Lindstrom to run for governor on America First line

Former state Sen. Brett Lindstrom on Tuesday filed to place his name on the ballot as the America First Party’s candidate for governor.

“Nebraskans deserve another choice in this election,” Lindstrom said in a statement on Facebook. He said people should not be forced to choose between “a governor who, in just three and a half years, has pushed the state to the brink of a fiscal crisis,” referring to Republican Gov. Jim Pillen, and “a political party that has increasingly moved away from our state’s common sense values,” referring to the Democratic Party, which has nominated former state Sen. Lynne Walz.

Lindstrom has promised to restore fiscal responsibility and limited government.

Lindstrom served in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature from 2015-2023. He was a registered Republican at the time. He sought the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2022, finishing third in the primary behind Pillen and Charles Herbster.

He initially attempted to run as an independent for governor this year, but that effort failed when a large number of petition signatures collected by a firm his campaign hired were found to be fraudulent.

Observers have suggested his presence on the ballot could take votes away from Pillen, as a Republican. The Nebraska Republican Party sued unsuccessfully to keep America First, whose name echoes one of President Donald Trump’s campaign slogans, off the ballot.

A similar effort has put a Democratic sound-alike party, the Working People Party, on the ballot. That party has not yet announced a gubernatorial candidate.