NE's newest lawmaker: 'I'm very pro-life,' Roe v Wade must go

Nebraska has a new state senator, and she’s ready to join those looking to outlaw abortion in the state.
Gov. Pete Ricketts today naming Republican Kathleen Kauth to represent District 31 in southwest Omaha. Kauth succeeds State Sen. Rich Pahls, also a Republican, who died April 27th.
Three months ago, pro-life forces in the Legislature were two votes short of the 33 needed to enact a so-called “trigger” bill, which would have outlawed abortions in Nebraska if and when the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade.
Three lawmakers did not vote on the bill, all three from Omaha: Pahls and Democrats Steve Lathrop and Justin Wayne.
While Pahls was ill and unable to vote, it’s widely presumed that he would have voted for the trigger bill bringing the total to 32.
Lathrop, who has decided not to run for re-election and leaves office at the end of the year, voted against the trigger bill in committee but did not vote one way or the other when it came to the filibuster fight on the floor.
Should Roe v Wade be overturned and a special session is called to end abortions in Nebraska (something Ricketts clearly wants), it’s unknown how Lathrop will vote.
In addition, Wayne has not been available for comment.
Following her swearing in Kauth said, I’m very pro-life” and believes Roe v Wade should be overturned, putting her in line as a special session "yes" vote to end abortion in the state. She called the trigger bill "very solid."
As for the future of the seat, Kauth says she will run for election this fall and still needs to obtain 2,000 valid signatures to make the November ballot. The race is expected to be a hard-fought contest with Democrats pushing their own candidate.
Along with her views on abortion, Kauth has no trouble expressing other conservative positions.
The Omaha Reader reported last year that Kauth questioned the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election and was bothered by fellow Republicans who sat back and let Joe Biden defeat then-President Donald Trump. The article quotes Kauth saying, “There were enough questions about elections around the country that we should have stood up and said, ‘Timeout.’”
The Reader also reports that Kauth has concerns about mask mandates, which she considers government overreach.
Last year Kauth ran for the Omaha City Council, finishing third in the primary behind Republican Don Rowe—who won the general election—and Democrat Patrick Leahy.
She was recently appointed by Rowe to the Omaha Charter Convention, which is currently looking at changes in the city’s “constitution.”
Ricketts says Kauth owns her own company. K-T Beck Enterprises is a mediation and business consulting company.