LINCOLN — While Nebraska remains a firmly red state in terms of its registered voters and elected leadership, that tilt hasn’t translated into donations to the state’s top political parties.

Since 2022, the Nebraska Democratic Party has outraised the Nebraska GOP each year, both in state-level donations logged on Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure (NADC) and in federal giving recorded by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).

The turning point was the state GOP’s 2022 convention, which saw a mass exodus of party leadership and shifted away from the previous establishment Republicans to Trump-era populists and some old-guard conservatives.

Some viewed the party leadership change as an indictment of the way the party was run under a team loyal to former GOP governor-turned-U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, as many Republicans at the convention said he held too much control.

Ricketts was a major funder for the party at the time — one of the party’s dominant funders. A six-figure donation from him was not an uncommon occurrence. After the 2022 convention, those donations stopped.

In fact, none of Nebraska’s current congressional delegation has donated directly to the state GOP since 2022, according to NADC and FEC filings. Democrats last held a federal office in 2017 with the late-U.S. Rep. Brad Ashford.

Ricketts has remained an active political funder since then, instead donating directly to Republican candidates and organizations. Recent FEC filings show a donation from him of more than $750,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, as just one example.

He’s also frequently provided donations to other state Republican parties and local GOP groups outside of Nebraska, usually in $10,000 sums, according to his FEC filings.

Jessica Flanagain, a spokesperson for the Ricketts campaign and the senator’s top political consultant, said he remains committed to helping the “most conservative candidates who can win” races win, regardless of how he donates.

“Senator Ricketts has been clear about his commitment to conservative candidates and causes,” Flanagain said. “He has championed protecting women and children by passing Initiative 434 (cementing Nebraska’s 12-week abortion ban), and he has helped secure our elections by passing Voter ID.”

The Nebraska GOP last outraised the Nebraska Democratic Party in 2022, according to NADC filings, primarily because of multiple six-figure donations from Ricketts prior to the convention.

That year, the party logged over $1 million in contributions, but only about $98,000 of that total came in after the July convention.

“This puts a spotlight on how Ricketts’ billionaire pocketbook has been propping up the Republican Party for so many years,” said Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb.

Since the GOP leadership change, the Nebraska Democratic Party has raised more money, both locally and nationally. For example, during the high-stakes elections of 2024, the Democrats logged over $1 million in donations on NADC, which correlates to dollars intended to be spent on state and local races. The same year, the Nebraska GOP recorded $196,000 in contributions.

On the FEC, which tracks donations intended to be used for federal races, financial records are tracked over a two-year period. For 2023-2024, Nebraska Democrats recorded over $6.6 million in contributions compared to $2.8 million for the Nebraska GOP.

This year is still up in the air, though Democrats are currently in the lead with $322,000 in contributions filed in the FEC versus about $252,000 filed for the Nebraska GOP.

State parties in federal races often act as pass-through entities, with campaigns using the money to access parties’ lower-cost postage rate for sending campaign mailers and for voter outreach and engagement.

State-level giving to the parties remains more of a mystery, according to NADC filings. The Nebraska Democratic Party has recorded over $336,000 in donations so far this year, but the Nebraska GOP has yet to file. Nebraska GOP Chair Mary Jane Truemper said this is because the party hasn’t directly contributed to any state campaigns this year, so it is only required to make one financial report for all of 2025.

This funding disparity may not be obvious to most, as Republicans hold most elected offices and have gained ground in the Nebraska Legislature since 2022. Retiring U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., has also maintained his seat in the Omaha area’s highly competitive 2nd Congressional District.

What Does It All Mean?

According to Dona-Gene Barton, associate professor of political science at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the explanation lies in Nebraska’s voter registrations, where Republicans remain dominant.

The latest voter registration statistics on Nebraska’s Secretary of State website show that there are over 623,000 registered Republicans in Nebraska, versus about 330,000 registered Democrats.

That large of a gap indicates that money doesn’t make much of a difference in most statewide races, Barton said. She noted the 2024 U.S. Senate race with independent candidate Dan Osborn challenging incumbent U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb.

Though Osborn was well-funded and put Fischer in a “weakened” position, Barton said, Fischer still comfortably won because she had the advantage of a built-in voter base.

“Despite the amount of money that was sunk into that race, the Republican still wins in the end,” Barton said.

Kleeb says Nebraska Democrats have gained ground since she became party chair in 2016, more than doubling the amount of Democrats in elected offices statewide. She also noted signs of progress in 2024, namely that Nebraska, which splits its electoral votes and awards them by congressional district like Maine, was the only battleground nationally that sent an electoral vote to Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

While funding may not make a massive difference, Kleeb said it helps candidates in local races. The party having more resources means those candidates can focus more of their energy on their specific regions.

Truemper largely agreed with this mindset, though she still believes the Nebraska GOP is in good shape. She said political parties always have to work with what they have, but the amount of funding parties receive determines the scale of what they can accomplish.

“It’s like a campaign — I’ve been a campaign manager,” said Truemper, who managed Bacon’s campaign in 2018 and later his primary opponent’s in 2024. “You have a plan, and then depending on how much money you have, you scale up or down.”

Barton agreed that party funding in a state like Nebraska is most likely to have an influence on lower-level elections and ballot measures. It’s particularly helpful when there are other factors at play that will motivate partisan and independent voters to go to the polls, like a promising presidential candidate, she said.

Evidence of this could be seen in 2024, when four of Nebraska’s six ballot initiatives favored more progressive outcomes, such as legalizing medical cannabis and approving mandatory paid sick leave. The outlier was a pair of competing abortion initiatives, which resulted in the more restrictive measure — Initiative 434 — prevailing.

Lately, Truemper said the Nebraska GOP has been more focused on regional, state and federal races, and have relied on county parties to support down-ballot races.

Fallout from the 2022 convention meant the Nebraska GOP basically “started from scratch,” Truemper said. She said the party shifted to a more “grassroots” effort reminiscent of what it looked like under former Gov. Dave Heineman.

During Heineman’s administration, Truemper said the governor focused less on directly funding the Nebraska GOP and instead encouraged party participation at the county level. This brought it a broader base of financial support statewide, she said.

When Ricketts took office, he funded much of the party’s activities, Truemper said. During that time, she said, some of the Nebraska GOP’s local bases of support “dried up,” though she declined to say that Ricketts was the main cause of that.

Still, Truemper gave Democrats props for their skill at raising money and using their funds strategically. She acknowledged that the Nebraska GOP isn’t raising as much as she would like, and said she is focusing on rebuilding the party’s fundraising base.

What Comes Next?

Heading into the 2026 election season, Truemper said the Nebraska GOP intends to prioritize the 2nd Congressional District House race, as well as Ricketts’ re-election bid. Ricketts faces a returning challenger in Osborn.

Truemper said the party plans to support Ricketts’ campaign by emphasizing the values and successes of GOP candidates in office and focusing on the importance of maintaining Republicans’ majority in the Senate.

“Financially, he doesn’t need our support,” she said with a laugh.

Truemper said she also hopes to increase the GOP’s majority in the Nebraska Legislature, which currently holds just enough votes to overcome opposing filibusters, if Republicans stick together on controversial bills.

“We are confident that the voters will see the improvement in the economy and the Republican’s common sense approach to policy as a reason to vote Republican in 2026,” Truemper said.

Truemper didn’t offer many details as to how she hopes to improve donations to the party. She only said she will focus on building relationships and seek support from the Republican National Convention.

Nationally, Republicans are outpacing Democrats in fundraising. Recent reporting from The Hill shared that the Republican National Committee raised over $16 million during the month of June — nearly double the $8.6 million the Democratic National Committee raised in the same period.

The Republican National Committee has nearly $66 million more in cash on hand through the first half of 2025 compared to the Democratic National Committee, CBS News reported. Federal filings show the RNC with $80.7 million by late June and the DNC with $15.2 million.

Kleeb said she is focusing on building out the Nebraska Democratic Party’s state and county-level infrastructure to better support local candidates. She also said the party is increasing its investment in voter registration efforts.

“We take the ridicule that the Republicans want to throw at us, because we haven’t won the big-ticket items that people only look at, but we’ve been building,” Kleeb said. “And we’ve been building towards what we think are going to be big wins for our party in ‘26 and ‘28.”

As expected, the Nebraska Democratic Party also plans to prioritize the 2nd District House race in 2026. Kleeb said they’ve learned from past elections that they need to invest in the region earlier. And the state party is working with local Democrats to recruit and support legislative candidates.

Nebraska Democratic Party Executive Director Precious McKesson said the party is organizing community support efforts in the area, as well as other events meant to improve the party’s visibility. McKesson said this stems from feedback they received that the party isn’t as present outside of election seasons.

Unlike most races, Barton said the House race in NE-02 is one where party funding could affect the outcome. Past elections in the district ended with razor-thin margins, and Republicans will no longer have the incumbency advantage with Bacon.

The nonpartisan Center for Politics, the home of Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, has shifted the Omaha-based House race to lean Democratic from toss-up. The Cook Political Report also shifted the race to lean Democrat.

“The fact that Don Bacon is not going to be seeking reelection is a very strong signal about the possibility of a Democrat winning that seat in the next election,” Barton said.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/07/29/nebraska-democrats-have-outraise...