Deb Fischer


Debra Lynelle Fischer is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Nebraska, a seat she has held since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Fischer served in the Nebraska Legislature from 2005 to 2013 and on the Valentine Rural High School Board of Education from 1990 to 2004. She is the third woman to represent Nebraska in the U.S. Senate and the first to be reelected.
Fischer was first elected to the Senate in 2012, defeating former Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey after an upset victory against state attorney general Jon Bruning in the Republican primary. She was reelected in 2018 and 2024.

Early life, education, and career

Fischer was born Debra Lynelle Strobel on March 1, 1951, in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is the daughter of Florence M. and Gerold Carl Strobel. Her father was the State Engineer/Director of the Nebraska Department of Roads under Governors Kay Orr and Ben Nelson and her mother was an elementary school teacher with Lincoln Public Schools.
In 1972, Strobel married Bruce Fischer, a man from Valentine, Nebraska, she met at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She and her husband raised three sons on the Fischer family cattle ranch south of Valentine. In 1987, she returned to the university and completed her Bachelor of Science degree in education.

School board (1990–2004)

In 1990, Fischer was elected to the Valentine Rural High School Board of Education, serving until 2004. Governor Mike Johanns appointed Fischer as a Commissioner to the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Post-Secondary Education from 2000 to 2004.

Nebraska Legislature (2005–2013)

Elections

In 2004, Fischer ran for the Nebraska Legislature from the 43rd legislative district in the state's Sandhills region. In the nonpartisan primary, she came in second in a field of seven, receiving 2,226 votes ; front-runner Kevin T. Cooksley received 2,264 votes. In the general election, she defeated Cooksley with 8,178 votes to his 8,050, a margin of 50.4%–49.6%.
In 2008, she won reelection unopposed. Nebraska's term-limits law precluded her running for reelection in 2012.
Tenure
Fischer's district was geographically the largest in the Nebraska Legislature, comprising 12 counties and part of a 13th. During her tenure in the legislature, she did a weekly radio show on seven stations covering her district, and wrote a weekly column printed in several newspapers.
In 2007, Fischer helped lead a filibuster against a bill to create a statewide smoking ban for indoor workplaces and public places. Commonly known as the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act, the bill passed and was signed into law in 2008.
In 2009, Fischer was one of 14 co-sponsors of L.B. 675, which required abortion providers to display ultrasound images of the fetus at least one hour before performing abortions, in a position where the abortion seeker could easily view them. A spokesman for the National Right to Life Committee said the law was stronger than those of other states, which required only that the client be asked whether she wanted to see an ultrasound image. The measure passed by a 40–5 vote, and was signed into law by Governor Dave Heineman.
Fischer chaired the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee and helped pass the BUILD Nebraska Act through the Unicameral. This bill prioritized a quarter cent of the state sales tax for infrastructure projects.

U.S. Senate (2013–present)

Elections

2012

;Primary
In January 2012, after incumbent Senator Ben Nelson announced his retirement, Fischer announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate. The Republican primary campaign was expected to be a battle between Attorney General Jon Bruning and State Treasurer Don Stenberg; Fischer and three less well-known candidates were also on the ballot.
During the campaign, environmentalists and others criticized Fischer because her family's ranch near Valentine grazed cattle on federal land, leasing it for about $110,000 per year less than the market rate on private land. Opponents of federal grazing leases argued that she should relinquish her family's permit if she wanted to remain "morally consistent" with her message of less government. Fischer argued that the poor quality of federal lands and the restrictions that come with federal leases make it inappropriate to compare them to private leases.
During the campaign, Fischer was outspent by Bruning, who raised $3.6 million, and Stenberg, who spent $865,000. Fischer's campaign raised only $440,000. But Bruning and Stenberg spent much of their resources attacking one another; Fischer benefited from the damage that each did to the other's reputation. She was also aided by $725,000 in TV ads that the Club for Growth bought attacking Bruning. Shortly before the election, she was endorsed by Nebraska U.S. Representative Jeff Fortenberry and by 2008 vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who recorded robocalls endorsing her; and a super PAC financed by former Omaha businessman Joe Ricketts paid for $250,000 worth of TV ads promoting Fischer and opposing Bruning.
Fischer won the primary with 40% of the vote to Bruning's 35% and Stenberg's 18%. She took a plurality of votes in 75 of Nebraska's 93 counties. Bruning won 15 counties and Schuyler businessman Pat Flynn received a plurality in his home Colfax County. Fischer and Bruning tied in Kimball and Sioux counties.
;General election
In the general election, Fischer faced Democratic nominee Bob Kerrey, a former Nebraska governor and U.S. senator who was running for the seat he had held from 1989 to 2001.
During the campaign, Kerrey ran ads accusing Fischer of unprincipled conduct in the matter of a 1995 adverse possession suit, whereby the Fischers had attempted to obtain title to of land adjoining their property. Fischer maintained that their intent in filing the suit was to obtain a more manageable boundary for their ranch after repeated attempts to purchase the land had failed; according to an Omaha World-Herald analysis, the Kerrey campaign's statements about Fischer's actions in the Legislature failed to mention her support for a compromise measure that would have allowed NGPC to buy the land. A Fischer spokesman accused Kerrey of "reckless disregard for the truth" and "gutter politics" in the matter.
Fischer defeated Kerrey, 455,593 votes to 332,979. She won mainly by swamping Kerrey in the state's rural areas. She won 88 of Nebraska's 93 counties. Kerrey won only Douglas, Lancaster, Saline, Thurston, and Dakota Counties.

2018

Fischer was reelected to the Senate in 2018, defeating Democratic nominee Jane Raybould by a significant margin.

2024

Fischer ran for reelection in 2024. She defeated Arron Kowalski in the Republican primary election in May. She faced independent candidate Dan Osborn, a former union leader, in the November general election. Fischer defeated Osborn by 6.7 points, after being reelected by 19 points in 2018.

Tenure

Fischer became the third female U.S. senator in Nebraska's history, and the first since 1954. She was the first elected to a full term: of the earlier woman senators, Eva Bowring was appointed in 1954 to occupy the seat vacated by Dwight Griswold's death until a special election could be held to replace him later that year; Hazel Abel won that special election to finish Griswold's term, but did not seek a full term.

Committee assignments

  • Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
  • *Subcommittee on Livestock, Marketing, and Agriculture Security
  • Committee on Armed Services
  • *Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
  • *Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support
  • *Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
  • Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
  • *Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
  • *Subcommittee on Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion
  • *Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance
  • *Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
  • *Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security
  • Committee on Rules and Administration
  • Select Committee on Ethics''''''

    Political positions

Abortion

Fischer supports a national abortion ban without exceptions for rape or incest. She supported the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Climate change

Fischer rejects conclusions by the international scientific community that human emissions of greenhouse gases are the primary cause of global warming in recent decades. In May 2015, a legislative aide said, "the senator acknowledges the climate is changing but believes it is due to natural cycles."

Foreign policy

Fischer has advocated modernizing the U.S. nuclear triad and increasing defense spending to deter China, Iran, and Russia. She has sometimes opposed efforts to scale back U.S. military authorities; in 2023, she was one of 30 senators to vote against repealing the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq.
In 2022, Fischer voted to ratify the accession of Finland and Sweden into NATO, joining the near-unanimous Senate approval of their membership. In 2023, she backed a bipartisan amendment —adopted 65–28—that requires the President to obtain congressional consent before withdrawing the United States from NATO. In August 2025, Fischer joined Armed Services Committee chairperson Roger Wicker on a visit to Taiwan, where she condemned the Chinese government's attempts to "threaten, to pressure, and isolate Taiwan". During that trip, she affirmed U.S. support for Taiwan's self-determination and security amid rising tensions with China. Fischer has promoted measures to strengthen U.S. military readiness in the Indo-Pacific, such as expanding ammunition stockpiles and capabilities to counter China's growing influence.