About Ben Nelson
Earl Benjamin Nelson (born May 17, 1941) is an American politician, attorney, and businessman who served as a United States senator from Nebraska from 2001 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 37th governor of Nebraska from 1991 to 1999. As of 2026, he is the last Democrat to have won or held statewide office in Nebraska. Nelson was an insurance executive before he entered politics. His first run for office was in 1990, when he narrowly defeated incumbent Republican governor Kay A. Orr. He was reelected by a landslide in 1994. He ran for an open U.S. Senate seat in 1996, losing in an upset to Republican Chuck Hagel. He was elected to Nebraska's other Senate seat in 2000, and reelected in 2006. He did not run for a third term in 2012, and was succeeded by Republican Deb Fischer. Nelson was the most conservative Democrat during his time in the U.S. Senate, frequently voting against his party. Nelson first ran for electoral office in 1990, defeating first-term Republican incumbent Orr by 4,030 votes out of over 586,000 cast. Nelson won the election with 51% of the vote after a campaign in which he spent 50% more ($1,004,985) than Stenberg.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.