(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
It’s official: Brett Lindstrom will be on the November ballot for governor, this time under the banner of the recently formed America First Party.
Lindstrom filed this morning with the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office, hours ahead of today’s 5 p.m. deadline for new-party candidates. The campaign announced the filing in a release issued Tuesday.
Last week the Nebraska Supreme Court unanimously rejected a challenge to the America First Party’s recognition. The party held its nominating convention Saturday and selected Lindstrom as its candidate for governor. He is joined on the ticket by lieutenant governor candidate Mike Picard of Omaha, a Navy veteran and director of ENVY Volleyball Club.
“I am excited for the opportunity to join the America First Party and grateful to accept the party’s nomination for Governor,” Lindstrom said. “Nebraskans deserve another choice in this election. They should not be forced to choose between reelecting a governor who, in just three and a half years, has pushed the state to the brink of a fiscal crisis and a political party that has increasingly moved away from our state’s common-sense values.”
America First Party Chairman John Cartier, a longtime progressive activist, cast the nomination as a home for Republicans and conservatives unhappy with the current GOP.
“Having an ‘R’ next to your name shouldn’t give anyone a free pass for reckless spending, abuses of power or avoiding accountability,” Cartier said. “Brett has shown he is willing to think independently and put Nebraska ahead of party politics.”
Lindstrom, 45, of Omaha, represented District 18 in the Legislature from 2015 to 2023. He finished third in the 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary behind Jim Pillen and Charles Herbster. He launched a congressional bid last year, dropped out in January, and left the Republican Party for nonpartisan status in late February. He registered with the America First Party last week after his independent petition failed. County officials validated only 3,358 of the 5,765 signatures he submitted; a large share, especially in Lancaster County, were rejected as fraudulent.
Last month, Lindstrom said he was looking for a third-party “pirate ship” to keep his gubernatorial hopes alive. At the time, he said he had been approached by the Nebraska Working People Party and the Libertarian Party.
“Even if it doesn’t succeed in the sense that I don’t win, it’s still a worthy effort to bring this to people’s attention and present a different option,” Lindstrom said. “If presented the option, yeah, I’ll do it. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do, in my opinion.”
The campaign is built around what Lindstrom calls the Nebraska Doctrine — fiscal discipline, economic growth over government growth, and the rule that recurring spending must be backed by recurring revenue.
Secretary of State Bob Evnen has until September 11 to certify the general-election ballot. If certified, Lindstrom and Picard will join Republican Gov. Jim Pillen and Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly, Democrat Lynne Walz, and Legal Marijuana NOW nominee Rick Beard on the November 3 ballot.
— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.