LINCOLN — Former state Sen. Brett Lindstrom has registered with the newly formed America First Party and taken steps to revive his campaign for Nebraska governor after his initial nonpartisan petition effort failed to meet ballot requirements.
Public voter registration records show Lindstrom changed his party affiliation Thursday. He kept his running mate, Mike Picard of Omaha, a Navy veteran who is director and head coach of ENVY Volleyball Club, according to Lindstrom’s campaign statements released to media outlets.
Why the switch matters
Lindstrom’s move follows a recent Nebraska Supreme Court decision that effectively cleared the way for two new parties to be listed in state voter registration: the America First Party and the Nebraska Working People Party. Voter registration with those parties began Aug. 26, hours after the high court upheld a lower court ruling against objections from the state’s Republican and Democratic parties.
That ruling expanded the set of political vehicles available for candidates seeking ballot access under a party banner rather than through the state’s nonpartisan petition process. Lindstrom turned to that option after falling short in his first attempt to qualify for the ballot as an independent.
Signatures and shortfalls
Election officials confirmed that Lindstrom’s initial petition submission included 5,765 signatures, of which 3,358 were validated. That left him below the threshold required to qualify for the ballot under the independent petition route, which required at least 4,000 valid signatures.
The campaign has submitted a new batch of signatures seeking to qualify under the America First Party. Under state rules for party-affiliated candidacies created by the recent court ruling, Lindstrom needs at least 25 valid signatures from new America First Party members to revive his ticket.
| Metric | Number |
|---|---|
| Signatures turned in (initial) | 5,765 |
| Valid signatures (initial) | 3,358 |
| Valid signatures required (independent) | 4,000 |
| Valid party-member signatures required (America First) | 25 |
Campaign filings and local election records indicate some county-level problems with the initial collection effort. In Lancaster County, for example, just 24.6% of the 2,210 signatures Lindstrom submitted there were accepted. Officials also flagged an unspecified number of signatures as possibly fraudulent, records show.
Campaign messaging and response
"Nebraskans deserve another choice in this election," Lindstrom said in a campaign statement. "They should not be forced to choose between reelecting a governor who, in just three and a half years, has pushed the state to the brink of a fiscal crisis and a political party that has increasingly moved away from our state's common-sense values."
In public remarks reported by the Omaha World-Herald, Lindstrom described his search for an alternative ballot path as looking for a "pirate ship" after the independent petition effort fell short.
He told reporters, according to that account, that the vehicle for reaching the ballot has changed but not the campaign’s underlying plan or message, which he framed as opposing the extremes of both major parties.
Practical next steps and implications
Under the new party-registration route, Lindstrom must produce the small number of valid party-member signatures required to formally place a party-endorsed candidate on the ballot. The requirement of 25 valid signatures for revival is far smaller than the independent-petition threshold but hinges on the candidate finding newly registered members of the America First Party willing to sign.
The development adds a new variable to Nebraska’s governor’s race by creating an additional choice for primary-season voters and potentially complicating vote dynamics in the general election. The America First Party and the Nebraska Working People Party join the existing Republican, Democratic, Libertarian and Legal Marijuana NOW parties as named options on state registration records.
- What to watch next: whether Lindstrom’s new batch of signatures is validated and whether he successfully qualifies for the ballot under the America First Party.
- Potential effects: a third-party entry could alter vote distribution in the governor’s race and prompt responses from the major parties and other candidates.
- Election administration: county-level validation rates and investigations into flagged signatures may continue to attract scrutiny.
As the verification process proceeds, county election officials will be responsible for certifying the validity of submitted signatures and reporting final counts. Those decisions could determine whether Lindstrom appears on the ballot this fall under the America First Party banner.
Nathan Ackerman, State Correspondent
