About Austin

Meet Austin

I grew up in Norfolk watching my parents break their backs on the meatpacking line. When Tyson shut the plant down, I was eight years old. I learned early what big corporations do to towns like ours.

I became the first in my family to go to college and built a career exposing corruption in both parties. I took on the corporations rigging our economy and our politics at our expense.

Last year,  I married the love of my life. Then, everything hit at once.

Dad got cancer. Mom's employer collapsed. Executives got paid, workers got screwed. She didn't have the heart to tell us, even when the bank took the house. When she took her own life, the eviction notice was in her pocket.

I did what she taught me: fight for the people you love. My husband and I took on the bank and got our family home back. I moved in to care for my dad, who is now in remission.

Our story isn't unique. It's Nebraska's story. We work hard, we look out for our neighbors, and we don't need anyone on the coasts telling us how to live.

So many of us feel politically homeless right now: Republicans, Independents and even Democrats. Politicians sell out to donors and party bosses, and try to divide us with culture wars and identity politics rather than focusing on actually improving our lives. 

I'm running for Congress because I think we deserve a choice. We deserve someone who knows there’s more that unites us than divides us, and who can never be bought.

I'm Austin Ahlman. Nebraska is my home. This is my fight. You are my people.

Let’s take Nebraska back.