Danielle Nantkes Conrad is a politician from the U.S. state of

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. From 2007 to 2015, she served in the Nebraska State Legislature, representing District 46 on the city of Lincoln's north side. She was elected again to the Nebraska Legislature in 2022.

Early life and education

She was born on August 5, 1977, in

Seward, Nebraska Seward is a city and county seat of Seward County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 6,964 at the 2010 census. Seward is part of the Lincoln, Nebraska Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is known for its large Fourth of July (Independ ...

. Her father served as a Deputy Sheriff for over 25 years. Her mother has been a teacher at Lincoln Public Schools for over 15 years. Nantkes graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a B.A. in 2000. She went on to earn her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

at the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Law The University of Nebraska College of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of University of Nebraska system. It was founded in 1888 and became part of University of Nebraska in 1891. According to Nebraska's official 2017 ABA-required di ...

in 2003.

Career

After becoming a member of the Nebraska State Bar Association, she took a job with the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest, a non-profit, non-partisan law project providing legal counsel to the poor, minorities, and immigrants in the state of

Nebraska Legislature (2007–2015)

A registered Democrat, she first ran for elected office in 2006, seeking to represent the 46th Legislative District. With 55% of the vote she defeated Republican Carol Brown for the non-partisan seat. Her standing committee assignments included Appropriations and Nebraska Retirement Systems. She also served on the Performance Audit Committee, Redistricting Committee, and chaired the Legislature's Innovation and Entrepreneurial Task Force. During Conrad's time in office, she was one of only ten women in the 49-member Nebraska Legislature. According to a background article prepared by

Unicameral Update Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

, Conrad became a fan of politics as a teenager, following the historic race for Governor pitting two women, Republican

Kay Orr Kay Avonne Orr (née Stark; January 2, 1939) is an American politician who served as the 36th governor of Nebraska from 1987 to 1991. A member of the Republican Party, she was the state's first and to date only female governor. Early life and e ...

against Democrat

Helen Boosalis Helen G. Boosalis (August 28, 1919 - June 15, 2009) was an American Democratic Party politician from Nebraska. Early life Helen Boosalis was born as Helen Geankoplis in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Greek immigrant parents, where she grew up working ...

. Due to term limits, she did not seek re-election to the Legislature in 2014, and was succeeded by Adam Morfeld.

Executive Director of the ACLU of Nebraska

Conrad headed the ACLU of Nebraska since 2014, during her time the number of staff grew from just four people to a team of ten full-time staff with two contact lawyers. Legal victories were won within LGBTQ equality, open government, and reproductive rights. She also supported expanding Medicaid eligibility, banning predatory payday lending, eliminating the last vestiges of slavery from Nebraska's state constitution, increasing the minimum wage, and increasing election participation through a mass mailing of vote-by-mail applications.

Personal life

Conrad's affiliations in the community include the Lincoln YWCA Board of Directors; Community Development Taskforce, Nebraska Bar Association, Lincoln Bar Association, and the Volunteer Lawyers Project. She was married in 2008 and is now Danielle Conrad.

Electoral history

References

Democratic Party Nebraska state senators 1977 births Living people Women state legislators in Nebraska People from Seward, Nebraska University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni 21st-century American women {{Nebraska-politician-stub