Nearly three years since the populist takeover in 2022, discontent lingers within the Nebraska GOP. Eric Underwood took over as chair at the time, but now he’s announced he won’t run again, opening the door for another candidate to take his place—and perhaps another contentious leadership fight—at the State Central Committee meeting tomorrow in Kearney.
I first met Underwood when he spoke to the River City Republicans in 2022. At the time, he highlighted the party’s failures in a few narrow races Republicans lost in 2018, such as District 10, where Wendy DeBoer defeated Matt Deaver by 105 votes, and District 6, where Machaela Cavanaugh defeated Theresa Thibodeau by 288 votes. Among his goals as the newly elected state chair was to win 40 seats for conservatives in the Nebraska State Senate by 2024. That didn’t happen.
Vice-Chair Mary Jane Truemper, endorsed by Underwood, is running to fill his seat. While she said Underwood has done a “fine job” as chair, she acknowledges much work remains within the party.
“We do not have a deep enough bench for a state that is so Republican, and we have to start raising up the leaders that will take over in elected offices, in political offices, and all throughout the state,” Truemper said at a recent Pachyderm luncheon in February.
One issue that led to the 2022 turnover was the perception that the party prioritized deep-pocketed donors over the grassroots. Underwood addressed this in 2022.
“The resources of the party is not just money,” Underwood said. “The true resource of the party is John, it’s Katie, it’s Walt. The people of the party are the true resources of the party because your level of influence, your level of engagement, is what truly makes somebody go and do something like voting or volunteering or walking and knocking.”
But fundraising is now being highlighted by those endorsing another candidate for state chair — David Plond, chair of the Hall County GOP. Charles Herbster endorsed David Plond on Friday in a post on X, and he specifically cited his fundraising capabilities.
“I know that David Plond has the tools needed to bring major donors back to the NEGOP. Donors must have confidence our contributions are going to grow the Party and promote the America First Agenda to ensure the election of Republicans. No party can survive without money and the state chairman should always be the chief fundraiser.”
Matt Innis, who was at the forefront of the grassroots takeover in 2022, echoed these sentiments in a Facebook post, endorsing Plond as a “Fundraising Extraordinaire.”
“It’s time we have a leader who can work with our elected officials and raise money,” Innis wrote.
On a personal note, I’m not a member of the State Central Committee and won’t be able to vote for either Plond or Truemper. I hadn’t heard of Plond until this past week, and I haven’t seen him at any Republican events in this part of the state. I’m sure he could be a good chair and perhaps an even better fundraiser, but two and a half years ago, the Nebraska Republican Party faced turmoil because grassroots members felt excluded by a few wealthy donors calling the shots.
Despite new leadership, some say nothing has changed, and a “pay-to-play” dynamic persists within the party—especially as it prepares to host a high-dollar Senators’ Recognition Dinner in Lincoln. One of my long-standing rules in politics is to vote only for candidates I’ve met in person whenever possible. Having bumped into Mary Jane Truemper at various events, I’ve seen she’s connected to the grassroots, even when money isn’t involved.
I hope that if Plond wins, I’ll eventually run into him too.
