Blood was born in McCook, Nebraska. She attended Adams Central High School in nearby Hastings, Nebraska. In 2008, Blood was elected to the Bellevue, Nebraska, City Council as the at-large representative. She was re-elected to the city council in 2012. She previously served as executive director of the La VistaChamber of Commerce. Blood has been a member of the Bellevue Public Safety Foundation Board since 2005, serving as chair for seven years. The organization supports police and fire department activities in Bellevue. Blood currently lives in Bellevue with her husband, Joe. They have three children and nine grandchildren.
Political career
2014 election
In 2014, Blood was defeated by Tommy Garrett in a race to fill the two years remaining of a four-year legislative term vacated by state senatorScott Price, who resigned in November 2013. Garrett had been appointed to the seat by Governor Dave Heineman. In Nebraska, an appointed state legislator must run in the next election to keep their seats. Blood and Garrett, who both ran uncontested in the nonpartisan primary, moved onto the general election. In the primary, Blood received 1,706 votes, or 49.4%, of the 3,453 votes cast. Garrett received 1,747, or 50.6%. In the general election, Blood received 4,179, or 46.3%, of 9,024 votes cast. Garrett received, 4,845 votes, or 53.7%.
2016 election
In 2016, Blood defeated Republican incumbent Tommy Garrett with 7,959, or 51.4%, of the 15,488 votes cast. Garrett received 7,476 votes, or 48.3%. Blood's campaign focused on "common sense tax relief" and eliminating taxes on social security and military retirement once Nebraska lawmakers address a $1 billion budget shortfall. Blood said her history of "evidence-based budgeting" will help with tax reform. She also has said education and public safety are among her top priorities.
Legislative tenure
2017 session
Blood serves on the Agriculture, General Affairs, and Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs committees. She also introduced LB85, which called to make people ineligible to run for elected office if they held any outstanding penalties from the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission. The bill, which passed on a vote of 48-0-1, also prohibits anyone from being appointed to an elective office until any civil penalties and interest are paid. Blood said LB88 was a priority to make Nebraska a more “military-friendly state,” which directly affects her district—home to many people, who work at Offutt Air Force Base. Ultimately, LB88, or the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact and the Nurse Licensure Compact, passed on a vote of 49-0-0.
2018 session
During the 2018 session, Blood met directly with the Nebraska Supreme Court and negotiated reduced fees for military spouses seeking to join the Nebraska State Bar Association. The senator's LB81, introduced to increase the handgun permit fee from $5 to $25, failed to pass on a 16-26 vote. Blood needed 25 votes for the bill to pass. In Nebraska, the gun permit fee has remained $5 since it was introduced in 1991. Blood said the proposed increased cost would have helped mitigate increased labor costs to process the permits. The senator said Nebraska's amount of gun permit applications have quadrupled in the last decade. Blood's LB692, which called to require the state department of corrections to conduct a regular staffing analysis report, became a part of the Judiciary Committee's LB841, which passed on a 42-1-6 vote.
Teletype machines for blind, deaf veterans
In May 2018, Blood brought to light that the veterans affairs hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, did not have teletype machines capable of receiving text-based calls from deaf, hearing-impaired, or blind veterans. The machines are used to accommodate the basic needs of those veterans including filling prescriptions, scheduling appointments, and contacting the nurses hotline. The lack of these devices causes many veterans to arrange alternate transportation for VA services. Blood learned of the issue when she talked to Shawn Wilbur, head of the Nebraska chapter of the Blinded Veterans Association. Blood then brought the issue to B. Don Burman, director of the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System, VA officials at The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and President Donald Trump. In response to Blood's concerns, the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System ordered the machines to be used at the VA hospital in Omaha.
