On Sunday, Pete Ricketts held his fifth annual Nebraska Steak Fry, bringing an all-star line-up of speakers — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and former Vice-President Mike Pence. Previous Steak Fry events have featured other well-known Republicans, such as Gov. Kristi Noem and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. There have been rumors circulating about each of the three headliners having Presidential aspirations in the next few years, causing some to speculate whether Ricketts has plans of his own once his term ends next year.
The event was held in Nebraska City and had around 1,500 guests in attendance, including Lt. Gov. Foley, former Gov. Kay Orr, Sen. Deb Fischer, and Congressman Don Bacon. This such event, this time with an all-star line-up of speakers: Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, Sen. Ted Cruz, and former VP Mike Pence. The event was nominally to celebrate agriculture, but it was very much a political rally, with each candidate (and Ricketts himself) rumored to have Presidential aspirations.
Each of the GOP headliners gave fiery stump speeches criticizing the Biden administration, focusing on his hasty retreat in Afghanistan and current demands for a nationwide vaccine mandate. Before and after the event, the VIPs also mingled with the crowd, DeSantis and Pence in particular walked up and started greeting those in line for food, making for plenty of selfies and photos all around. Each of them lingered afterward as well, making it fairly easy to simply walk up to say hello. The event as a whole was very much like a campaign rally with steak and potatoes.
