Independent congressional candidate Austin Ahlman held a town hall at the Lincoln VFW on West A Street Wednesday night, drawing around 40 people for the third stop of his district-wide tour.
Ahlman is running against Republican incumbent Mike Flood and Democratic nominee Chris Backemeyer in Nebraska's 1st Congressional District. He needs to collect at least 2,000 signatures by August to appear on the November ballot.
The evening opened with an introduction from Cindy Burbank, who recently announced a run for U.S. Senate against incumbent Pete Ricketts.
"I endorsed Austin because I believe he is the only person who can win in the District One race," Burbank said. "I want Flood out so bad, I will do anything."
Before taking questions, Ahlman told the crowd about the personal losses that preceded his campaign.
Ahlman’s father was diagnosed with cancer last year. While his mother was caring for him in Norfolk, he said her employer collapsed due to executive-level fraud.
"Workers were screwed. All of the executives cashed out and were fine," Ahlman said. "She didn't have the heart to tell us, because so often that's what we feel here. We feel shame when the forces that control our lives decide to flip the switch."
Ahlman said his mother died in January. The family found an eviction notice among her belongings. After a months-long fight with the bank to keep the family home, he filed to run for office.
"I realized that there were no options that would be voting for something rather than against it," Ahlman said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Spoiler concerns raised
Several attendees challenged Ahlman on whether his candidacy would split the anti-Flood vote.
Anne DeVries, who identified herself as a volunteer coordinator for U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn's campaign, said Ahlman had compared himself to Osborn in a recent media interview but left out that Osborn ran without a Democrat in the race.
"You took the wrong angle in that interview by leaving out a lot of little facts to make you look better and to make the Democrats look really bad," DeVries said.
Ahlman said his internal polling, conducted by a Democratic-aligned pollster, showed Backemeyer losing to Flood by double digits once voters heard his biography.
"We asked, using the exact language from his website, if this makes you more or less likely to vote for that person against Mike Flood, and that dropped like a rock — ends up double digits underwater," Ahlman said. "The same failed strategy, 60 years in a row, will give you the same result."
Chris Funk, who spent 22 years as director of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, also asked the spoiler question. Ahlman said he was not counting on either candidate stepping aside.
"I'm not counting on anything except for my own hard work," Ahlman said.
DNC accusation
Ken Haar, a former Lincoln City Council member and state legislator, accused Ahlman of approaching both the Democratic National Committee and the Nebraska Democratic Party for support before the primary.
"If you look at the parties as corrupt, that seems inconsistent," Haar said.
Ahlman denied it.
"I have never had a conversation with anybody at the DNC," Ahlman said. "I requested a meeting with Jane Kleeb two weeks before we announced this race. The first and the last thing that I said to her is, I'm not asking you for anything, and I'm not offering you anything."
Ahlman said Kleeb used the two-week heads-up to organize opposition before his announcement.
In a statement sent to Nebraska Public Media News Friday, Kleeb said, "Austin is a spoiler candidate. Voters deserve to know who's behind his campaign because he had a polished website and video before he announced. Someone paid for it. We are guessing it is his elitist ties in DC, the same people who orchestrated a social media amplification of his announcement. Austin has no widespread support and should get out of the race so Chris Backemeyer can beat Flood and bring economic relief for Nebraska's farmers and families."
Ahlman said the campaign has surpassed 1,000 signatures and is targeting 3,000 to 4,000 to guard against challenges from both parties. The Lincoln stop is part of his pledge to hold at least one town hall in every county of the 1st District.
Editor's note: A pervious version of this story incorrectly said Cindy Burbank served on the Nebraska Public Service Commission.