The contestants for a state senate seat in Southeast Nebraska are starting to crystallize: one more candidate officially entered the race for the District 32 seat this month.

Crete lawyer Shaylene Smith announced her candidacy for the seat in September, and formally filed to run for the District 32 seat earlier this month.

"It's actually been a lot of fun just to see the support from all of the communities," Smith said Friday. "I spent time speaking in Friend and Geneva and Wilber and even to some of the great high school kids this week. So to see the excitement and the vision from others in our district is really great and really supportive.

Officially running as a nonpartisan, Smith has practiced law in Crete for more than 30 years and positions herself as a relative political newcomer with plenty of experience impacting local communities. She says her legal knowledge will help her build bridges in the state senate - a destination she never really envisioned for herself prior to last year.

"There is quite a learning curve to this. It was not in my wheelhouse or on my bucket list for 2025 to decide to do this," she said. "I really am thankful to the people in our communities who kept asking me to consider it. They've seen the other things I've done in the community and in the district, and they want me to take my problem-solving skills and my ability to think long-term to the legislature, and I'm excited to be able to do that. Like I said, didn't expect to be asked, and now to be able to spend the last few months learning what it really involves, I'm understanding that my skill set really is perfect for the legislature and then I can bring something to the table to really help for people makes a big difference for me."

Smith says she's been watching this year's legislative session unfold very closely as she angles for a seat in next year's session. Until then, she's working to meet members of her district where they are, learning how legislation that does or does not pass would directly affect her constituents. 

" If I'm going to make a change in the law, for example, that affects the business owners in our district, I need to know what that change is going to do for them. So just getting the opportunity to travel and to listen to others and to know that what I can do will help them in the future," she said. "I have spent 30 years in this district working to improve lives as a volunteer, working to improve lives as an attorney, working to improve lives in any other manner that I can. So this just kind of takes it up a notch, lets me take, say, a scalpel. to some of the language in our statutes and use it to really make a difference for people long-term. Whether that's finding ways in really complex budgets to bring some of the real estate tax relief that we so desperately need, or whether that means understanding the true heart of some of our community and knowing what they need to make their lives better on a day-to-day basis."

Smith is running against Jefferson County commissioner Mark Schoenrock . A Jefferson County native, he's held a role in local government for more than a decade and boasts endorsements from many prominent state Republican politicians like Governor Jim Pillen and Attorney General Mike Hilgers.

"The whole thing is to establish those connections with people, understand what's important to them, because at the end of the day, you know, it's not about the elected official, it's about the people who we will be representing. And I will never lose focus of that," Schoenrock said earlier this month.

Those are currently the only two known candidates in the District 32 race to succeed Tom Brandt of Plymouth, a term-limited political veteran who is in his final legislative session.