John S. McCollister (born April 29, 1947) is an American politician who served as a member of the Nebraska Legislature from 2015 to 2023, representing an Omaha district.
[1][4] In 2008, McCollister ran as the Republican candidate for a seat on the Nebraska Public Service Commission, which regulates railroads, major utility lines, and passenger carriers in the state; he sought to unseat the incumbent, Democrat Anne Boyle.
[5][6][7] In early 2009, McCollister was named executive director of the Platte Institute for Economic Research,[5] a nonprofit organization often described as "conservative",[8] and self-described as "Nebraska's first Free Market think tank".
McCollister declared that the legislature needed more businessmen and fewer lawyers; Lathrop maintained that his training in mediation would help him to find satisfactory compromises between conflicting interests.
[22] In August 2019, McCollister was widely quoted in the national press for having stated that "The Republican Party is enabling white supremacy in our country", after the 2019 El Paso shooting.
[23] A column written in December 2019, after the Midwestern U.S. floods, emphasized the importance of renewable energy for Nebraska in the face of climate change.
[24] During the 2020 presidential election, McCollister endorsed the Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden and encouraged other Republicans to "get on the right side of history".