Aaron Sanderford, Nebraska Examiner

Conway, whose former boss often throws elbows at the Republicans he disagrees with, said three years of Democrats running much of Washington, D.C., has clarified the value of GOP unity. She said that’s how to grow the party and not shrink it.

She emphasized “winning over whining” and said Republicans must stop ceding the early voting advantage to Democrats. She said candidates should focus on issues working people care about, including security, affordability, fairness and education.

“Unity never means you giving up your principles and ideas …,” Conway said to applause. “Unity means that we have growing pains as a party. We talk about our differences. We decide what we can live with. And we march forward together.”

A party divided?

Conway addressed a convention center audience of more than 200 people who paid the Nebraska Republican Party for the chance. Among them were many who helped secure control over the state party last year from a team tied to then-Gov. Pete Ricketts.

Her speech came the same night the party’s Executive Committee removed longtime Sarpy County GOP chair Nora Sandine from her post and a day before the party might remove the vote of four GOP-affiliated groups from the Executive Committee.

Her talk took expected shots at President Joe Biden for his age and Vice President Kamala Harris for her work schedule. She repeated her criticism that Democrats can’t define genders. She said Republicans should fight Democrats on abortion, even at a political cost, because lives are at stake.

Former Nebraska GOP gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster speaks to a Nebraska Republican Party booster club crowd Friday in Norfolk, Neb. He paid to bring former top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway to speak to the group. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

She joked about Trump’s tweets. She did not discuss any of the federal or state indictments the former president faces in Washington, D.C., New York, Georgia or Florida.

“They’re in our way,” Conway said. “They could win again.”

The Nebraska Democratic Party had no immediate comment late Friday.

Conway said the GOP must make itself more welcoming to political independents who do not “want to wear the hat of either team” and are among the fastest-growing groups in politics. She said they don’t eat and sleep the 24-hour news cycle.

“They do not trust government,” she said. “They really are free agents.”

Herbster takes stage again

Charles Herbster, the former GOP gubernatorial candidate who paid for Conway to return to Nebraska, clarified the evening’s theme when he introduced her. He said Republicans need to leave the past behind and talk about the future “if we want to win.”

Conway served as a political adviser during Herbster’s 2022 GOP primary race for governor. Herbster, a top Trump donor, lost that race to Gov. Jim Pillen despite securing Trump’s endorsement and a visit to the state.

Herbster told the Examiner this year that he has not decided whether he might run for office again. He left the door cracked for a possible run for the U.S. Senate against Ricketts in 2024 or 2026 and a possible rematch for governor with Pillen in 2026.

Conway notes GOP legislative wins

But Conway, reached after her speech, said Herbster’s political future, whether as a donor or a candidate, is not the message she wanted the audience to take away from her visit. She said she wants them to work on working together.

Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Eric Underwood speaks as former GOP gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster and former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway listen on Friday in Norfolk, Neb. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

She praised the new leadership of the state GOP for its focus on helping conservatives win more legislative races over moderates and for the conservative majority working with a Democrat or two to pass more bills that engage the party’s base.

Conway highlighted this year’s passage of permitless concealed carry legislation, a stricter abortion ban, the Opportunity Scholarships bill and the tax relief package as wins for Nebraska Republicans.

Nebraska Democrats have described the gun law as dangerous and the abortion ban as a threat to bodily autonomy. They’ve criticized the tax credit for donating to scholarships for K-12 private schools as a threat to public school funding and the tax package as risky.

What’s next

The Nebraska Democratic Party has announced that it is hosting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and State Rep. Justin Pearson of “The Tennessee Three” during its Sept. 29 Ben Nelson Fundraising Gala in Omaha.

Attendees on Friday included State Sen. Robert Dover of Norfolk, State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard and State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City. State Board of Education member Kirk Penner also attended. U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., of Norfolk, also stopped by before Conway spoke.

Conway said she hopes Republicans can “find the eight things we can agree on and leave the other two on the table.” She said people who aren’t already on the red or blue team just want to be “a part of something that works.”

In a brief follow-up interview with the Examiner, she mentioned being excited for U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer’s re-election bid “and other members of Congress.” She did not mention Ricketts by name, whom Herbster has blamed for his loss to Pillen.

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.

The 32-page report, issued Friday after a year of work, said many of the 57 total complaints Sarpy County received about the 2020 general election and the 2022 primary election raised concerns about voting in other states and jurisdictions beyond the investigator’s scope.

Handful of problems

The report identified a handful of local problems, including one poll worker who thanked a voter for showing ID before Nebraska required voters to show one, which election experts said could have spooked someone else in line without an ID from voting.

Another poll worker was reported for taking photos of the precinct to promote voting on social media, which made a fellow worker nervous that the images might have captured a vote on a secret ballot. State law allows selfies in polling places.

One voter reported being given the wrong ballot for the wrong congressional race in Sarpy County, but the person had already turned in their ballot, so it was too late to vote again. It happened in the first election after new congressional maps.

And two people who had moved outside Sarpy County, but had not yet registered to vote at their new addresses, were found to have voted at the Sarpy precincts where they previously lived. They should not have been allowed to vote, Investigator Bill Black said.

“Both only voted one time and voted in Sarpy County improperly due to human error,” he said.

The report said each of those issues could be fixed with better training of poll workers. But 54 interviews and evidence “could not substantiate the claims of fraud put forth with the information available,” Black wrote.

Questions persist

During a news conference about the report, one voting accuracy activist questioned Polikov and Black, a former investigator with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and Attorney General, about the accuracy of local voting rolls and voting machines.

At one point, the Nebraska Voter Accuracy Project activist expressed skepticism of Black’s explanation that he had started the investigation questioning the security of Nebraska elections and ended it with greater confidence about the voting system.

She questioned letting Secretary of State Bob Evnen’s office decide which precincts get randomly audited to check voting machine counts. County election officials hand-count at least one precinct in each county to verify machine counts.

Evnen on Friday applauded the Sarpy report describing it as “thorough and complete.”

“I appreciate the detailed work done by the Sarpy County Attorney’s Office and the Sarpy County Election staff to address potential election concerns,” he said. “I take election security very seriously. We will review and consider the suggestions found in the report.”

Voter Accuracy Project leaders have described their group as nonpartisan. But they have promoted their work with GOP populist groups, including the Nebraska Freedom Coalition and Nebraskans Against Government Overreach, and at county GOP meetings.

Fight behind the scenes

Sarpy County Republicans, like their counterparts statewide and nationally, are in the thralls of a fight over the direction of the GOP. Many are deciding whether to align with the party’s former values or former President Donald Trump.

It fueled changes in party leadership of the Nebraska Republican Party in 2022 from a team loyal to then-Gov. Pete Ricketts to one demanding more loyalty to Trump. It’s also part of what’s behind this year’s fight over Sarpy County GOP leadership. Populists have argued the election for chair was “rigged.” Defenders of the chair have said it was a legitimate election.

Trump, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has pressured state and local election officials nationally by raising concerns about voting machines after his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden. Trump lost Nebraska’s 2nd District to Biden that year, winning in Sarpy but losing in neighboring Douglas County.

Trump faces federal charges stemming from allegedly mishandling classified documents and state charges in New York for alleged hush money payments to a porn star. He is facing primary challenges from several GOP candidates, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Battleground district

Polikov — like many Republican officials who have been pressed since November 2020 to investigate election fraud claims in battleground states and districts — has had to walk a political tightrope.

Nebraska’s perennially purple 2nd Congressional District has flipped back and forth in recent presidential elections, going for President Barack Obama in 2008, for Mitt Romney in 2012, for Donald Trump in 2016 and for Biden in 2020.

Polikov acknowledged having had his own questions about the potential vulnerabilities of voting machines to hackers, despite Sarpy’s machines not being connected to the Internet. He also credited state and local election officials for their work to run elections and help with the probe.

Recommended changes

After a six-month investigation and six more months to prepare the report, Polikov agreed with the report’s finding that there was no crime to prosecute, only some recommendations for election officials and lawmakers.

Among them: The report calls for the Legislature to consider shortening how many years of information about people’s voting attendance should be made public. It also recommended tweaks to how long it takes to remove someone from the voter rolls.

Some of those tweaks might have to occur at the federal level, because many of the processes for removing someone from the voter rolls are governed by federal law and years of election-related case law, voting rights experts explained.

Polikov defended spending tax dollars on the investigation and said it would have cost as much to use a sheriff’s investigator, who would have had less time to devote to it. He said Black found what voters should want to hear about local elections.

That they are “free and fair.”

“The conclusion of this investigation was, that … it didn’t provide any fruit or thoughts of any misdeeds, wrongdoing or voter fraud,” Polikov said. “That’s the question we were looking for, and the answer is that none was discovered.”

Trump is set to visit nearby Council Bluffs on July 7.

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.

LINCOLN — State Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln announced Wednesday that she was resigning from the Legislature, telling supporters in a campaign video that she is “all in” on her May 2 general election race to unseat Nebraska’s top Democrat, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird.

Geist finished second to Gaylor Baird in Tuesday’s three-way primary election. Gaylor Baird received 49% of the vote. Geist tallied 34%. Nonprofit executive Stan Parker received 17%. Those totals are likely to tilt more the mayor’s way after a Wednesday afternoon count of 5,500 early votes by the Lancaster County Election Commission.

In the video, Geist said she had let Gov. Jim Pillen and the Clerk of the Legislature know she was stepping down. She said on the floor Wednesday afternoon she would be stepping down as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday.

“I’m going all in on this race, spending full time running for mayor of Lincoln,” she said. “We have only four more weeks to go. We’re going to take this city. We’re going to make Lincoln a better, safer more affordable city for everyone.”

Until Pillen appoints a replacement, Geist’s absence could complicate the Republican legislative majority’s ability to overcome an ongoing filibuster by State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh and others, based on her objection to efforts to pass anti-trans legislation. It takes a minimum of 33 votes to end debate. Several controversial bills received just 33 votes.

The last Republican mayor of Lincoln was Mike Johanns, who served two terms in the 1990s, resigning in late 1998 to run for governor.

Gaylor Baird’s campaign had no immediate comment on Geist’s decision. The mayor said Tuesday she was pleased that Lincoln voters rejected negative ads and mailers about the city, funded largely by a handful of GOP donors backing Geist.

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.

Former Secretary Betsy DeVos, together with her husband, Richard, and Browns owner Jimmy Haslam donated $3.25 million of the $3.3 million Nebraska campaign finance forms list as being raised by the American Federation for Children. Both families have served on the group’s board.

The American Federation for Children advocates for charter schools, vouchers and tax credit scholarships for private schools.

So why did the group send $710,000 to a Nebraska affiliate during the 2022 election cycle? It did so to help Nebraska pass something like Legislative Bill 753, the Opportunity Scholarships Act.

State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha sponsored the bill, which the Revenue Committee has advanced to the floor. Opportunity Scholarships would cut the amount of state income taxes paid by donors to private school scholarship programs aimed at needy students at private schools.

Linehan’s bill has 31 co-sponsors, including two Democrats who have received donations from the school choice group: State Sens. Justin Wayne and Mike McDonnell, both of Omaha. They and Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha have said they want students to have choices.

Lauren Garcia, who directs the Nebraska Federation of Children, said her group and its national organization are pushing for more options for students in Nebraska. She said the federation fights teachers unions that want “to protect their education monopoly.”

She said the groups are grateful for the support of donors such as DeVos and for her “advocacy for a quality education for every child, no matter their ZIP code or family’s income.” Linehan’s daughter, Katie, is a spokeswoman for the national organization.

Said Garcia: “While thousands of Nebraskans support school choice, the political muscle of the teachers union has stripped too many lawmakers of the courage to do what is best for kids.”

The Nebraska State Education Association, the union that represents Nebraska’s public school teachers, had no immediate comment Friday. The union has testified that the bill risks sending money that would otherwise be in the public treasury to fund private schools.

Nationally, the American Federation for Children spent about $9 million in 2022 to help candidates who embrace its goals: charter schools, vouchers, tax credit scholarships and education savings accounts, the last of which Iowa adopted this year.

Nebraska is one of two states that hasn’t approved one of those four policies. The other is North Dakota, which is mulling a bill this session, too.

The Nebraska Federation for Children spent more than $800,000 on nine legislative races during the 2022 election cycle, including the $710,000 sent from the national group, according to Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission year-end reports.

The Nebraska group’s top local donors included Ken Stinson, chairman emeritus of the Kiewit Corp.; U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb.; and James Timmerman of Springfield, Neb., part of a well-known cattle ranching and feeding family.

Among the year’s highlights: The group spent $119,000 to help State Sen. Brad von Gillern of Omaha win his race against Cindy Maxwell-Ostdiek. It spent $57,000 to help State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha win and $115,000 against Kauth’s opponent, Tim Royers.

The group also spent $124,000 against State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln and $64,000 to boost his opponent, Russ Barger. Dungan won anyway. And it spent $54,000 against legislative candidate Angie Lauritsen in Sarpy County, who lost to State Sen. Rick Holdcroft.

Lauritsen described the sinking feeling of seeing the outside money continue flowing into her race, including wave after wave of direct mail. She said she was targeted for wanting to protect the excellent public schools that power growth in Sarpy County.

“We’re just going to keep seeing the escalation by these outside groups, because the action is at the state level,” Lauritsen said.

Gavin Geis of Common Cause Nebraska said he has seen outside spending every year in Nebraska legislative races, “but not like this.” He said the increased spending by such groups drives up the costs for ordinary Nebraskans to run for public office.

“I have never seen an organization like this spend this much money and be almost exclusively funded by out-of-state interests,” Geis said. “This is the biggest cash dump I’ve seen in a long time.”

Katie Linehan said Nebraska is a priority for the American Federation for Children, because “we finally see an opportunity to give kids and families who want more educational options that chance.”

She said local donors and supporters organized first, then reached out to the national group.

Dunixi Guereca of Stand for Schools of Nebraska, which advocates to protect public schools and public school funding, said people should understand the costs of “out-of-state money being spent on “out-of-state solutions.”

LB 753 would cap the annual tax credits claimed at $25 million a year for the first three years. In the fourth year, the credit could increase by 25%, as long as 90% of the credit is claimed. The bill’s credit will hit $100 million a year, starting in 2033.

Supporters of the bill have said it would offer families of children who want but cannot afford a private education a chance to obtain one.

In other states that have passed similar measures, about 70% of the credits have gone to the families of students already attending private schools.

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.

State GOP chair Eric Underwood let the State Central Committee decide whom he should support.

The party’s steering committee voted 62-41 to support California lawyer Harmeet Dhillon over current RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who is fighting to retain her position. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell finished third with 14 votes.

Some grassroots Republicans have criticized McDaniel and other party leaders for Republicans’ performance in the 2020 and 2022 elections.

Dhillon rose to national attention by siding with former President Donald Trump in his legal battle in a defamation suit brought by adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. Dhillon has gained momentum in recent weeks with support from conservative commentators and some Trump loyalists.

Trump has avoided taking sides in the RNC fight. McDaniel appeared to have the backing of several central committee members from Douglas and Sarpy Counties. Dhillon has the backing of Trump donor Charles Herbster.

“Sometimes change is what we need,” Herbster posted on his Facebook page after meeting with Dhillon in California. “By any standard, our party has underperformed over the past several election cycles. We cannot afford to fail in 2024.”

Some speakers during Saturday’s meeting at the Aloft hotel defended McDaniel, including state GOP committeeman J.L. Spray, who has a vote in the race, too. Spray said McDaniel has done a good job of involving more national committee members in the party’s work.

Another delegate said McDaniel is a strong fundraiser.

Christina Campbell, a Lancaster County delegate and legislative aide to State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, argued for change at the national level. She acknowledged that McDaniel raised a lot of money but said election results didn’t impress.

Underwood told the group he had rescinded his initial endorsement of McDaniel and offered up his vote for RNC chair to the State Central Committee because he had heard from a number of Nebraskans who wanted something different.

“It’s something I wanted to do to represent the will of the people,” Underwood said.

The RNC leadership vote will be held during the group’s Jan. 25-27 meeting in California.

Update on headquarters investigation

State GOP leaders talked about the need for party unity moving forward. But the wounds from last summer’s battle to wrest party control from Gov. Pete Ricketts’ team were visible in some discussions.

Party leaders shared an update from former Nebraska State Patrol Col. Tom Nesbitt, who runs a private investigations firm, on a reported break-in last July at party headquarters in Lincoln, hours after the new GOP leadership team took over.

Nesbitt, who was hired by the party to investigate, described walking into the state offices July 10 and seeing missing security cameras, physical and digital files. Cabinets and drawers were left open with “files out of them.”

Nesbitt expressed frustration that the Lincoln Police Department decided no crime had been committed, although he praised the Lincoln officer who investigated the case. He said he and his investigators are still working to get the final police report, which wasn’t made public.

Preliminary police reports estimated the loss of property and data at about $1,000.

Some missing items, including the security cameras, have been returned. But Nesbitt said people tied to the former leadership team did not hand over passwords to access security camera footage in the cloud and said he had to recover 200 gigabytes of deleted emails. He said he would keep investigating.

“It’s wrong,” Nesbitt said. “I don’t care who it is, who’s involved. Someone has orchestrated this whole thing. I guarantee you that, and I’ll get to that person at some point.”

Backing consumption tax

The central committee approved a series of resolutions, including one supporting passage of the EPIC consumption tax, which would replace local property taxes and state income taxes with a larger state sales tax.

State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard is pushing for a petition drive in 2024 for the change. He said it would help fix the state’s “broken” tax system and make Nebraska more affordable and accessible.

The Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry has argued that a consumption tax would require a state sales tax rate of between 12% and 20% to replace the tax revenue currently collected. They worry the change would make Nebraska uncompetitive.

Delegates opposed to the consumption tax resolution argued the bill would cede local control over spending to regional boards. One man said he worried about letting some out-of-town person decide whether local people need a fire truck.

Another delegate said getting rid of the property tax system was worth the risk for burdened property owners.

Pressure state senators on abortion

The party also passed a resolution to pressure GOP state senators to “protect the unborn.” The resolution included an exception for protecting the life of the mother. Proponents overcame a David City man’s late push to allow no exceptions.

“The babies that are being excluded in this resolution, are they being given equal rights?” he argued. “They are not.”

The committee also rolled up the welcome mat for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and any other Senate and House Republicans who voted in December for the omnibus bill to keep the federal government funded through the end of the fiscal year.

The committee passed a resolution saying none of the offending GOP members of Congress would be invited to speak or allowed to attend any state or county GOP event in Nebraska until Jan. 3, 2025.

Both of Nebraska’s of U.S. Senate seats are up for election in 2024. U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and incoming Sen. Pete Ricketts will both be facing the voters that year, and both will likely get McConnell’s help.

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.

Fortenberry filed notice in late June that he intended to appeal. He was convicted in March of lying to or misleading FBI agents investigating foreign funds that were illegally donated to Fortenberry’s campaign. Federal law prohibits the use of foreign funds in congressional races.

Friday’s 61-page filing with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals repeats many of Fortenberry’s legal arguments from his trial, before a federal District Court jury in California found him guilty.

His appeal argues that he should not have been tried in central California, but in Nebraska or Washington, D.C., where federal agents interviewed him regarding a California fundraiser.

“Venue for a criminal prosecution is proper only in the State and district in which the defendant committed the acts that constitute the alleged crime,” his lawyers wrote.

It also argues U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld should have given the jurors a narrower definition of the crime of misleading agents, which Fortenberry’s lawyers had sought.

They said there is no way to know whether jurors convicted the congressman based on what Fortenberry’s team argued is a misinterpretation of the scope of the law.

Blumenfeld ruled against both arguments — venue and materiality — at the District Court level. The jury unanimously found that Fortenberry’s actions were both material and criminal.

The Justice Department investigated Fortenberry as part of a broader push to explore campaign donations from a foreign national, Lebanese billionaire Gilbert Chagoury.

Prosecutors said a group of Lebanese-Americans gave Fortenberry $30,000 in campaign donations during a 2016 fundraiser in Los Angeles. The money came from Chagoury, who lives in Paris.

Fortenberry had spoken to Chagoury’s organization, In Defense of Christians. It works to condemn persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East.

Investigators recorded a call with Fortenberry and an informant who told Fortenberry at least three times that some of the money raised in 2016 was probably from Chagoury, which made it illegal.

Fortenberry denied knowledge of illegal contributions during two interviews with the FBI after the call. His lawyers argued that he either had bad cell service, that the congressman spaced out during the call or that he didn’t recall specifics about the call.

Fortenberry was sentenced to two years’ probation, a $25,000 fine and 320 hours of community service. The sentence is on hold until his appeal is resolved.

Fortenberry resigned his seat in Congress at the end of March. Then-State Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk won a special election in June to serve out the remainder of Fortenberry’s term.

Flood is running against Democratic State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln this fall for a full two-year term.

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.

Nebraska Democratic Party leaders on Tuesday criticized callous comments by a featured speaker for the Nebraska Freedom Coalition, a group of conservatives that helped a new team take over the state GOP.

Democrats, in a series of social media posts, condemned conservative comedian and conspiracy theorist Alex Stein for a joke set in which he congratulated murdered Minnesotan George Floyd for being “two and a half years sober.”

Seconds later, Stein, who headlined the Freedom Coalition’s Nebraska Freedom Festival on Aug. 27, told the crowd it was “a bad joke.”

“That’s evil,” he said, smiling as some in the crowd laughed.

‘Just as extreme’

A jury convicted former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin of murdering Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, after Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes. Floyd’s death sparked months of protests and political organizing against police brutality across the nation and in Omaha.

State Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said Tuesday that the new state GOP is “just as extreme” as the Freedom Coalition that hosted Stein and “Stop the Steal” protest organizer Ali Alexander. She cited a state GOP email this month that asked Republicans, “Is your torch lit?”

To her, the email’s wording evoked the 2017 protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white nationalists clashed with others. Three people were killed and more than 30 were injured. Former President Donald Trump blamed the violence on “many sides.”

“There is no sunlight between the GOP and the Freedom Coalition,” Kleeb said.

Kleeb’s social media posts criticized the “extremist behavior” of the Freedom Coalition and the Nebraska GOP. The Freedom Coalition gained notoriety in July by helping conservatives remove the longtime chairman of the state GOP, Dan Welch, during the state party convention.

Delegates replaced him with Eric Underwood of the Lancaster County GOP.

‘No more Nebraska Nice’

The Nebraska Republican Party, through a spokeswoman, had no immediate comment Tuesday.

Kleeb, in one of her tweets, wrote: “We stand with Pres. (Joe) Biden as he calls out MAGA Republicans for their words and actions that are destroying our democracy.”

She said Nebraska Republicans are creating a “hostile environment” where political conversations are impossible “because the leaders of the Nebraska Republican Party and their attack dogs literally call us ‘groomers,’ ‘predators’ and ‘call girls.'”

The Freedom Coalition’s Twitter account in recent weeks has used similar language against Nebraska Democrats, including Kleeb, State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha and Democrats running for local school boards and/or the Nebraska State Board of Education.

Late last week, the Freedom Coalition tweeted that the GOP “has been called everything from racist homophobes to fascist murderers by the Left.” They said they were expected to “play nice, watch our words, and take the high road.”

“We watched cities across the country burn as the media reported ‘fiery, but mostly peaceful protests’ during the Floyd riots; yet, we couldn’t say a word because, ‘you are racist,'” they wrote in one tweet from Friday.

“Well enough is enough — no more Nebraska Nice!”

Stein, who made his name on reality TV as a villain-by-design on “The Glass House,” has built a social media brand by trolling city councils in Texas, and Democratic politicians in Washington, D.C. He has appeared on Info Wars with Alex Jones.

Humor that ‘isn’t for everyone’

He did not immediately return messages seeking comment Tuesday, but retweeted the Democrats’ video of his speech.

During his set in Nebraska, Stein described former First Lady Michelle Obama as “a boy,” the video shows. He said there is “nothing gayer than driving an electric car.” He laughed at the disproven trope that the COVID-19 vaccine might somehow alter a person’s sexuality.

He said people who took the vaccine “are gay.” He then said, “It’s OK to be gay as long as you don’t try to transition my daughter into a boy,” language advocates who have defended the rights of trans people have described as transphobic.

Stein also described the need for conservatives to be “civilly disobedient” in ways that won’t get them arrested. He said Democrats have “weaponized the FBI” and that they “cannot let them weaponize against us. We have to weaponize against them.”

Freedom Coalition Executive Director Patrick Peterson said the group appreciated Stein’s “ability to bring the insanity we now see every day to light and appreciate his culture jamming towards political figures and events through his comedic approach.”

“If his type of humor isn’t for everyone, thank God we still have the First Amendment right in this country,” Peterson said. “The right of free speech is protected.”

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.

Long-odds candidate David Wright of Ewing, a long-time conservative who has advocated replacing income and property taxes with a sales tax on goods and services called a consumption tax, is trying to get on — as a nonpartisan candidate.

Wright, a former Republican who has re-registered as a nonpartisan, should hear next week if he turned in enough valid signatures to petition onto the fall ballot.

Wright spoke at a Kearney event organized in July by the Nebraska Freedom Coalition to help topple the former leaders of the Nebraska Republican Party.

His campaign declined to comment Friday about the signatures. Wright is a former rancher who helped found the Independent Cattlemen of Nebraska. He owned weekly newspapers in Neligh, Ewing and Clearwater, which his campaign website said he sold in 2019.

A partisan nonpartisan

An interesting quirk: His pick for lieutenant governor on a potential nonpartisan ticket is still registered as a Republican. Tom Dierks, a social worker and a former legislative candidate in Lincoln, is the son of former State Sen. Cap Dierks.

The Secretary of State’s Office said it could find no state law that prevents Dierks from running as a nonpartisan candidate for lieutenant governor while being a Republican.

Nebraska election law prevents party-registered gubernatorial candidates from running as nonpartisans if they belong to a party. It does not ponder running mates.

Potential impact on GOP

If Wright makes the fall ballot, he could pull some conservative voters away from the GOP nominee for governor, University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen of Columbus.

Another wrinkle could be the write-in candidacy of former GOP Secretary of State candidate Robert Borer, an election denier who has said Pillen is not his GOP nominee.

He has until Oct. 28 to file the affidavit to have his write-in votes counted. He will also have to pay a $1,050 filing fee. He had not filed as of Friday afternoon.

Borer, in a message to supporters Saturday, described his effort as a “war” on “the self-appointed ruling class.” He said “patriots” should vote against Pillen and Blood.

Wright, Borer and Libertarian candidate Scott Zimmerman of Omaha could shave off some of the 258,000-voter registration advantage that the GOP and its candidates enjoy over Democrats in Nebraska.

But Pillen remains the race’s favorite over Democratic State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue.

GOP, Dems react

New Nebraska Republican Party chairman Eric Underwood said in a previous interview that he respects the right of Republicans and former Republicans to speak out and run.

But, he said, the party and his fellow Republicans support Pillen as their nominee.

State GOP spokeswoman Meg Kallina preached unity behind Pillen and other candidates of principle, calling him the “governor-elect.”

“Republicans are the party of conservative values,” Kallina said in a statement Friday. “One message, one goal…one team.”

Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said she sees something else entirely, a Republican Party that is “torn at the seam.”

“They do not have a unified party,” Kleeb said. “There are at least three competing factions that will divide up their voters, giving Democrats a clear path, not only for Congress and governor, but for the Legislature as well.”

What’s next

Under state law, Wright must gather 4,000 signatures statewide, including 750 from each of Nebraska’s three congressional districts. Verification takes days.

Election officials at the state and county levels will have to hurry because the November ballot must be finalized by Sept. 16 to print ballots for early voting.

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