(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
FREMONT — The Plains Sentinel caught up with Governor Jim Pillen on the campaign trail as he made his case for another four years in office. Pillen held a rally in Fremont on Thursday evening, the home turf of Democratic opponent Lynne Walz — a point he did not let go unmentioned before a crowd of over 100.
“Your other candidate from Fremont’s a nice person,” Pillen said. “I worked for two years with her — 100% of the time she voted against everything I worked for. 100%. So, if somebody’s saying, ‘You know, I’m gonna vote for Lynne because she’s from Fremont, she’s a nice lady,’ when our democracy goes to hell — it’s on our back. We have to make votes based on who we are. ‘Nice person’ doesn’t count.”
Brett Lindstrom and Signature Bounties
Walz will not be the only other name on the ballot. In addition to Rick Beard of the Legal Marijuana Now Party, former 2022 gubernatorial candidate Brett Lindstrom has joined the race on the newly formed America First Party line.
The Plains Sentinel asked Pillen whether he was concerned Lindstrom would split the Republican vote.
“You know, I don’t pay attention — I’m not a politician,” Pillen said. “I’ve been campaigning across the state for six years. We have historic support. Nebraskans know what’s going on. They’re not gonna get duped.”
Lindstrom’s first gubernatorial bid this year was cut short after a large share of his petition signatures were found to be fraudulent. On Thursday, Pillen and Secretary of State Bob Evnen called for legislation to prohibit paying a bounty per signature — a ban first introduced by Democratic state Sen. DiAnna Schimek in 2008.
“Senator Schimek introduced it and got it right,” Pillen told The Plains Sentinel. “We need to at least get back to that, what took place in ’08. I said it today — we don’t need bounties in Nebraska. The only time we should talk about bounties is when we’re watching Gunsmoke.”
No Budget Crisis?
The Legislative Fiscal Office now projects this biennium about $208 million short and the next one about $840 million short. Pillen, however, told the Fremont crowd there is no “budget crisis.”
“We don’t have a budget crisis. It isn’t because of the budget. It’s because we need to shrink government and fulfill the obligation as we voted in an income tax cut. It’s important we decrease the ‘spend’ by a billion dollars, and we’re making that happen.”
Pillen told The Plains Sentinel that the gap closes first by refusing the spending growth baked into the roughly $800 million shortfall, and that much of the rest is refunds running above forecast.
“We’re decreasing spending every day,” Pillen said. “Number one, that $800 million gap says that we are going to increase spending 2.5% each year — we’re not going to do that. So that’s half of it. And then the other piece is we’re in an over refund. So really, you know, we’ve done a ton of work, and in the big picture, that’s over three years. So think about this — that’s over $21 billion, and we’ve gotta find $200 million. That’s pocket change.”
Imported Beef and a ‘Fly-To’ State
After the Trump administration announced it would temporarily lift tariffs on imported beef, all five members of Nebraska’s federal delegation protested. Pillen said he spoke with President Trump about beef prices, which he told The Plains Sentinel is a supply-chain problem, not just a supply problem.
“As I told the president, you can bring as much beef into the United States as you want. It’s not going to change the price of beef, because the grocers are who set it,” Pillen said. “It’s historic demand — the demand’s not gonna change. And we need to have farmers and ranchers be more successful by having more competition against the foreign-owned packers. That’s what we need to do so we quit giving the topsoil away.”
With the economy and affordability front of mind for voters this fall, Pillen told the crowd Nebraska is posting economic wins.
“We are a fly-to state. We are not a fly-over state,” he said.
Pillen touted income tax cuts and $350 million in property tax relief achieved by removing the community-college levy and creating the Education Future Fund for K-12. He also highlighted $3.5 billion in additional federal funds secured for Nebraska over the past three and a half years, with 40% of those dollars dedicated to health care.
“I don’t like going to Washington, D.C., because I see the meter running,” Pillen said. “But I’m not an ideologist — I’m a pragmatic conservative that says, ‘If we don’t get money home to Nebraska, it’s going other places.’”
On keeping young people in the state and attracting jobs, he pointed to the Nebraska NexGen Scholarship Program.
“We’re keeping our best and brightest here. So the first step is to make sure we have scholarships to be able to make sure kids don’t leave because our neighbors are giving them better scholarships. So we fixed that, and we have more work to do,” Pillen said.
For jobs, he focused on biofuels.
“Our ethanol industry’s growing. We’re doing maritime fuel. We’ll be doing aviation fuel,” he said. “We have extraordinary careers for young Nebraskans, and as I say, who the hell wants a ‘job’? We have extraordinary careers.”
Toward the Finish Line
Pillen also described the uphill fight conservatives face with a line from the U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
“She said, ‘Well, Jim, you know, we’ve got a problem as conservatives.’ And she said, ‘You know, we don’t need government, we don’t like government, and we’re not very good at it.’ And the Dems, the Dems need government, they like government, and are pretty good at it.”
While some polls have suggested a tight governor’s race — tighter still if votes split to Lindstrom — the Cook Political Report rates Nebraska a “Solid R.” Pillen, however, said he is taking nothing for granted.
“The ‘ask’ that’s really gigantic is us conservatives, we have to get out of our comfort zone. We have to get comfortable being uncomfortable, talk to our family, talk to our neighbors, talk to people we go to church with,” Pillen said. “We have to make sure that we get out and vote. I think that’s really, really incredibly important.”
Election Day is November 3.
— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.