Gov. Pete Ricketts on Tuesday named Nicole Fox of Omaha to replace former state Sen. Jeremy Nordquist. Nordquist resigned to take a job in Washington as chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Brad Ashford, D-2nd District.
Fox, a registered Republican, was one of eight who applied for the seat. She will stand for election in 2016 in a heavily Democratic southern Omaha district.
Among the eight who applied was former state Sen. John Synowiecki, who held the seat before Nordquist. Omaha school board member Anthony Vargas also applied. The remaining five are Vince Emmanuel, Darren Garrean, Kyle Reppert, Bill Steckis and Zachary Wyatt-Gomez.