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Mike Groene
Mike Groene (Republican Party) was a member of the Nebraska State Senate, representing District 42. He assumed office on January 7, 2015. He left office on February 21, 2022.
Groene ran for election to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents to represent District 7. He did not appear on the ballot for the primary on May 10, 2022.
Biography
Groene earned his B.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nebraska in 1977.[1]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2021-2022
Groene was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
Groene was assigned to the following committees:
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Nebraska committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Education, Chair |
| • Natural Resources |
| • Revenue |
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Groene served on the following committees:
| Nebraska committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Education |
| • Government, Military and Veterans Affairs |
| • Nebraska Retirement Systems |
Issues
Legal actions
Groene was the official proponent of Nebraska Spending Limit Amendment, Initiative Measure 423 (2006). He was also the successful plaintiff in Groene v. Seng, a petitioner access lawsuit against the cities of Omaha, Lincoln, and Grand Island, Nebraska. In 2009, he became a plaintiff in Citizens in Charge v. Gale, which was a challenge to the residency requirement and other initiative restrictions imposed on Nebraska's initiative process in 2008 by the Nebraska State Legislature.[2]
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2022
See also: Nebraska State Board of Regents election, 2022
General election
General election for University of Nebraska Board of Regents District 7
Kathy Wilmot defeated Matt Williams in the general election for University of Nebraska Board of Regents District 7 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kathy Wilmot (Nonpartisan) | 54.4 | 39,539 |
 | Matt Williams (Nonpartisan) | 45.6 | 33,121 | |
| Total votes: 72,660 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for University of Nebraska Board of Regents District 7
Matt Williams and Kathy Wilmot defeated Nolan Gurnsey in the primary for University of Nebraska Board of Regents District 7 on May 10, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Matt Williams (Nonpartisan) | 45.7 | 22,380 |
| ✔ | | Kathy Wilmot (Nonpartisan) | 41.9 | 20,532 |
| Nolan Gurnsey (Nonpartisan) | 12.4 | 6,079 | ||
| Total votes: 48,991 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Mike Groene (Nonpartisan)
2018
- See also: Nebraska State Senate elections, 2018
General election
General election for Nebraska State Senate District 42
Incumbent Mike Groene defeated Judy Pederson in the general election for Nebraska State Senate District 42 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mike Groene (Nonpartisan) | 67.1 | 8,180 |
| Judy Pederson (Nonpartisan) | 32.9 | 4,005 | ||
| Total votes: 12,185 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Nebraska State Senate District 42
Incumbent Mike Groene advanced from the primary for Nebraska State Senate District 42 on May 15, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mike Groene (Nonpartisan) | 100.0 | 4,242 |
| Total votes: 4,242 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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2014
- See also: Nebraska State Senate elections, 2014
Elections for the Nebraska State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on May 13, 2014. The general election took place on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for challengers wishing to run in this election was March 3, 2014, two days after the statutory deadline, which fell on a Saturday. Incumbents were required to file for election by February 18, 2014, three days after the statutory deadline, which fell on the Saturday prior to Presidents Day. Roric Paulman and Michael Groene defeated Scott Dulin in the primary election. Groene defeated Paulman in the general election.[3][4][5]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent |  Michael Groene |
51.5% | 5,322 | |
| Independent | Roric Paulman | 48.5% | 5,008 | |
| Total Votes | 10,330 | |||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Roric Paulman |
42.3% | 3,041 |
| Michael Groene |
37.6% | 2,703 |
| Scott Dulin | 20% | 1,439 |
| Total Votes | 7,183 | |
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Mike Groene did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Nebraska scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2022
In 2022, the Nebraska State Legislature was in session from January 5 to April 20.
- Legislators are scored on their stances on conservative fiscal policy.
- Legislators are scored on children's issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Nebraska State Legislature was in session from January 6 to May 27.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Nebraska State Legislature was in session from January 8 to August 13.
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2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature was in its 107th Legislature, 1st session from January 9 through May 31.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature was in its 106th Legislature, 2nd session from January 3 to April 18.
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2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature was in its 105th Legislature, 1st session from January 4 to May 23.
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2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature was in its 104th Legislature, 2nd session from January 6 to April 20.
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2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature was in its 104th Legislature, 1st session from January 7 to May 29.
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Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Groene has served on the Board of Directors of the Platte Institute and as the chairman of the Western Nebraska Taxpayers Association (WNTA).[1]
Additional reading
Noteworthy events
Sexual harassment allegations
On February 21, 2022, Groene resigned due to allegations that he had taken inappropriate photos of staff member Kristina Konecko. Konecko alleges that she had found photos of herself on Groene's laptop and that the photos had been emailed with inappropriate sexual captions. Konecko alleges that some photos were zoomed-in photos of “provocative body parts.”
Groene acknowledged to reporters that he had taken photos of Konecko but denied that they were sexual in nature and that he had not distributed them via email. On February 22, 2022, the Nebraska State Patrol opened an investigation into Groene's conduct and concluded in April 2022 that his conduct wasn't "unlawful discrimination or harassment."[6]
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|---|
| Coronavirus pandemic |
| Select a topic from the dropdown below to learn more.
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On November 9, 2020, Groene announced that he had contracted COVID-19 in late October.[7]
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 platteinstitute.org, "Michael Groene," accessed March 21, 2014
- ↑ lexch.com, "ACLU joins in the fight to change restrictive legislation," December 21, 2009
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, "Official Results of Nebraska Primary Election," accessed July 7, 2014
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, "Statewide Candidate List," accessed March 21, 2014
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, "Official Results: General Election - November 4, 2014," accessed December 14, 2014
- ↑ KETV 7, "Former state Sen. Mike Groene's conduct wasn't 'unlawful discrimination or harassment,' legislative panel concludes," accessed May 10, 2022
- ↑ Omaha World-Herald', "'I finally got my wish': Sen. Groene, who wants herd immunity, catches coronavirus," November 10, 2020
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Thomas Hansen |
Nebraska State Senate District 42 2015-2022 |
Succeeded by Michael Jacobson (R) |
 |
State of Nebraska Lincoln (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
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