Nobody has engaged the grassroots in this election cycle quite like Scott Presler. The long-haired, 6’5″ Internet influencer is well-known in conservative circles, even before he moved to Pennsylvania on a mission to flip the Keystone State to President Trump. Presler, along with his political action committee, Early Vote Action, registered tens of thousands of Republicans to vote in Pennsylvania in 2024, including low-propensity and often hard-to-reach voters like the Amish.
A few years beforehand, however, Presler also visited Nebraska to fire up local grassroots efforts. In 2020, the Nebraska chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus (RLCNE) hosted a rally for Presler at the Lucky Bucket in La Vista. The event drew local politicians like Mayor Doug Kindig and future state senators Rita Sanders and Kathleen Kauth. The next morning, Presler held a “registration rally” at the Rodizio Grill in Lincoln.
Then in 2021, Presler returned to Omaha to hold a workshop on voter engagement at the Cross Training Center. Presler spoke to a room of around 100 guests about his experience organizing cleanup efforts in Baltimore and engaging voters with “guerilla tactics” to get them registered to vote (at venues like a Starbucks drive-thru). His message was simple — get Republicans to win by registering them to vote anywhere you can find them. His refrain, “Are you registered to vote at your current address?”
Presler’s appearances came during a time of significant change in Nebraska politics. Some of the attendees at the 2021 event went on to organize and eventually take control of the Nebraska GOP at the state and county levels.
This obviously didn’t sit well with the “old guard” in the party. Earlier last year, the NEGOP had plans to bring Presler back to the Cornhusker State to headline its State Central Committee (SCC) meeting in January, which was to be held at a local church in Papillion. There was immediate opposition both from members of the “old guard” as well of some party members who objected to Scott Presler being openly gay and headlining an event at a church. Presler, while open about his sexual orientation, does not bring it up at his events, instead focusing on voter engagement and getting potential Republicans registered to vote.
The blowback was so sudden and so intense that Presler not only bowed out of the event, but the venue had to be changed to the Beardmore Event Center — at significant cost to the party. It also seemed to have a personal impact on Presler himself. At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last summer, one Nebraska delegate told me that he approached Presler, who was chatting with another guest. The attendee said that once Presler noticed his lanyard, he commented, “Oh, you’re from Nebraska,” and then continued his previous conversation, giving him the cold shoulder.
Now with 2024 in the rearview mirror, it remains to be seen whether the new guard and the old guard and mend fences and perhaps bring Scott Presler back again. I got a word of encouragement from Haile McAnally, the newly-elected chair of the Omaha Young Republicans. She spoke recently with Presler and said that he was open to returning to Nebraska.
“I had the chance to connect with him at Turning Point’s America Fest 2024, where we had a great conversation about what it takes to strengthen Republican efforts in cities like Omaha,” McAnally said. “We’re looking forward to working with Scott to identify key opportunities here in Omaha, build momentum around voter outreach efforts, and ensure Republicans have a stronger, more unified presence.”
