tossing his hat in the ring on the last day that applications were being accepted.<\/p>\n

He ultimately wasn\u2019t appointed to the seat, but decided to run when it became open again a year later. This time, he was less hesitant, and the way everything came together seemed like providence to McKeon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just found myself asking, \u2018If not me, who?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you hear a distinctive belly laugh in the Capitol\u2019s legislative chamber, the hallways or the cafeteria, odds are good that Amherst Sen. Dan McKeon is nearby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38099,"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":[310],"class_list":["post-38097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senator-features","tag-sen-dan-mckeon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/McKeon1_blog.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38097","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=38097"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38196,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38097\/revisions\/38196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}