Free Republic

Vice President Harris is leading former President Trump in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District by 8 points, according to a new survey. The poll, commissioned by GOP firm Remington Research Group, shows Harris with 50 percent support compared to Trump’s 42 percent in the eastern district encompassing the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. The lead is outside of the poll’s margin of error. Third-party candidates, meanwhile, received little support in the area. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. garnered just 2 percent support; Cornell West earned 1 percent and Jill Stein and Chase Oliver each received less than 1 percent, per...

Walz had a blood alcohol concentration of .128 at the time of the incident, according to a court transcript. Gov. Tim Walz has said in past campaigns that he wasn’t actually drunk when he was pulled over for driving under the influence in 1995, but a court transcript from the case tells a different story. Walz was working as a teacher in Alliance, Neb., his home state, when he was pulled over Sept. 23, 1995 for going 96 mph in a 55-mph zone. “A strong odor of alcoholic beverage was detected emitting from Mr. Walz[‘s] breath and person,” says a...

This coming November, Nebraska voters will likely be faced with two ballot measures that deal with abortion in varying degrees. Though they have similar names, they would have radically different impacts on abortion in the state. Protect Our Rights The first proposed ballot initiative is the “Protect Our Rights” measure, which would establish a constitutional “right” to abortion up until the point of viability — an arbitrary guideline usually considered to be around 24 weeks gestation though babies born as early as 21 weeks have survived. Notable supporters include Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Nebraska. The measure reads: All...

Former New Jersey governor helps launch Republicans for Harris By David Wildstein, August 04 2024 8:28 pm Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman was one of 24 Republican elected officials to endorse Democrat Kamala Harris for president on Sunday. “I was a proud Republican, but Donald Trump is unfit to lead our nation. We saw during his four years in office how he consistently chose himself, his pursuit of power, and his billionaire friends over the American people while spewing lies and spreading chaos at every turn,” said Whitman. “It’s time to move forward by electing Vice President Kamala...

The Liberal Party of Nebraska became the ninth official affiliate of the Liberal Party USA last month, according to an announcement from the state organization made via social media. According to a map of state affiliates maintained on the Liberal Party USA website, a ninth state has been added since the national party announced at the beginning of June that it was planning a convention. Additionally, available information on the Liberal Party of Nebraska indicates that the organization went public in the second half of June. Later that same month, it announced it had officially become an affiliate of the...

After the demise of Roe, abortion advocates channeled Chicken Little, claiming the sky would fall on pro-life candidates because outraged voters will elect their pro-abortion opponents. Pro-Abortion Candidates are Losing The media touted a State Supreme Court race in Georgia as a bellwether of races to come. Former pro-abortion Democrat Congressman John Barrow ran against incumbent Justice Andrew Pinson because as solicitor general he successfully defended the Heartbeat law. Barrow centered his entire campaign on abortion. Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion lobby groups endorsed him. Barrow lost by ten percentage points. During West Virginia’s primary, eighty-seven percent of the candidates...

The ruling requires the administration to keep processing new applications to export LNG as the Texas-led lawsuit proceeds. Attorney General Ken Paxton obtained a temporary injunction in his lawsuit against the Biden administration over their decision to halt liquefied natural gas exports. Joined by 15 other state attorneys general, Paxton secured the win Monday after a federal district court judge in Western Louisiana ruled that the new administrative plan should be paused as the case proceeds. “This ruling means [President Joe] Biden’s illegal ban does not prevent Texas natural gas from reaching market while the lawsuit continues,” stated Paxton in...

Today, supporters of the “Protect Women & Children” ballot initiative submitted more than 205,000 signatures to the Nebraska Secretary of State, including at least 5% of registered voters in over 90 counties. 10% of the state’s registered voters, about 123,000 signatures, and at least 5% of registered voters in 38 of 93 counties were needed by July 3rd to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Nebraska Family Alliance released the following statement celebrating the signature submission: “In less than 100 days, over 205,000 Nebraskans signed the Protect Women & Children ballot initiative. Nebraskans are motivated to stand up to...

There is of course nothing wrong with organizing to elect party officials; it is what partisan politics is about. The problem in this case is in the result: It defeats the fundamental purpose of a political party, which is to elect its members to political positions. This requires the party to nominate and support candidates who have broad support and have the best chance to win election. The rise of the MAGA movement has resulted in the party endorsing candidates who are challenging the party’s incumbents. We can see this happening now. The county party has rescinded its endorsements of...

Donald Trump has secured the delegates needed to win the Republican nomination. Joe Biden has secured the delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — In one of the most closely watched congressional races this year, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska is looking to defeat a fellow Republican in Tuesday's primary election in his quest for reelection. He'll have to do it without the support of the state Republican Party, which has endorsed his primary challenger. Bacon, whose district includes the state's largest city of Omaha, isn't the only one being snubbed. The Nebraska GOP, which was taken over by those loyal to former President Donald Trump during a contentious state convention in 2022, has refused to endorse any of...

A Washington grand jury has indicted former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., on charges he made false statements during a campaign finance probe, months after a federal appeals court threw out his 2022 conviction on similar charges in California. The indictment, released Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, accuses Fortenberry of making false statements to investigators during a July 2019 interview in the District of Columbia and during a March 2019 interview at his residence in Lincoln, Neb. Both interviews were connected to an investigation into illegal political campaign contributions from a foreign national to Fortenberry’s...

State leadership and delegation chairs from several Libertarian Party chapters, including those in Florida, California, Colorado, Tennessee, Minnesota, Vermont, Nebraska, and the District of Columbia, have extended an invitation to independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., urging him to seek the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination. The letter, published on Friday by Libertarians for Kennedy and signed by various party leaders, including an alternative region representative on the Libertarian National Committee, urges Kennedy to seek the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party, with the understanding that the undersigned would consider voting for him in the first round if he accepts. Notably, the...

Increase includes vice chancellor for diversity, other DEI positions The University of Nebraska at Lincoln added more than 350 new positions in the past decade – nearly all of them administrative – while student enrollment numbers remained steady... Among the new hires is a vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion. His salary for the current year is $267,585 .. During the 2022-23 school year, the most recent data available, the public university’s Lincoln campus employed 4,014 full-time administrators and support staff... In 2013-2014, IPEDS data shows UNL employed 3,720 administrators and support staff – meaning it added 294 administrative positions...

Two Republicans joined Democrats in blocking legislation that would have stopped transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports in K-12 schools in Nebraska. A bill that would stop student athletes from participating on sports teams for the opposite sex, as well as using locker rooms and bathrooms for the opposite sex, was blocked by a filibuster on Friday in Nebraska, according to a report by Nebraska Public Media. After four hours of debate, 31 state senators voted for the legislation (LB575), but the bill needed 33 votes in order to end the filibuster.

Nebraska State Sen. Mike McDonnell (R-5) announced he is fleeing the Democrat party to become a Republican, giving the GOP what U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) calls a “filibuster-proof majority” in Nebraska’s unicameral legislature. McDonnell’s party change bears major implications for local and national politics as the state is on the verge of moving to a winner-take-all electoral vote allocation system for presidential elections. The state currently has a split electoral vote awarding system that gives “two electoral votes to the state popular vote winner, and then one electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each congressional district,” as...

After big changes to abortion laws both at the state and federal level, [black] women are concerned about the future. “As we get to this next cycle of elected officials and leaders, we absolutely want to hold folks accountable to ensuring that we can have bodily autonomy and power over our bodies,” said Ashlei Spivey, founder of I Be Black Girl. About 28 percent of [black] female voters surveyed by health policy firm KFF noted abortion as their top issue ahead of the presidential election. About 28 percent of Black female voters surveyed by health policy firm KFF noted abortion...

OMAHA — U.S. Rep. Don Bacon will face one Republican challenger in his party’s May primary instead of two after a candidate who filed to run against him changed his mind Friday. His lone GOP opponent will be Dan Frei of Omaha, a former tea party darling who lost narrowly in the 2014 primary to Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. Frei says he wants to join the Freedom Caucus if elected. Michael Connely had also filed to run against Bacon in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. He switched races on Friday to run in the 1st District House race. Connely told the...

One of Trump’s most vocal critics seems to have had a change of heart. Rep. Bacon probably watched the Super Tuesday results come in feeling pretty uneasy, especially seeing President Trump dominate by taking 14 out of the 15 states. The only state he narrowly missed was Vermont, thanks to its open primary system. There, Haley’s Democratic supporters turned out in force for her, netting her a single, rather unimpressive delegate. Join the fight and contribute to our war chest Ditch the ads for $5 per month or $49 per year One of Trump’s most vocal critics seems to have...

@LeadingReport BREAKING: Nebraska senator has introduced a bill that could make Nebraska the first in the country to forbid out-of-state hedge funds and other corporate entities from buying up single-family properties.