Matt Williams (Nebraska politician)

In the 2015 legislative session, Williams was named vice-chair of Banking, Commerce, and Insurance Committee; he was also appointed to the Judiciary Committee.

When the nonpartisan primary election was held in May 2014, Williams received 6348 of the 7368 votes cast, or 86.2% of the total. Sotelo received 1020 votes, or 13.8%. Since there were only two candidates running, both moved on to the general election.

In the November 2014 general election, Williams received 7599 of the 9747 votes cast, or 78% of the total. Sotelo received 2148 votes, or 22%.

In September 2013, Williams stated that he was considering running either for the Nebraska governorship or for an open seat in the Nebraska Legislature. In late October, he announced that he would seek the legislative seat representing District 36, consisting of Dawson, Custer, and the northern third of Buffalo Counties, and including the cities of Gothenburg, Lexington, Cozad, and Broken Bow. Under Nebraska's term-limits law, the incumbent, John Wightman, a Republican from Lexington, was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term.

Williams, a Republican, faced a single opponent in the contest. Luis Sotelo, a Lexington Democrat, was a college-planning specialist working for EducationQuest, a Lincoln-based nonprofit established to improve access to post-secondary education in Nebraska. A native of Chihuahua in northern Mexico, Sotelo had been brought to the United States by his parents at the age of five. He had graduated from Lexington High School in 2007 and from Northwestern University in 2011, then taught school in Kansas City with the Teach For America organization.

Williams served as chair of the Nebraska Bankers Association in 2003–04. In 2008, he joined the board of the American Bankers Association; in 2012–2013, he chaired the organization.

During the 1980s U.S. Farm Crisis, Williams was forced to sell part of his family farm in effort to keep the Gothenburg bank alive The bank attempted to give farmers as much flexibility as possible in managing their loans, and over the course of the farm crisis, only two of their farm customers declared bankruptcy. During and after the crisis, Williams and other residents aggressively recruited industries; eventually, four Fortune 500 companies set up operations in the Gothenburg area.

In 1973, however, his father unexpectedly died, and responsibility for the family bank devolved upon Williams. He joined the bank as vice-president, commuted between Gothenburg and Lincoln until he completed his Juris Doctor degree in 1974, then moved to Gothenburg. In 1979, he assumed the presidency of the bank.

Williams worked on the family farm in his youth. He graduated from Gothenburg High School in 1967, then attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, receiving a degree in business administration in 1971. In 1969, he married nursing student Susan Kay Wright; the couple eventually produced two children. Intending to become a lawyer rather than to carry on the family's farming or banking operations, he attended the University of Nebraska College of Law.

Matthew H. ("Matt") Williams (born February 5, 1949) 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 south central part of the state. Williams is a member of the Republican Party.

Williams was born on February 5, 1949, in Gothenburg, Nebraska. His great-grandfather, Henry L. Williams, had settled in the Gothenburg area in the early 1890s, where he farmed and ranched before founding the Gothenburg State Bank in 1902. Williams's grandfather and then his father served as the bank's presidents.