Mark Cohen of Lemoyne has officially announced his race for Nebraska’s Third Congressional District. He started off his campaign with stops across the third district on Wednesday, including Hastings, Kearney, and Gothenburg.
Running as an independent, Cohen is the latest candidate to declare to run for the race. Outside of Smith, David Huebner is running in the Republican primary, while Becky Stille is running for the Democratic primary. Cohen is the only independent in the race.
Born in Colorado, Cohen went to the University of Colorado School of Law before joining the Air Force, where he served as judge advocate. He would later practice law in Omaha during the farm crisis, and would then taught advanced legal writing courses at the University of Arkansas School of Law while earning his Masters in Law in Agricultural and Food Law. During his Kearney visit, he mentioned that his office while teaching was the same office that former president Bill Clinton had when he taught at the school.
After time practicing law in Colorado, Cohen moved to Lemoyne in 2020, and started teaching karate in Ogallala.
On Cohen’s website, he says, “I love what America stands for, and I’m fed up with a two-party system that rewards extremists, politicians that use simplistic labels to pit neighbor against neighbor, corporations and billionaires buying elections, and a system where truth is measured in clicks rather than facts. ”
Some of his larger priorities, if elected, focus on immigration policy, the harm of tariffs on the ag industry, healthcare, and tax reform.
A former Democrat who left the party three years ago, Cohen stated on his website that he disagreed with the party position on guns, and being less hospitable to moderates and rural matters.
Adrian Smith currently represents Nebraska’s third district. The Gering native was first elected in 2006, and had held the position ever since. The last time a non-republican held the seat was when Wakefield’s Lawrence Brock held the seat as a Democrat from 1959-1961. Kearney’s David Martin held the seat from 1963-1974, and Lexington’s Bill Barrett held the seat from 1991-2001, both as Republicans.
More about Cohen can be found at markfornebraska.org
