Ralston Board of Education President Robin Richards is running again for the District 12 seat in the Nebraska Legislature. Richards ran for the seat in 2022, receiving just under 48% of votes.
“I’m running because I believe too many of our current legislators have lost sight of their fundamental responsibility — to care for the people of Nebraska,” Richards, 44, said.
She said her priorities are transparency in government, investment in public education, smart economic development and preserving individual freedoms. She mentioned property tax relief and protecting the doctor-patient relationship as pivotal issues in the Legislature.
“I want to ensure everyone in our community has a voice. It’s time for thoughtful, grounded leadership that reflects the values of District 12,” Richard said.
Richards is running as an independent. State Sen. Merv Riepe, a Republican, holds the District 12 seat, which contains parts of Ralston, Omaha and Millard. The seat has flipped between Republicans and Democrats in each election since 2010. Riepe has not announced if he will run again.
While Riepe has voted with his party on most issues, he has broken with it on occasion. He helped preserve Nebraska’s split electoral vote system and helped prevent a mandate that bathrooms and locker rooms in state spaces like schools and prisons be separated by assigned sex at birth — though he did support a similar division for school sports teams.
Richards said of lawmakers, “Their job is to collect and distribute the state’s resources fairly and effectively, not to legislate every aspect of our daily lives.”
Christy Knorr, a Democrat, is also running for the seat.
Richards was first appointed to the Ralston school board in 2019 and won elections in 2020 and 2024. She previously had leadership roles with the Nebraska Arts Council, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and the Omaha Children’s Museum.
If there is a need for a primary, it will be in May. The general election for legislative seats will be in November 2026.
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