Gov. Jim Pillen announced Tuesday night that current Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly will continue to be his right-hand man as he seeks reelection this November.
At an announcement event, Pillen said he was grateful for the opportunity to keep serving Nebraskans with Kelly.
“When you have a partner, a friend – a lifetime friend – in this business, that doesn't happen very often. I never, ever think once that Joe and I are going to be on the opposite side,” Pillen said. “We talk about a lot. We have great debates. We have great conversations. But I can't tell you what a blessing it is to have Joe at my side, and I couldn't be more proud.”
Kelly said he was “fired up” about the opportunity to serve in the role for another four years.
“I can't count the number of meetings where it's kind of tense, and everybody's kind of dealing with pretty heady problems, and Jim [Pillen] will say, ‘You know, if this isn't fun, it wouldn't be worth doing it. We better have some fun as we do it.’ And we do,” Kelly said. “He kind of leads that emotion where we stay positive and keep moving ahead. It's great working in that atmosphere.
In addition to being the governor’s second-in-command, the role also serves as the leader of the Nebraska Legislature when it is in session.
Kelly was born and raised in Lexington. Before his tenure as lieutenant governor, Kelly had a long career as an attorney.
After graduating from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 1981, he worked as a prosecutor at the Lancaster County Attorney’s Office. He was also an officer in the Nebraska Army National Guard until being honorably discharged in 1985.
After a few years at a Colorado law firm, Kelly returned to the Lancaster County Attorney’s Office. He was elected county attorney in 2010 and 2014. In 2018, he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the State of Nebraska by President Donald Trump.
Most recently, he held the title of Criminal Bureau Chief for the Nebraska Attorney General.
“We've marveled for 40 years at what kind of public servant Joe has been – standing up, putting bad people away, doing yeoman's work for his entire career,” Pillen said.
Pillen and Kelly tout three-and-half years of success
Kelly said he and Pillen had worked hard to earn the support of law enforcement groups along the campaign trail.
“We made it a focus to increase training at the law enforcement center out in Grand Island. Jim [Pillen] authorized an increase in the staff. It's one of the few places we did that in government – authorized an increase in staff to get out there and train more of those local officers for those departments,” he said.
Kelly also praised the Nebraska National Guard for its work in the state and across the world, saying the Pentagon places a lot of trust in Nebraska members for their “phenomenal work.”
In his role, Kelly also serves on the Governors Homeland Security Advisors Council. He said this group was formed after Sept. 11 to collect input on homeland security risks and priorities, and Pillen encouraged him to make food security a top concern for the council.
“Nobody was talking much about food security – our livestock herds that could be wiped out in a day by some folks with some bad ideas, our crops that likewise could be sabotaged in some terrible ways. And this country, in this state in particular, is feeding the world,” Kelly said.
Together, Kelly and Pillen have also appointed dozens of judges.
“That will be a Pillen-Kelly legacy – some of the greatest judges that will serve in our state for the next 25, 30 years,” Pillen said. “I think that's a big, big deal so that we keep our citizens safe, that we make sure we uphold the laws so we withstand our values.”
If Nebraskans vote the pair into office again, Pillen promised the next four years of his administration would continue fighting for lower taxes and lower spending.
“Obviously, Joe and I are committed to tax reform. We're working very hard to run government like a business, which means we need 33 people [in the Legislature] to be with us to say no – no more spending,” he said. “ It's our money. It's ‘we the people's’ money – not government's.”
He pushed back on the idea that Nebraska is in a “budget crisis.”
“We save a billion, we decrease spend a billion. Does that make sense? Because if we don't decrease spend a billion, that's the definition of a tax shift,” Pillen said.
Pillen said his administration had also secured about $3.5 billion in federal dollars for Nebraska. Though he said he didn’t always agree with the federal government’s spending as a conservative, he said no one in Nebraska had made a point to claim the money.
The governor said he had spoken with President Donald Trump on Monday about his decision to let in foreign beef imports at lower consumer prices.
“I was in Washington D.C. yesterday and had a face-to-face a conversation with the President of the United States. We do eyeball-to-eyeball like we do in business because that's how you get stuff done,” Pillen said. “We have relationships. We trust each other. We partner. We don't go out and talk in the public about it. You don't get things done that way.”
On his latest Washington D.C. trip, Pillen appeared at a news conference with Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy to discuss a new program to promote healthy, whole foods in schools.
“We have a healthcare crisis in the state of Nebraska, with seven out of 10 of us overweight, and our children having challenges, and we have to address it,” he said.
Pillen’s priorities have been closely aligned with President Trump’s throughout his time as governor.
“Some of you may not agree with us. You might say I'm this or this or that – but what nobody can say is we haven't worked harder than anybody in the history of the state in this office,” Pillen said.
Pillen has two challengers in the race for Nebraska governor.
Lynne Walz, a former state senator and teacher from Fremont, is running on the Democratic ticket. Her running mate is Humboldt farmer and local agriculture leader Ben Steffen.
Rick Beard is running under the Legal Marijuana NOW party. He has owned and operated businesses in the food, wine and cannabis industries. His running mate is civic and community engagement organizer Keenya “Ruby” Barnes.
The general election is Nov. 3.