Nebraska Republican Party chairman Eric Underwood speaks during a Turning Point Action event with Charlie Kirk in Omaha in April 2024. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — The Nebraska Republican Party’s spring of discontent with some of its elected leaders gave way this weekend to what the party hopes will be a fall of reconciliation and a rally against Democrats.
Most would expect the state GOP’s central committee to endorse the five members of Nebraska’s all-GOP federal congressional delegation, as it did Saturday during a meeting in Hastings.
But the Nebraska GOP has spent more than two years sorting out disagreements between some in the party’s grassroots and others those partisans call “the political establishment.”
Reconciliation after January
The party made headlines in January by stressing parts of its constitution that required it to endorse only candidates who asked for its backing — and none of the congressional delegates sought the endorsement.
The party’s constitution doesn’t have such a requirement for general election endorsements. Such endorsements seemed likely in May, when former Omaha mayor and U.S. Rep. Hal Daub proposed endorsing former President Donald Trump and the full federal delegation in the general election.
But the congressional endorsements stalled when some balked at embracing the status quo, days after some contentious primary elections.
Some still unhappy
Some Republicans still grumbled Saturday when the party endorsed U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts, along with U.S. Reps. Mike Flood, Don Bacon and Adrian Smith.
Many of those resisting are loyal to candidates who lost in the primary, especially backers of Dan Frei over Bacon in the Omaha-based 2nd District.
The Nebraska Freedom Coalition issued a statement after the endorsement expressing frustration about the endorsements, saying the incumbents had not supported the new GOP.
Endorsements broadly supported
But several people attending told the Examiner the incumbents were supported on a voice vote by about 2-to-1.
Party leaders issued a statement Sunday saying they sought to consolidate GOP support and reinforce the party’s “foundational values.”
Eric Underwood, state party chairman, said in a statement it was time for the party to respect its primary voters, who overwhelmingly sided with the incumbents.
“We support the candidates whom Republicans chose in the Primary Election,” Underwood’s statement said. “We are the party that is OF, BY, and FOR the PEOPLE.”
Delegation grateful
Fischer thanked the group Sunday for its support. She is likely to face nonpartisan Dan Osborn of Omaha.
“It’s critical that we have a strong and unified Nebraska Republican Party focused on winning this November,” she said in a statement. “Together, we will elect Republicans up and down the ballot to stop the dangerous and failed Democrat agenda.”
Bacon, in a statement, thanked the GOP for “respecting the wishes of Republican voters in the 2nd District.”
“We are a big-tent party, and I look forward to their support so we can keep this district red!” said Bacon, who faces Democratic State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha.
The state GOP also endorsed a slew of down-ballot Republicans in contests ranging from school boards to the Legislature.
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