Dan Hughes

In its 2016 session, the Nebraska legislature passed three bills that Ricketts then vetoed. LB580 would have created an independent commission of citizens to draw new district maps following censuses; supporters described it as an attempt to de-politicize the redistricting process, while Ricketts maintained that the bill delegated the legislature's constitutional duty of redistricting to "an unelected and unaccountable board". Hughes voted against the bill in its 29–15 passage. Sponsor John Murante opted not to seek an override of the governor's veto.

In the 2015 legislative session, Hughes was assigned to the Natural Resources Committee and the Urban Affairs Committee.

Among the "most significant" actions taken by the Legislature in its 2015 session were three bills that passed over vetoes by governor Pete Ricketts. LB268 repealed the state's death penalty; LB623 reversed the state's previous policy of denying driver's licenses to people who were living illegally in the United States after being brought to the country as children, and who had been granted exemption from deportation under the Barack Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program; and LB610 increased the tax on gasoline to pay for repairs to roads and bridges. Hughes voted against the death-penalty repeal, and to sustain Ricketts's veto of the measure; he voted for passage of LB623, and to override the gubernatorial veto; and he voted for passage of the gas-tax increase, and to override the veto.

In August 2013, Hughes announced that he would seek a seat in the Nebraska Legislature representing the 44th District. The district consisted of ten counties in the southwestern portion of the state—Chase, Dundy, Frontier, Furnas, Gosper, Harlan, Hayes, Hitchcock, Perkins, and Red Willow counties—and included the cities of McCook, Imperial, and Alma. Under Nebraska's term-limits law, the incumbent, Mark Christensen, was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term.

A second vetoed bill, LB935, would have changed state audit procedures. The bill passed by a margin of 37–8, with 4 present and not voting; Hughes was among those voting for it. The bill was withdrawn without an attempt to override the veto; the state auditor agreed to work with the governor on a new version for the next year's session.

A third bill passed over Ricketts's veto. LB947 made DACA beneficiaries eligible for commercial and professional licenses in Nebraska. The bill passed the Legislature on a vote of 33–11–5; the veto override passed 31–13–5. Hughes voted for the bill at its initial passage; he was recorded as present and not voting in the vote to override Ricketts's veto.

The legislature failed to pass LB10, greatly desired by the Republican Party, which would have restored Nebraska to a winner-take-all scheme of allocating its electoral votes in U.S. presidential elections, rather than continuing its practice of awarding the electoral vote for each congressional district to the candidate who received the most votes in that district. Supporters were unable to break a filibuster; in the 32–17 cloture motion, Hughes was among those who voted for the bill.

After receiving his degree, Hughes joined his family's wheat-farming operation in southwestern Nebraska. As of 2011, they farmed about 11,000 acres (4,500 ha).

As in the primary election, Hughes and Stroup campaigned largely on their experience and personal qualities rather than on their political differences. Both candidates opposed a proposed increase in the state's minimum wage; both supported the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska; both opposed the proposed expansion of Medicaid under the provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act; both opposed the abolition of capital punishment; and both believed that illegal immigration was a problem in Nebraska.

From 1998 to 2010, Hughes was a member of the school board for the city of Grant, Nebraska and, following consolidation, Perkins County.

From 1993 to 1999, Hughes served on the Nebraska Ethanol Board, a state agency created to promote development of the ethanol industry. From 2006 to 2014, he served on the Nebraska Wheat Board, a state agency tasked with promoting the domestic and foreign consumption of wheat and wheat products. In 2012 and 2013, he served as chair of U.S. Wheat Associates, a national organization that promotes export sales of U.S. wheat.

Dan Hughes (born June 5, 1956) is a politician from the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. In 2014, he was elected to the Nebraska Legislature, representing a district in the southwestern part of the state. Hughes is a member of the Republican Party.

Hughes was born on June 5, 1956, in Imperial, Nebraska, to a family of farmers. He graduated from high school in Venango, Nebraska, in 1974. In 1976, he received an associate degree in agriculture from Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado. In 1977, he married Jessie Hahn; the couple eventually produced two children.

The three candidates agreed that water, which the McCook Gazette called "arguably the hottest topic in Southwest Nebraska", and property taxes were among the most salient issues for the 44th District. The candidates emphasized their backgrounds rather than the differences in their political positions. Berry noted his experience as mayor, and said that his background in education would help him in addressing what he suggested was insufficient state funding for schools; he noted that he had grown up doing agricultural work in the Nebraska Panhandle, and said that he had sufficient knowledge of agriculture to represent the district effectively. Hughes called attention to his career as a farmer, and stated that his experience on the school board and in various commodity organizations had given him communication and relationship-building skills that would be useful in the legislature. Stroup also emphasized his farming background, and argued that his experience operating a business would make him an effective legislator.