# John Cavanaugh

John Cavanaugh is a nonpartisan member of the Nebraska Legislature for district 9.

- Party: Nonpartisan
- Seat: Nebraska Legislature, district 9
- Serving since: 2021-01-06
- Current term: NE 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/0436186a-3b62-46f1-8f36-55e09fca3e77

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/0436186a-3b62-46f1-8f36-55e09fca3e77 (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Cavanaugh reported $250 in the 2026 cycle, the lowest of 46 Nonpartisan state legislators (median $10.9K).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.68 (standard error 0.02), from 1,113 donors and 692 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 7.1% of Nonpartisan state legislators score lower.

## Votes (NE 2025–26 session)

1,770 roll calls. Attendance 98.2% (Nebraska Legislature (nonpartisan) 95.5%).

Key votes:

- 2026-04-17 · voted yea · Fredrickson MO586 failed · LB 929 Provide for managed care organizations to pay the deductible, cost sharing, or similar charges on behalf of medicaid enrollees · fail · https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB929/
- 2026-04-17 · voted yea · Cavanaugh, J. MO585 failed · LB 1256 Redefine a term under the Emergency Management Act · fail · https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB1256/
- 2026-04-10 · voted yea · Passed on Final Reading with Emergency Clause 49-0-0 · LB 820A Appropriation Bill · pass · https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB820A/
- 2026-04-10 · voted yea · Passed on Final Reading with Emergency Clause 48-1*-0 · LB 912A Appropriation Bill · pass · https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB912A/
- 2026-04-10 · voted yea · Passed on Final Reading 47-2*-0 · LB 955 Provide for practice agreements between pharmacists and physician assistants · pass · https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB955/
- 2026-04-10 · voted yea · Passed on Final Reading 43-6*-0 · LB 1261A Appropriation Bill · pass · https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB1261A/
- 2026-04-10 · voted yea · Passed on Final Reading with Emergency Clause 49-0-0 · LB 820 Change retirement provisions relating to approved identification documents, participation in certain retirement systems, state contributions, ex… · pass · https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB820/
- 2026-04-10 · voted yea · Passed on Final Reading with Emergency Clause 38-11-0 · LB 935 Provide for court fees; change provisions relating to incentives for rural legal practice, protection orders, hearsay, sentencing, support order liens,… · pass · https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB935/
- 2026-04-10 · voted nay · Passed on Final Reading 41-8*-0 · LB 889 Change a penalty and provisions regulating licensure and registration under the State Electrical Act · pass · https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB889/
- 2026-04-10 · voted yea · Passed on Final Reading with Emergency Clause 49-0-0 · LB 905 Change and eliminate provisions relating to boards, commissions, committees, task forces, and funds that terminate · pass · https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB905/

## Legislation (NE 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 42 bills: 42 reached committee, 10 passed one chamber, 10 passed both, 3 became law. Cosponsored 34. 23.8% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Nebraska Legislature (nonpartisan) 36.9%; rank 35 of 47).

Recent sponsored bills:

- LR 492: Congratulate Creighton University men's basketball head coach Greg McDermott on his retirement and his accomplishments at Creighton University and Wayne State… (passed both chambers, 2026-04-08) https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LR492/
- LR 376: Recognize more than two hundred fifty years of the United States Postal Service and support the continued public mission to serve all Americans (passed both chambers, 2026-03-30) https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LR376/
- LR 371: Interim study to determine whether Nebraska should amend the rules of evidence to mirror federal changes to the admissibility of expert testimony (in committee, 2026-03-30) https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LR371/
- LB 1256: Redefine a term under the Emergency Management Act (passed both chambers, 2026-04-17) https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB1256/
- LB 1186: Adopt the Affordable American Energy and Jobs Act and change distribution provisions relating to the nameplate capacity tax (in committee, 2026-04-17) https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB1186/
- LR 311CA: Constitutional amendment to create a Commission on Redistricting and provide requirements for drawing district boundaries (in committee, 2026-04-17) https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LR311CA/
- LB 956: Provide for the collection of postsecondary institution compensation data (became law, 2026-03-17) https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB956/
- LB 957: Provide a cause of action against certain adults for allowing a minor to possess a handgun and create an offense of leaving a loaded firearm in a location… (in committee, 2026-04-17) https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB957/
- LB 932: Provide an income tax adjustment for tip income and income received from overtime compensation (in committee, 2026-04-17) https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB932/
- LB 934: Provide for the election of members of the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission (in committee, 2026-04-17) https://openstates.org/ne/bills/109/LB934/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $250 (Nonpartisan state legislators median $10.9K). 100% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Links

- Official site: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/senators/landing-pages/index.php?District=9
- Campaign site: https://www.cavanaughfornebraska.com/
- X: https://x.com/Cavanaugh4NE
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnCavanaughNE/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cavanaugh4nebraska/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-cavanaugh-jr-a989667/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/0436186a-3b62-46f1-8f36-55e09fca3e77