Lincoln – Senator Cavanaugh isn’t specific enough these days.

There are two of them in the Legislature now, brother and sister, Machaela and John, both Omaha state senators. Look in a history book, and there’s a third: John Cavanaugh, their father, who served in the Legislature from 1973 to 1977 before leaving to seek and win election to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Machaela took her seat in the Legislature in 2019, and brother John arrived this year, representing the same midtown legislative district that his father did, although its boundaries have changed.

The Lincoln Journal Star reported that having a brother and sister serving together has never happened before in the Nebraska Legislature;. While both have set out on different legislative paths, both are focused on efforts to meet the needs of the disadvantaged and the poor.

Machaela, director of development at “Women Who Run” in Omaha, an organization that supports and promotes progressive women running for office in Nebraska, has centered on health and human services needs at the Legislature.

John, who comes to Lincoln with the experience of working in the Douglas County public defender’s office, says he’ll focus on criminal justice reform.

Look at their bill introductions, and you will find hunger, health, family and medical leave, children with disabilities and youth rehabilitation on Machaela’s list. Meanwhile, 10 of John’s bills are related to criminal justice.

At home in Omaha, the first senator in the family watches the Unicameral occasionally, including the NET livestream of the Judiciary Committee hearing on his son’s first bill.

“We try and keep up,” he said, adding that he and his wife Kate are very proud. “We didn’t encourage it. They apparently picked up politics along the way.”

Family matters to John, the father: In 1980, after two terms in Congress, he decided not to seek reelection to the House in order to return home and center on his family.

In his first weeks in a Legislature whose patterns and norms have been substantially altered by the coronavirus pandemic, John, the son, says he has been encouraged by evidence that senators “truly take to heart the desire to be nonpartisan.”

That fundamental aspect of Nebraska’s unique one-house Legislature was protected last month when Republicans joined with Democrats in rejecting a proposed rules change that would have ended secret ballot election of legislative leaders and committee chairpersons.

The younger John Cavanaugh has been vocal at committee hearings: “I ask a lot of questions; I want to dig deep. That’s an opportunity for fact-finding. Perhaps it’s the trial lawyer in me.”

He says he’s “looking forward to floor discussion” that will begin once senators complete a schedule of all-day committee hearings implemented in response to pandemic challenges.

Machaela Cavanaugh says, “I love seeing him every day,” even if they rarely have time to talk.

The two Cavanaughs have seats on opposite sides of the center aisle that divides the 49 legislative desks. And their offices are about as far apart as they could be: John has a first-floor office; Machaela is headquartered in the tower on the 11th floor.

“John and I are extremely close,” she says. “We are Number 4 and Number 5” in a family of eight brothers and sisters. “John’s a guy who shows up for everybody.”

In her third legislative year, Machaela says she intends to “focus a lot of energy on children and families.”

Sometimes, dealing with those needs can be “heartbreaking,” she says, “but also very rewarding and important and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

Yes, Machaela says, she plans to seek a second four-year term in 2022 – which could give her even more time in the Legislature with her brother.

This story first appeared in The Lincoln Journal Star. It has been edited. It was distributed as a member exchange story by The Associated Press.