The 2022 Republican gubernatorial race is heating up.
Responding to Gov. Pete Ricketts' statement that "Nebraska deserves better" than Charles Herbster as its next governor, Herbster said Wednesday that while he supported Donald Trump in his first presidential bid from the beginning, the extended Ricketts family spent $7.5 million "against Donald Trump and his America First agenda" before he gained the Republican nomination in 2016.
"They buried the hatchet late in the game," Herbster said.
"I supported Pete Ricketts for governor, and I was there when President Donald J. Trump first announced his presidency at Trump Tower in 2015," he said, and "I have remained loyal to the president.
"I am committed to running a positive race in Nebraska," Herbster said in a written statement.
"It's a shame that Gov. Pete Ricketts, also the head of the Republican Party in the state, and his high-priced consultants have launched negative personal attacks against me and President Trump."
Shortly after Trump announced his endorsement of Herbster in Nebraska's Republican gubernatorial race Tuesday evening, Ricketts responded on Twitter that he strongly disagreed with that judgment.
Herbster was an agricultural adviser to Trump during his presidency and was a familiar figure at White House events. Â
Ricketts has not yet announced whom he will support in next year's Republican gubernatorial primary contest, but he is widely expected to endorse Jim Pillen of Columbus, who is a member of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.