In a break with the Nebraska Republican Party, a group of 26 conservative state senators signed a public letter this week endorsing Nebraska's incumbent federal delegates, some of whom are facing hard-right primary challengers.
Led by Sen. Rob Dover of Norfolk, the group of lawmakers called for unity in the state's fractured GOP as they endorsed Nebraska's five federal delegates: U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts, and Reps. Mike Flood, Don Bacon and Adrian Smith — all of whom are Republicans.
"I know to win, we must be united as a party," Dover said in the letter, made public Thursday morning.
"Our federal delegation has done a tremendous job representing us over the years," said Dover, who Ricketts appointed to the Legislature in 2022. "I look forward to seeing them continue their work for us all."
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The letter comes two days after the Nebraska GOP announced its endorsements for May's primary, signaling support for a host of school board and state senate candidates while withholding endorsements of the federal delegates.
In a news release announcing the endorsements, the party did not signal support for hard-right challengers to the incumbents — though the party’s State Central Committee voted last week to endorse three of the incumbents' primary challengers, .
And Lt. Col. John Glen Weaver, who is challenging Ricketts for his Senate seat, said in a social media post that he had been "endorsed by 71%" of the state party.
The Examiner had reported that the Nebraska GOP also voted to endorse Omaha businessman Dan Frei, running against Don Bacon in the state's 2nd Congressional District, and Hastings engineer John "MAGA" Walz, who is running against Smith in the 3rd District.
Neither Flood nor Fischer so far face primary challengers.
Three state senators who the party did endorse — Sens. Beau Ballard, Carolyn Bosn and Kahtleen Kauth, all of whom were appointed to the Legislature by Ricketts or his successor, Gov. Jim Pillen — also signed Dover's letter endorsing the incumbents.
Nebraska GOP Chairman Eric Underwood did not immediately return an email seeking comment Thursday. A phone call to the party's office directed callers to the GOP's email address.
When the party announced its endorsements earlier this week, Underwood indicated that none of the delegates had sought the party's endorsement, which comes with perks including shout-outs on the party's social media account, event promotion and postal mailing for campaign flyers.Â
Still, the party's withholding of its endorsement marked an escalation of longstanding tensions between the Nebraska GOP and the state's establishment Republicans that emerged publicly in the summer of 2022, when conservative activists took over the party, which had been run by establishment figures loyal to Ricketts, who was then the governor.
The tensions boiled over all the way to the floor of Nebraska's Legislature amid debate Thursday morning, when some of the same senators who signed the letter endorsing the federal delegates spoke about the matter.
Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar, who Ricketts appointed to the Legislature in 2018, called the state party "broke" and, almost immediately, faced attacks from nameless far-right accounts on X, the social media website more commonly known as Twitter.
Moments later, Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams said he "can't hardly believe" that the state party didn't endorse Nebraska's congressional delegates, who he said he is "very, very proud of."
"Why none of them were endorsed is beyond me," said Dorn, who signed onto Dover's letter. "I guess we'll hear more in the days to come."