Earl Benjamin Nelson was born on May 17,1941 and is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 37th governor of Nebraska from 1991 to 1999 and as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 2001 to 2013.
39 Facts About Ben Nelson
2.
Ben Nelson is a member of the Democratic Party, and as of 2023, the last Democrat to hold any statewide elected office in Nebraska.
3.
Ben Nelson's first run for office was in 1990, when he narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Governor Kay Orr.
4.
Ben Nelson ran for an open US Senate seat in 1996, losing in an upset to Republican Chuck Hagel.
5.
Ben Nelson was elected to Nebraska's other Senate seat in 2000, and reelected in 2006.
6.
Ben Nelson did not run for a third term in 2012, and was succeeded by Republican Deb Fischer.
7.
Earl Benjamin Nelson was born on May 17,1941, in McCook, in southwestern Nebraska.
8.
Ben Nelson is the only child of Birdella and Benjamin Earl Nelson.
9.
Ben Nelson became involved in state politics, joining the Democratic Party.
10.
Ben Nelson introduced legislation to cut crime through the Safe Streets Act and Juvenile Crime Bill, advocated for low-income families through the Kids Connection health care system, and enacted welfare reforms.
11.
Ben Nelson pushed welfare reform before it was done at a national level and opposed President Bill Clinton's efforts on health care.
12.
Ben Nelson ran for a seat in the US Senate in 1996 when fellow Democrat Jim Exon retired.
13.
Ben Nelson was defeated by Republican businessman and Vietnam veteran Chuck Hagel in an upset.
14.
In 1998, Ben Nelson was ineligible to run for reelection because of Nebraska's term-limits law.
15.
Ben Nelson was thought to be in danger of losing his seat in 2006, as it was thought his successor as governor, Mike Johanns, was almost certain to run against him; that speculation ended when Johanns was appointed US Secretary of Agriculture.
16.
Ben Nelson won all but 13 counties in the western part of the state, a surprising feat in normally heavily Republican Nebraska.
17.
Ben Nelson lost Nebraska Right to Life's support after voting for the Senate version of health-care legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which did not contain the Stupak language.
18.
In July 2007, Senator Tom Coburn criticized earmarks that Nelson had inserted into the 2007 defense spending bill, alleging that they would benefit Nelson's son Patrick's employer with millions in federal dollars, and that the situation violated terms of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which the Senate passed but had not yet been voted on in the House.
19.
Ben Nelson's spokesperson said he did nothing wrong and was acting with "an abundance of caution" when he withdrew the amendment after the new Senate Ethics Rules were passed.
20.
Ben Nelson was the 60th and last senator to vote for cloture.
21.
The health-care measure was controversial, and Ben Nelson's vote provoked a strong response.
22.
Ben Nelson's popularity fell among Nebraskans in the wake of his cloture vote.
23.
Ben Nelson voted against the final version of the legislation, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.
24.
The measure as ultimately passed eliminated the special Medicaid reimbursement for Nebraska, as Ben Nelson had requested in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about a month after his crucial cloture vote.
25.
Ben Nelson said his opposition to the final measure arose from newly added provisions related to student loans that would adversely affect Nebraska-based student-lending firm Nelnet.
26.
On March 15,2007, Ben Nelson was one of two Democratic senators to vote against invoking cloture on a resolution aimed at withdrawing most American combat troops from Iraq in 2008.
27.
Ben Nelson was the lead Democratic senator among the "Gang of 14," a bloc of 14 senators who, on May 23,2005, forged a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "nuclear option".
28.
Ben Nelson was the only Democrat to vote to confirm Brown; he was later the first Democratic senator to support Samuel Alito's confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States.
29.
Ben Nelson voted twice, with three other Democrats, to end Senate debate over Bush's United Nations Ambassador nominee John Bolton.
30.
In 1996, Ben Nelson proposed and supported legislation to prevent Nebraska from recognizing same-sex marriages formed in other states.
31.
Ben Nelson supported Initiative 416, an amendment to the Nebraska constitution prohibiting same-sex marriage and domestic partnership.
32.
Ben Nelson was one of five Democratic senators to vote for the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.
33.
Ben Nelson was one of only two Democratic senators to vote against the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
34.
Ben Nelson voted with Republicans on bankruptcy reform, environmental protection, class action lawsuits, and trade.
35.
Ben Nelson was the only Democratic senator to vote against a 2006 bill that would have extended federal funding for stem cell research.
36.
Ben Nelson opposed Bush's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.
37.
On December 18,2010, Ben Nelson voted with Democrats for the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.
38.
In January 2013, Ben Nelson was named chief executive officer of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, an organization of state insurance regulatory agencies for the United States and several of its territories.
39.
Ben Nelson left the association and returned to his private law practice in January 2016.