(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
WEEPING WATER — U.S. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana visited Nebraska on Sunday afternoon, campaigning with Pete Ricketts at the Nebraska Steak Fry as part of a swing through three Midwestern states.
Ricketts has hosted the Nebraska Steak Fry almost every year since 2017, bringing high-profile Republicans to the Cornhusker State and drawing guests and local candidates for a steak dinner.
This year’s event, according to organizers, drew a record sold-out crowd of more than 1,000 people to the Cass County Fairgrounds in Weeping Water to hear Sen. Kennedy.
“Our steak fry’s about celebrating Nebraska agriculture and letting people know that, you know, this is our number one industry, that it drives our economy. It’s the heart and soul of what we do,” Ricketts said. “It’s great to have Senator Kennedy here to talk about all the important things we’ve got going on in Washington, D.C., and help us celebrate Nebraska agriculture.”
Attendees included U.S. Senator Deb Fischer, Representatives Mike Flood and Adrian Smith, and House candidate Brinker Harding, among many others.
Pointed Political Humor in Campaign Speech
Kennedy served five terms as Louisiana state treasurer before winning election to the U.S. Senate in 2016. He was a Democrat before switching to the Republican Party in 2007.
He has made a name for himself in Washington for his comedic turn of phrase — something made clear when he opened his keynote with a joke about a priest and a rabbi sitting next to each other on an airplane.
Kennedy stumped for Ricketts with familiar talking points on tax cuts, cutting red tape, and securing the border, but the speech was peppered with jokes that made it sound more like a stand-up set than a campaign address.
“If President Biden, when he was in charge, discovered life on Mars, the first thing he would’ve done was send it money,” Kennedy said. “I watched him for four years push on a door that was clearly marked, ‘Pull.’ So when President Trump became president and Republicans took over the Congress, we had a mess.”
Osborn was a frequent target of Kennedy’s pointed humor.
“This guy learned to lie, but he’s still learning to talk,” Kennedy said of Osborn. “And this bunch, and you watch, if he’s elected, he will fall in line behind Ocasio-Cortez and Mayor Mamdani.”
Kennedy specifically castigated the modern American Left, which he called the “Lululemon wing” of the Democratic Party.
“We don’t deserve to be governed by people who think our children should be able to change genders at recess. We don’t deserve to be governed by people who carry around Ziploc bags of kale to give themselves energy. … And for the record, to each his own, but kale to me tastes like I’d rather be fat.”
Warning sign ahead of the midterms?
In addition to Nebraska, Kennedy visited Des Moines, Iowa, to campaign with U.S. Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, and Wichita, Kansas, to campaign with Sen. Roger Marshall.
The Plains Sentinel asked Ricketts whether high-profile campaigning in normally strong Republican states was a sign of concern ahead of the midterms.
“We’re gonna take every election seriously, we’re gonna work hard every election, and we do an annual steak fry to help get people, you know, motivated to turn out,” Ricketts said. “And it’s great to have John Kennedy here to be able to tell people the same message: We just get out and vote.”
Signals for 2028?
Past steak fry speakers have included several future presidential candidates, including Mike Pence, Tim Scott, and Ron DeSantis. Kennedy’s stops in Nebraska and Iowa, coming on the heels of Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Council Bluffs on Friday — Vance is widely viewed as a possible 2028 contender — raised the same question about Kennedy.
Kennedy has hinted earlier this year that he might run in 2028.
The Plains Sentinel asked Ricketts whether he thought that might be the case.
“You would need to go talk to John Kennedy whether or not he’s gonna announce running for president,” Ricketts said. “I’m just happy to have him here because he’s a good friend, and as you can see, he knows how to fill a room.”
Kennedy spent much of the time before and after his speech greeting guests and posing for dozens of selfies, even as staff tried to steer him toward the exits to catch a flight.
Before the event, The Plains Sentinel asked Kennedy directly whether he had presidential aspirations.
“We’ll worry about next year when it comes,” Kennedy said.
He said more than once that he was there to stump for Ricketts and to urge Republicans to vote.
“We’re gonna win this race by 10 or 15 points if everybody votes,” Kennedy said. “Look at it this way — if dead people can do it, so can you.”
— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.