Another challenger has entered the open race to represent the Omaha-metro area (NE-02) in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Kishla Askins, a retired Navy officer and physician assistant with over three decades of military and government service, announced Tuesday she would be campaigning for the Democratic nomination in Nebraska’s 2026 race.
“In combat, I’ve looked into the eyes of patients who just needed to know someone cared,” said Askins in her campaign announcement video. “I couldn’t save everyone—and I carry that weight with me every single day. It has shaped every decision I’ve made and every fight I’ve chosen.”
Most recently, Askins served in the Biden-Harris Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). She is a Omaha resident and graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Askins military bona fides include leading missions in Iraq and support missions in Afghanistan, coordinating relief efforts in Haiti, and being apart of the team which responded to the bombing of the USS Cole in October of 2000.
Her military service later took her to Washington D.C., where she served as Senior Defense Advisor to U.S. Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly. Askins says her proudest accomplishment of this time was helping to pass mental health provisions into the National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed into law by then President Obama. Afterwards, she served as a congressional liaison to the Navy Surgeon General and a senior military advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.
Askins’ campaign website sparsely mentions her stances on policy matters. But her campaign launch video headlines “preparing our nation for a warming climate,” defending health care and retirement benefits, growing the Offutt Air Force basem, modernizing the VA, and “fighting to make the good life an attainable reality for all Nebraskans.”
Within the Biden administration, Askins described her work as “Leveraging data, governance, and policy to help our nation better care for veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.”
Askins resides in Omaha with her wife, Alison, and their dog Bentley.