Nebraska senator faces historic expulsion vote over sexual misconduct allegations

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — On the first day of the 2026 legislative session, Nebraska lawmakers were asked Wednesday to consider a motion to expel a fellow senator accused of making a sexually-charged comment to a legislative staffer and touching her inappropriately during a session-end party last year.

If lawmakers vote next week to expel the 59-year-old Sen. Dan McKeon, a Republican in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature, it will be the first time the body has ever done so.

The unprecedented move follows a complaint from the staffer that McKeon said she should “get laid” on her vacation and patted her on her buttocks last May during a party at the Lincoln Country Club attended by state lawmakers, staffers and lobbyists.

More attention has focused on sexual harassment within state legislatures nationwide. At least 156 state lawmakers across 44 states have been accused of sexual harassment or misconduct since 2017, when The Associated Press began tracking such incidents amid the #MeToo movement. Of those, 56 have resigned or been expelled from office. A nearly equal number have faced some other type of repercussion, such as losing committee or party leadership positions.

A report on the Nebraska complaint was compiled by an outside law firm at the request of the Legislature’s Executive Board and released Wednesday. It found that McKeon has “a reputation for making jokes and that some of those jokes are unprofessional and/or inappropriate for the workplace.”

The report determined that McKeon’s conduct did not rise to a level of sexual harassment or retaliation that is actionable under state or federal discrimination law, but that didn’t mean it was acceptable. It said McKeon’s conduct did violate the Nebraska Legislature’s workplace harassment policy, and that lawmakers “may, in their discretion, censure, reprimand or expel the senator for his conduct and comments.”

After interviewing the woman, McKeon and others, the attorney who wrote the report found that the woman, McKeon and another staffer had been discussing vacation plans at the May 29 party when McKeon asked whether the woman was “going to Hawaii to get laid,” she said. McKeon characterized the remark as a joke in which he said he hoped she would get a Hawaiian lei while in Hawaii.

“Complainant was not vacationing in Hawaii so this comment was inconsistent with the discussion of vacation plans,” the report said.

The staffer also said McKeon patted her behind. McKeon initially denied touching the woman, the report said, but later said he may have touched her back or lower back “or even rear end,” but insisted it was not intended to be sexual.

The report also said that following the complaint, McKeon was instructed by Sen. Ben Hansen, chairman of the Executive Board, on June 2 not to attend social gatherings where staffers would be present. Despite this, McKeon attended another party that night also attended by staffers — including the woman who filed the complaint against him — according to the report.

Nearly a month later, urged by Hansen to “accept responsibility for what he was alleged to have done” McKeon sent the woman a note telling her she should find it within herself to forgive him “because that is what the Bible instructs people to do,” the report said.

Then, in August, McKeon texted another staffer who shares an office with the woman, saying she “seems to be difficult to work with,” the report found.

An investigation by the Nebraska State Patrol ultimately led to McKeon being charged with a misdemeanor count of disturbing the peace. McKeon has pleaded not guilty.

McKeon, who attended Wednesday’s opening session, declined to comment on the report itself. But his remarks on the complaint against him and the possibility of being expelled were in line with the report’s findings, falling back on religious references by saying that his name, Daniel, means “just” in Hebrew and remarking “we’re all sinners” when asked about accusations that he’s often made inappropriate jokes in the workplace.

He said he has no plans to step down, despite calls from leaders of his own party — including Republican Gov. Jim Pillen — to resign. But he seemed ready to accept that he might be forced out, saying he expects any vote in the full Legislature to “be pretty close.”

“It is what it is,” he said. “I’m not going to cry about it or anything.”

The Legislature’s Executive Board will hold a hearing Monday on the resolution to expel McKeon. If it’s voted out of committee, the full Legislature could debate it as soon as Tuesday and would need 33 votes to pass.

If McKeon is expelled, he would be the nation’s 57th state lawmaker accused of sexual misconduct to have left office via expulsion or resignation since 2017.