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Three Lincoln City Council incumbents, a former councilman, a mayoral hopeful and a small business owner advanced to the general election, beating out three newcomers for three at-large seats Tuesday. The top vote-getters in Tuesday's primary election included incumbents Sändra Washington and Tom Beckius , with challenger Jerry Shoecraft edging out incumbent Bennie Shobe by 282 votes. People are also reading.
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Shoecraft, who served two terms on the City Council in the 1990s, said he's grateful for the opportunity to move onto the general election. "It's a big challenge going up against three incumbents but I've been sitting back for years and watching our city and there's so much more that we can do." Shobe said he expected to be competing with Shoecraft and Parker because he didn't spend as much money.
He expects his support to go up in the general election. Washington, the top vote-getter, said she's grateful for the support and thinks she and the other two incumbents are in a good position moving into the general election. "Bennie, Tom and I have really enjoyed working together and I think we work together well," she said.
Because the council is a nonpartisan office, no party labels appear on the ballot, though the two parties do recruit and support candidates. Voters will vote for three of those candidates in the May 6 general election to fill the three at-large seats. Beckius is seeking a second term on the board and owns several small businesses focused on real estate and construction.
He served on the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission before being elected to the council in 2021. Shobe, a program analyst with the Nebraska Department of Labor, is seeking a third term. Washington was appointed to fill an at-large seat in 2019 vacated by Leirion Gaylor Baird when she became mayor, then was elected to a four-year term.
She worked with the National Park Service for nearly 25 years. Shoecraft, a property manager of privately owned student apartments, served two terms as an at-large council member in the 1990s as a Democrat and ran an unsuccessful bid for election to northeast Lincoln’s District 1 in 2003. Parker, executive director of the Christian radio ministry The Bridge, made an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2022 against Gaylor Baird and former state Sen.
Suzanne Geist. He founded MyBridge, which operates Christian radio stations across the state as well as offering training and education to other nonprofit ministries. Zeb is a small-business owner who ran for an at-large council seat in 2021 as a Democrat and ran an unsuccessful bid for the Lincoln Airport Authority in 2019.
A Pakistani immigrant who moved to Lincoln in 2003, he flips houses and runs a painting company. Three other candidates will not advance to the general election: Elina Newman , a registered nonpartisan, pharmacy tech and instructor at Southeast Community College; Maghie Miller-Jenkins , a registered nonpartisan who was active in the Black Lives Matter protests and more recently has been involved in pro-Palestinian activities; and Rene Carrillo , a registered nonpartisan and low-voltage foreman at Commonwealth Electric Co. of the Midwest and a member of the local International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
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