PONCA- Incumbent State Senator Tim Gragert is not running again, opening the door for either Barry DeKay and Keith Kube to take the reigns.

District 40, which was redrawn by lawmakers following the 2020 census, covers the northern two-thirds of Dixon County, northern Pierce County and all of Cedar, Holt and Antelope counties. The district stretches from Atkinson in the west, north to the South Dakota border, east to the Iowa border and south to the Neligh area.

Barry DeKay, who has operated a farm and ranch near Niobrara for 44 years, won a four-way primary in May with 36 percent of the vote. Keith Kube, who had an extensive career as a management consultant and investment banker before returning to his native Crofton, narrowly finished second to DeKay in the primary.

DeKay, a former member of the Nebraska Public Power District Board, cites his extensive ties to Northeast Nebraska and community service. He served 15 years on the Niobrara Valley Electric Membership Corporation, one of the three distribution cooperatives in the state, including an eight-year stint as president. He also is a former state president of the Nebraska Rural Electric Association.

In the Legislature, DeKay said his top issues would be to tax reform, economic development and infrastructure.

Kube grew up in Crofton and earned his bachelor’s of science degree from the University of Nebraska College of Engineering. At UNL, he directed the Newman Center Folk Choir for three years and ran on the Huskers track team for one year.

After college, he worked in the real estate, investment banking and manufacturing industries in Wisconsin and later relocated to California. He said his work in finance, sales and tax preparation prepared him for his career as a business analyst with Chicago area-based George S. May International, where he worked from 1995 until his retirement in 2011.

Kube said his priorirties in the Legislature would be to address taxes and inflation, inequities in the school funding formual and “preserving Nebraska’s values.”

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