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» » Don Walton: Flood's entry into House race gives May primary two headliner contests - Lincoln Journal Star

Don Walton: Flood's entry into House race gives May primary two headliner contests - Lincoln Journal Star

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Mike Flood, 1.16

Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk speaks during a news conference Sunday at the state Capitol announcing he will challenge embattled Rep. Jeff Fortenberry in the May Republican primary election for the 1st District House seat.

JUSTIN WAN, Journal Star

Okay, game on!

Mike Flood's entry into the 1st District Republican congressional race gives the May 10 primary election two headliner contests now.

The Republican gubernatorial scramble and the big-name contest between State Sen. Flood and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry are this year's primary biggies.

Non-incumbents still have until March 1 to file as candidates so there could be more drama ahead. Incumbent officeholders must file for reelection by Feb. 15. The cast of characters isn't quite settled yet.

Early signs in the big GOP gubernatorial scramble, along with conventional wisdom, suggest that Charles Herbster probably would be running out front at this point as a result of his early TV advertising blitz and the endorsement from Donald Trump.

But Jim Pillen has the advantage of early campaigning across the state and he has the funding already secured now to raise his profile and deliver his message.

Almost everyone probably would agree they're the two candidates who are leading the pack now.

Pillen has raised $5.4 million for expensive GOP governor contest

Both have agricultural backgrounds and it will be particularly interesting to see where the Nebraska Farm Bureau ultimately bestows its valuable endorsement.

Voters in western and central Nebraska's towns and rural areas depend on agriculture, are overwhelmingly registered as Republicans and regularly vote in higher percentages than voters in the Lincoln-Omaha-Sarpy County metropolitan complex.

And the Nebraska Farm Bureau counts more than 58,000 member families.

Aren't there some senators on both sides of the aisle in Washington who could agree on a compromise voting rights package that makes it possible and reasonably convenient for everyone who is eligible to have an opportunity to participate in American democracy?

With their votes.

Why is that so hard?

Is it because political parties and partisan advantage matter more than the individual American citizen's right to vote?

George Washington knew that would happen.

"However (political parties) may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government," he warned.

It happened, although not quite in the stark manner Washington described.

Looks like the old Nebraska-Colorado football rivalry, which turned disrespectful and then ugly, could reemerge in a battle over precious water flowing down the South Platte River in Colorado and across the border into Nebraska.

When a conservative Republican governor is ready to pony up $500 million without the blink of an eye, you know it's game on.

Ricketts will seek $500 million Platte River canal system appropriation now

And it probably doesn't help much when the other governor is a Democrat.

Huskers v. Buffaloes once again.

And another reminder that those old rivalries with neighbors were so much more engaging than the current competition with mostly distant Big Ten strangers, only one of which borders on our state.

Finishing up:

* There's some exciting stuff in Governor Ricketts' mid-biennium budget adjustments. That proposed lake between Lincoln and Omaha may head the list in terms of stretching the envelope and thinking big.

* But the proposed new ag research program at UNL's Innovation Campus that would be centered on climate change and focused on helping agriculture navigate successfully through that growing challenge didn't appear to make the cut.

* OpenSky Policy Institute executive director Rebecca Firestone says the tax cuts discussed by the governor are "heavily skewed toward the wealthy" and would leave the state vulnerable to budget cuts for schools and health care when pandemic-related federal dollars quit flowing into the state.

* Some of us continue to think it's not fair for the governor to target his tax relief to "hardworking Nebraskans." We all need to share. 

'It's not our money' — Ricketts, Linehan say $400 million state surplus needs to go back to taxpayers

* Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha raised $700,000 in 2021 for his 2nd District Democratic House race. That House contest in the competitive metropolitan Omaha district represented by Republican Rep. Don Bacon will be a November headliner.

* Three Omaha City Council members described a mask mandate as "a substantial and invasive burden on the citizens of Omaha."

* With a list of endorsements issued in advance of Sen. Mike Flood's entry into the 1st District Republican primary race, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry promised to "engage voters and communicate my strong record of accomplishments for Nebraska and America."

Don Walton: Here comes a year of legislative opportunities
Senators, state chamber target workforce development, retention of young Nebraskans
Don Walton: Investment opportunities arrive along with workforce challenges
Ricketts focuses on ambitious investments along with tax relief

Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @LJSdon

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Don Walton: Flood's entry into House race gives May primary two headliner contests - Lincoln Journal Star
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