(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
OMAHA — Tim Anderson, a Republican candidate for the Legislature in District 38, received a $750,000 contribution to his campaign committee from Tax Relief Nebraska, the organization behind Initiatives 440 and 441 to legalize online sports betting in Nebraska.
Anderson has said he supports the initiatives because he supports property tax relief.
“I support achieving property tax relief,” Anderson said in a statement. “I’m tired of seeing so many people struggling in my district on how high property taxes are. I’ll support any responsible idea that helps solve the property tax crisis driving families and farmers out of our state.”
The $750,000 was a donation funneled into Anderson’s campaign not to support his election but to fund television advertisements in support of online sports betting with the goal of getting a more favorable candidate rate.
The contribution has cost Anderson the support of multiple key Republicans, including Sen. Pete Ricketts, State Treasurer Joey Spellerberg, and State Auditor Mike Foley, all of whom pulled their endorsements of the candidate on Saturday.
“When I first had conversations with Tim, he had not decided on what he was gonna do with regard to the online sports gambling,” Ricketts said. “But clearly he’s made a decision to prioritize the out-of-state sports gambling interests over our young people and our college sports, and so I can no longer support that.”
“I think he’s made a very, very big rookie mistake by aligning himself with the gambling interest in our state,” Foley said. “Very, very disturbing to me, because I know how toxic this will be to our state if they succeed in getting this into our state constitution. We’ll never get it out of there. So I’m very, very deeply concerned about that, and I want to send a message not only to Tim, but to others across the political spectrum, we cannot have this in our state.”
“This is an issue that I’m passionate about. And, you know, been out really talking about voting against 440 and 441,” said Spellerberg. “And so, I just was disappointed that he took the contribution.”
Spellerberg specifically took issue with the promise of property tax relief made by advocates for the online sports betting petition.
“They’re saying it’s $166 million. What they’re not telling you is that’s over a ten-year period, so that’s just over $16 million a year,” Spellerberg said at an Omaha event on Sunday. “Nebraska collected $5.6 billion in 2025. That’s three-tenths of 1% of property tax relief. For us to get that amount of relief, Nebraskans would have to bet and lose $800 million over that 10-year period. So we’ve got to ask ourselves, is this worth it?”
Anderson responded to the news to The Plains Sentinel.
“Those guys are great leaders and I wish them nothing but the best.”
Speaking to McCook News Now, Anderson’s opponent, Republican Janell Anderson Ehrke, criticized the size of the contribution and questioned its effect on a legislator’s independence. She said that her loyalties are to the people of District 38 and that “Nobody owns me.”
Spellerberg, Ricketts, and Foley all stated that they will not endorse Ehrke and will instead stay neutral in the District 38 race.
— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.