× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

A Pierce County professor and rural historian plans to run for Congress in Nebraska’s 3rd District.

Democrat Paul Theobald announced Wednesday he plans to run for the rural 3rd District seat.

He said he wants to reverse the trend of rural decline.

“We can reverse this in the policy arena,” Theobald said. “Bring vitality back to rural communities, bring a sense of community back to rural communities.”

The incumbent, Republican Rep. Adrian Smith, is expected to seek re-election.

Theobald is the former dean of the school of education and counseling at Wayne State University. He lived in Nebraska for about a decade and then moved to take a job out-of-state.

In 2010, Theobald and his wife, Maureen, bought their current property in Pierce County, he said, and they returned for good in 2015.

He works remotely at the University of Southern Indiana, teaching an online class and helping to build a Ph.D. program.

He and his wife pasture-raise purebred heritage breed hogs in Pierce County.