10:33
Brief
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a campaign event on Dec. 19, 2023, in Waterloo, Iowa. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
OMAHA — Super Tuesday’s lopsided results sealed things for two of Nebraska’s top Republican officeholders who had not yet endorsed in the GOP presidential primary contest.
U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts and Rep. Don Bacon issued statements on social media after Tuesday’s voting, endorsing former President Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee.
Ricketts and Bacon have faced criticism from some Republicans over a perceived lack of fealty to Trump. Ricketts had earlier said he would not take sides in the GOP primary.
‘Weekend at Bernie’s’
Some members of Ricketts’ family had given money to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an early challenger to Trump, although his brother Todd had been a key fundraising ally of Trump’s.
“Weekend at Bernie’s in the White House must come to an end,” Ricketts tweeted. “It’s time for Republicans to rally around our party and Donald Trump to beat Joe Biden in November.”
In the May primary, Ricketts faces former 1st District House candidate John Glen Weaver, whom the Nebraska Republican Party endorsed after none of the state’s GOP congressional incumbents applied.
Weaver endorsed Trump earlier in the race. The state GOP’s current more populist leadership team took over the party from a team more loyal to Ricketts in 2022.
Bacon had said he preferred other GOP presidential candidates — Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina. But he said he would support Trump if nominated.
He had spurred Trump’s ire by supporting a bipartisan infrastructure bill that Trump had sought as president but that passed when President Joe Biden was in office.
He also criticized some of Trump’s actions when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, following a Trump-led rally near the White House.
Trump criticized Bacon in 2022 at a Nebraska rally for GOP gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster.
‘Lifelong Republican’
On Wednesday, Bacon endorsed Trump, as he did in 2016 and 2020. He described himself as “a lifelong Republican” who “will support Donald Trump as our party’s nominee for president.”
“Republican voters across our country have spoken, and it is clear we want to return to the secure borders, strong economy, energy independence, and SCOTUS nominations that President Trump delivered,” Bacon tweeted. “It is time to defeat Joe Biden.”
Bacon’s GOP opponent in the May primary, Dan Frei, endorsed Trump early and has said he wants to join the Freedom Caucus if elected, a group largely credited with ousting Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Frei was also endorsed by the Nebraska GOP. The winner of the GOP primary in the 2nd District is likely to face State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha, who narrowly lost to Bacon in 2022.
The district’s voters supported Biden and Bacon that year. The Omaha-based district is considered one of the country’s most competitive.
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