State Sen. Dan McKeon tearfully announced his resignation from the Nebraska Legislature on Tuesday ahead of a scheduled debate to expel him from the body after accusations that he… He made a sexually charged comment of a legislative staffer and inappropriately touched her during an end-of-session party last year.
McCune, a Republican from rural south-central Nebraska who served just a year before his resignation, announced his resignation and apologized on the legislative floor just minutes before debate that would have almost certainly included a harsh condemnation of McCune.
“My words and actions were negligent, regardless of intent,” McKeon said. “I accept responsibility for the impact of my words and actions.”
“The past year has humbled me,” McKeon said, his voice cracking. “It requires thinking, listening and learning. Accountability means not only admitting my mistake, but committing to growing from it. And I take that responsibility very seriously.”
His behavior was a departure from what many of his fellow lawmakers found to be his defiant and volatile stance toward the accusations that led to his resignation. McKeon’s exit came one day after the 10-member Executive Council, the authority’s board of directors, voted unanimously to bring a motion to fire McKeon to the full Legislature for a vote.
The unprecedented move followed a complaint from a staffer working for another lawmaker that McKeon approached her and another aide during a party on May 29 and engaged in a brief conversation about everyone’s vacation plans. The woman said McKeown told her she should “lie down” on her vacation and patted her buttocks. McKeon responded by “making a bad pun,” telling the woman that she and her husband should “go to Hawaii and have a Hawaiian night,” according to McKeon’s attorney.
McKeown also responded that he patted the employee on the back and may have accidentally touched her buttocks, but insisted that if he did, it would have been unintentional.
McKeown’s departure comes as more attention is focused on him Sexual harassment within state legislatures Nationwide – including Nebraska. The charges against McKeon came about 15 months after the chaos that unfolded when another Republican state lawmaker, former Sen. Steve Halloran, Read a graphic account of rape From his best-selling memoir On the Legislature Floor in which he repeatedly mentioned the name of a fellow legislator, making it appear as if that legislator was the subject of an assault.
An external investigation found that Halloran had violated the agency’s workforce sexual harassment policy, and the Legislature’s governing executive board issued a resolution. Letter of reprimand. But the action drew strong criticism from several lawmakers who said Halloran should have faced a vote of censure by the entire body. Halloran left office in January 2025 due to term limits.
This time, the Executive Board took a tougher stance after several lawmakers and another outside investigation found that McKeon had a history of making inappropriate comments and jokes during his time in the Legislature. The investigator also found that McKeown had ignored directions from the Chairman of the Executive Board not to attend events where staff would be present, and appeared on the same day at another party attended by the woman who made the complaint against him.
The investigator also found that a text message McKeon sent to another employee sharing an office with the woman, in which he said she “seems difficult to work with,” could constitute retaliation against her.
The report determined that McKeon’s conduct did not rise to the level of actionable sexual harassment or retaliation under state or federal discrimination law, but did violate the Nebraska Legislature’s workplace harassment policy.
McCune became at least the 57th lawmaker in the country to leave office via expulsion or resignation since 2017 following allegations of sexual misconduct.
He also faces a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace following a Nebraska State Patrol investigation into his interaction with employees last May. McKeown has pleaded not guilty to the charge.