{"id":38782,"date":"2025-05-09T16:11:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T22:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=38782"},"modified":"2025-05-09T16:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T22:13:11","slug":"strommen-ready-to-dig-into-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=38782","title":{"rendered":"Strommen ready to dig into details"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Sen. Paul Strommen enjoying the Alaskan outdoors on a fishing trip.<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the first things you learn in conversation with Sen. Paul Strommen is that he\u2019s a detail guy. Whether digging into the state budget as a new member of the Appropriations Committee or finding delight in the architectural wonder of his new workplace, the freshman senator doesn\u2019t want to miss a thing.<\/p>\n

For example, Strommen said colleagues sometimes ask if he\u2019d like to take the \u201cshort cut\u201d to the legislative chamber from his office on the north side of the building, but doing so would mean missing out on the second-floor north hall with its soaring ceilings and colorful mosaics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the greatest walk,\u201d he said. \u201cI take the long way every day because it\u2019s so spectacular. I see something new every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

That desire for new experiences, combined with a love of the outdoors, brought the native New Yorker to Colorado as a young man just out of high school. Strommen was born in Sleepy Hollow and grew up on Long Island, finding any work that would allow him to be outside, including taking members of the local yacht club to their boats as a summer job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure it sounds fancy,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it was a blast \u2014 just another way to earn money as a teenager while also being on the water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily for the aspiring outdoorsman, an uncle with a business in Colorado hired him in the early 1990s. Strommen fell in love with all that the state had to offer and decided on the University of Colorado-Denver for his studies.<\/p>\n

There, he met his wife Kendra, who was attending law school. It was a moment that would start him on a path to the Unicameral. Kendra had grown up in Hershey, Nebraska, and still had family and deep ties in the area.<\/p>\n

The couple moved to Nebraska in 2006, settling in Sidney in 2013. The western part of the state had many of the same amenities Strommen had loved in Colorado: golfing, camping, fishing, hunting and hiking \u2013 and the added bonus of fewer people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure it sounds strange coming from someone from New York, but sometimes when I\u2019m in Lincoln, I find myself thinking that there are way too many people here,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n

Not that Strommen ever pictured himself in Lincoln other than to visit. Gaining a seat in the Legislature was not something the freshman senator had on his bucket list. He did, however, always have an interest in how government works.<\/p>\n

Strommen, who works in the ethanol industry, was appointed to the Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2022. Around the same time, he decided to run for a seat on the Sidney City Council to see how he might contribute to his community\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

When term limits opened a seat in District 47 a few years later, Strommen saw it as an opportunity to have a broader impact in the region that has captured his heart.<\/p>\n

While campaigning near Alliance, he had another chance to bring together his love of outdoor activities and his interest in community service. After seeing a newspaper article about Edison Red Nest, who runs a Native American youth lacrosse program, Strommen knew he had to meet him.<\/p>\n

Himself a former lacrosse player and coach, he hadn\u2019t found anyone else in Nebraska who played. The two connected and Strommen joined the kids for a scrimmage that turned out to be more than he bargained for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t sprinted, hadn\u2019t thrown a lacrosse ball in years,\u201d Strommen laughed. \u201cIt was so much fun, but I could barely walk for three days after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that enthusiasm and willingness to jump in and not miss out on an experience that Strommen hopes to bring to his work at the Legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much information and so much to learn,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to digging into debate and doing my best to advocate for residents in my district and across Nebraska.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the first things you learn in conversation with Sen. Paul Strommen is that he\u2019s a detail guy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38823,"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":[312],"class_list":["post-38782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senator-features","tag-sen-paul-strommen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Strommen_blog.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38782","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=38782"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38858,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38782\/revisions\/38858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}