OMAHA — At least two types of local conservatives met Wednesday with U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, during his visit to Nebraska: grassroots and donors.

More than 175 Republican activists attended a private event at the downtown DJ’s Dugout to meet former President Donald Trump’s running mate, some wearing flag apparel or MAGA hats.

The campaign added the stop at DJ’s Dugout after the Examiner reported last week that Vance was visiting Omaha for a fundraiser with top local conservative donors and elected leaders.

No Press Allowed In

Neither event was open to the press. But some of those attending the sports bar meeting said Vance took photos with fans, smiled when they chanted “Fight! Fight! Fight!” and signed hats and books. He didn’t make a speech.

At the later fundraiser, Vance told attendees the Harris-Biden economy hurts middle-class and working families. He talked about inflation and the need for donor support to help protect the American economy, people in the room shared.

Vance’s visit follows a rally that his Democratic counterpart, Nebraska native and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held in La Vista on Saturday that drew an indoor crowd of 2,400 and an outdoor crowd of thousands.

Walz’s visit came on the weekend leading up to the Democratic National Convention this week in Chicago, where Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the Democratic nomination on Thursday night.

2nd District Spotlight

Both campaigns are sending surrogates to Omaha because of the unusual way Nebraska awards its Electoral College votes, giving one vote to the winner in each congressional district.

Most of Nebraska leans heavily Republican. But the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District has split between Democrats and Republicans in the past two presidential elections.

President Joe Biden won the 2nd District in 2020. Trump won in 2016. Republican Mitt Romney won in 2012. And in 2008, Democratic former President Barack Obama won what he later dubbed the “blue dot.”

The Trump-Vance campaign had no immediate comment on Vance’s Wednesday’s visit, which they did not consider a scheduled campaign event. The Trump campaign has said it expects to compete in NE-02.

Vance, in most of his swing-state visits, has criticized Harris and Walz for the handling of protests after George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. 

Vance has also criticized Walz for retiring from the National Guard shortly before his Minnesota unit was deployed to Iraq in the summer of 2005. Walz had filed the paperwork to retire in late 2004 and filed to run for Congress in February 2005.

Walz Criticized Vance

Walz has criticized Vance for claiming to be an expert on middle America in a memoir he wrote when he was 31.

“Folks in the heartland … we don’t need a Yale-educated philosophy major backed by billionaire venture capitalists to tell us who we are,” he said. “We know who we are.”

One of the most interesting aspects of Wednesday’s fundraiser, dubbed Trump Force 47, is who co-hosted the $1,000-minimum event, based on an updated invitation.

U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts and Charles Herbster are both listed as hosts. Herbster was endorsed by Trump during the 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary. Ricketts supported the eventual winner, Jim Pillen.

Herbster briefly flirted with running against Ricketts in this year’s GOP Senate primary. He has still discussed potentially running again for governor.

Both focused Wednesday on this year’s presidential race.

Ricketts, in a statement, said he was “honored to help welcome Senator Vance to Nebraska today.”

“Donald Trump and JD Vance have outlined a clear vision to secure our border, lower taxes, and restore America’s strength,” Ricketts said. “Nebraskans are ready to defeat the far-left agenda of San Francisco liberal Kamala Harris and elect the Trump-Vance ticket in November.”

Herbster said it was “extremely important to have the next vice president of the United States here in Nebraska’s 2nd District.”

“Senator Vance does a great job contrasting the successes under President Trump with the failures of the Harris Biden Administration,” Herbster said.

The fundraiser’s invitation listed Nebraska Gov. Pillen, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as special guests, along with the U.S. senators from all three states. 

Other hosts included top local conservative donors C.L. Werner of Werner Enterprises, Tom Peed of Sandhills Publishing and Joe Ricketts, Pete Ricketts’ father, who helped found the company that became TD Ameritrade.

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/2024/08/21/gop-u-s-sen-j-d-vance-visits-oma...