(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
OMAHA — In 2022, there was only one candidate for Secretary of State on the general election ballot, Republican Bob Evnen. This year, Evnen lost his primary race, and now his challenger, Scott Petersen, is facing three other candidates heading into Election Day.
Paul Rumbaugh (Working People), Sarah Slattery (Democrat), and Bob Krist (America First) spoke at a forum hosted by the Free Speech Society on Saturday. Petersen was also invited but did not attend, citing other priorities that morning.
Paul Rumbaugh, the Working People’s Candidate
Paul Rumbaugh, a project manager for the Douglas County Clerk of the District Court’s office, was recruited by the newly formed Nebraska Working People Party in late August. He is one of three candidates on the new party’s ticket, which includes party chair Robin Richards for U.S. Senate and Macey Budke for Congress in CD3.
Many have had questions about the new party’s finances.
“I know there have been lots of rumors running around,” Rumbaugh said. “To my knowledge, Pete Ricketts had no say in this whatsoever, and I think he would probably be pretty upset to see me, Robin, or Macey walk into a room anywhere in the state.”
For the party’s actual donors, however, Rumbaugh couldn’t say.
“Because of the backlash that happened almost immediately on this, some of the donors do not want to be put out there, which by law they do not have to be,” he said. “And frankly, with the rhetoric that came out [against] the people that became executive officers that same day, I don’t blame them.”
The Plains Sentinel asked if the America First Party had reached out to Rumbaugh.
“They did not, and I would’ve hung up,” he said. “The America First was a party already, previously. It was the Nazi Party. Charles Lindbergh’s party. They danced the line of treason in the ’30s and ’40s. You don’t name your party after that.”
As for his own political record, Rumbaugh registered as a Republican when he turned 18 “because most Nebraskans do that,” but he became disillusioned with the party during the 2004 presidential election.
“I couldn’t be part of that party that treated a veteran like John Kerry the way it did in the 2004 election,” Rumbaugh said. “The Republican Party leadership is now just making fun of veterans and pulling funding and doing that, and that’s not something I can be a part of.”
Rumbaugh registered as an Independent when he moved back to Omaha in 2008, and for the last three presidential elections, his vote has been for “Not Trump.” He still sees himself as someone standing outside the two major parties.
“I haven’t aligned with the Republican leadership or the Democratic leadership, to be honest with you—both leaderships—for probably over 20 years,” Rumbaugh said.
Sarah Slattery Calls Nebraska the ‘Gold Standard’
Sarah Slattery has a diverse resume, which includes a degree in graphic design and culinary school, as well as experience as a chef for the vineyard and tasting room she opened with her parents in Cass County.
Her political experience includes running for the state legislature in District 2 against Rob Clements in 2022, working to oust Terri Cunningham-Swanson from the Plattsmouth Public School Board, and serving as the chair for the Cass County Democrats in 2024.
Slattery chose to campaign for Secretary of State largely to prevent Evnen from running unopposed, as he had in 2022.
“Nobody ran against him four years ago. He won the Republican primary and got his job back,” Slattery said. “So I got a hold of the state party and said, ‘Listen, I’m willing to just be a name on a ballot, because I think that it’s important that people have choices, and we can’t leave statewide races blank.’”
While election integrity has been a focal point for Republicans, Slattery sees no major cause for alarm in Nebraska, referring to its election systems as the “gold standard.”
“Our elections are already very safe, secure, transparent. They’re run really well,” Slattery said.
Slattery recounted a conversation with Hall County Election Commissioner Tracy Overstreet, who said other states were “jealous” of Nebraska’s uniformity of election infrastructure.
“In Missouri, they use, like, four different software things depending on what part of the state you’re in,” Slattery said. “Then they have trouble communicating with each other. That’s where errors might happen. But in Nebraska, every county, everybody uses the same stuff, so it all meshes together really well. And yeah, so I have no plans on changing any of that. It’s amazing.”
And rather than scaling back mail-in voting, Slattery would be open to 100% statewide voting by mail.
“I mean, it works in other states. I think Colorado does it, Washington does it, but it would save money, which seems to be like something we need to start thinking about in this state,” Slattery said. “It would be up to the counties, but you know, it works really well. And the fact that the people in the 11 counties don’t have to request their mail ballot—every registered voter gets a ballot—I think that’s what drives voter turnout in those counties.”
Bob Krist on Partisan Influence
Krist, an Air Force veteran and former state senator (District 10), made a decision to jump into the race when incumbent Bob Evnen was defeated in the Republican primary earlier this year.
“If Bob Evnen would have made it through the primary, I probably wouldn’t be standing here right now,” Krist said, “because I agree with 85% of what he’s done, with the exception of attaching himself strictly to the Republican Party.”
Krist said that it was pressure from party leaders that got Evnen to turn over voter registration information to the Trump administration earlier this year.
“That’s the only reason he turned it over,” Krist said. “He had the pressure coming from above, and he had the pressure coming from the governor … I would never turn over the voter registration information to the feds.”
The Plains Sentinel asked Krist why he wouldn’t have turned the data over, and he said that it was a matter of trust.
“We need to trust election commissioners and the clerks in the county to make sure that those rolls are pure, and that the right people are voting, and it’s fair,” Krist said. “That’s part of the trust process of this whole thing. In talking to NACO [Nebraska Association of County Officials], I have no doubt that we do not have illegal immigrants voting in this state.”
Krist cited his experiences as a state legislator in his campaign, specifically the bill passed with the help of Deb Fischer to allow counties with fewer than 10,000 voters to vote exclusively by mail.
“That piece of legislation was introduced in 2005 at the request of [former Secretary of State] John Gale, who’s endorsed me, by the way,” Krist said.
He also said that NACO supports the provision.
“They’re very in favor of expanding the right to vote and getting away from anything resembling Jim Crow. We don’t want to go backwards, right? We want to go forward.”
Candidates Focus in on Petersen
Petersen did not participate in the Saturday forum, citing other events in Hastings and in Lincoln that same day.
“I hated to miss it, but there were so many other important things that I would do, it’s like, no way I could justify it,” Petersen told The Plains Sentinel.
In absentia, Petersen was the target of criticism from the candidates.
“The worst thing that could happen to this state is if Petersen is elected. There is no doubt in my mind,” Krist said.
Slattery had similar words of alarm.
“We’ve kind of got an imminent threat in Mr. Petersen, who wants to drastically change how everything gets done, and that’s scary,” Slattery said. “The implications are terrifying, frankly.”
Krist indicated that he has two commercials “in the can” that he aims to run, which will call “a spade a spade.” He also seemed to find common cause with Slattery in taking sides against Petersen.
“You heard Sarah in terms of what she said, and she’s saying the same thing,” Krist said. “So, there’s the Democrat, there’s the kind of independent voice, and I think that’s very important for all of us to gang up on him [Petersen] in this way, because he’s not gonna be good for Nebraska.”
Petersen’s Platform for Nebraska Elections
The Plains Sentinel was able to speak with Petersen after the forum and get his response to some of the remarks. Krist referred to Petersen as an “election denier,” referring to the contentious aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. The Plains Sentinel asked Petersen his stance on who won that election.
“Does anyone believe Joe Biden got 80 million votes? No one believes it, I’m sorry,” Petersen said. “So, do we have a problem? Probably.”
Petersen did have positive things to say about how Nebraska’s elections are run.
“In Nebraska we’re fortunate on a lot of levels,” Petersen said. “We have actual paper ballots that we hand-mark, so if we have to actually audit or prove that the counts are accurate, we can hand count, right? So that’s a good start. A lot of states don’t have that, and they are more vulnerable to machines and software manipulating the votes.”
Petersen sees Nebraska’s election problem as one of transparency and trust.
“People, you know, see other things going on around the country, and they ask about Nebraska, and our secretary of state or the county clerks aren’t able to be transparent or answer those questions,” Petersen said. “So then they lose confidence in the election system. So job number one—be transparent and restore that confidence.”
While Petersen’s opponents took aim at his stance on mail-in ballots, Petersen turned his focus to the wide voting window leading up to Election Day, which he sees as the target for moneyed interests to influence the outcome.
“Right now, Nebraska is under assault,” Petersen said. “And when I say that, I mean outside money coming into our state. All these groups, NGOs, they all spend money … and they harvest or collect votes for 35 days, and we end up losing close elections. And quite honestly, it corrupts Nebraska politics. I want Nebraskans deciding Nebraska’s elections.”
Petersen also aims to return to “true absentee” voting, which would be reserved for specific situations like military personnel serving abroad or voters physically unable to travel to a polling place.
And for the 11 rural counties that currently have all-mail voting, Petersen indicated room for compromise.
“The counties that have all mail-in [ballots], the reason they did that is a good reason,” Petersen said. “It was a good idea, because there was a problem. If you live a long way from the polling place, it absolutely is prohibitive, right? So there are ways we can address that, and I’m looking forward to working on it.”
Closing Arguments
In their closing arguments ahead of Election Day, many of the candidates shared similar themes. Rumbaugh said that he thinks Nebraskans should have more choices than just two parties.
“A Republican might not be able to vote for a Democrat, but they could vote for me as a Working People Party [candidate],” he said. “Democrats? Same thing—doesn’t wanna vote for the Democrat, but won’t vote for the Republican. Is there an option? And we need that.”
Slattery made a similar case, aiming to run the office in a nonpartisan way.
“This office needs a shift back to true neutrality and following the rules and the laws as written,” she said. “And that’s what I plan to do. So whatever’s in the law is what we’ll do.”
Krist made his case, leaning on accusations of election denial.
“I think you have a choice to make as a voter. Do I vote for someone that is an election denier running my elections? I don’t think so,” he said. “If you want culinary expertise, you know who to vote for. If you want legislative negotiating experience, I’m the guy.”
For Petersen, he’s optimistic.
“We got a big job, but it’s going in the right direction,” he said. “I’m excited, looking forward to November 3rd. We’re in position to win big, and, yeah, it’s gonna be a great day.”
— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.