Jasmine Harris enters Omaha mayoral race [Video]

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Jasmine Harris announced her candidacy Tuesday for mayor of Omaha.

“I think one of the biggest things we see right now is that disconnect with the leadership and how they’re not addressing the everyday problems that people face,” she said Tuesday. “And so really focusing in on public safety, healthy communities, affordable and safe housing — those are the main things that we’re trying to dig into with the campaign.”

Harris is a policy and advocacy director at RISE, a Nebraska nonprofit focused on prison programs and reentry support. In that role, she has worked make criminal justice issues visible, including boosting engagement of National Day of Empathy, a day dedicated to “increasing awareness about the impacts legislation has on people who have experienced the criminal justice system, their families, and communities.”

She has collaborated in efforts to pass justice reform legislation in Nebraska with LB50 in 2023; LB20 in 2024, seeking to remove the two-year waiting period to …