Nebraska
Nebraskan Tim Walz gives Republican ticket the business in La Vista • Nebraska Examiner
LA VISTA — Native Nebraskan Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor tapped this month as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, celebrated his first home-state rally Saturday by filling a suburban Sarpy County concert venue and its overflow amphitheater.
The rally emphasized his Nebraska roots, including his time as a teacher and coach in Alliance, Nebraska. His wife, Gwen, and one of his former geography students, Aubrianna Faustman, introduced him.
Walz was born in West Point, grew up in Valentine and graduated from high school in Butte. He got a warm reception from the largely Democratic audience.
Walz talks teaching
Hundreds of people lined up for hours around much of the La Vista City Centre entertainment district near 84th and Harrison Streets before the mid-afternoon event. More than 2,400 were inside the venue, with thousands more waiting and watching outside.
Walz taught in Nebraska, as did his wife, a native Minnesotan, before they moved to Mankato, Minnesota in 1996. He joked that he is caught between Husker football fandom and representing the Gophers.
The Walzes spent much of their talk discussing how the Harris-Walz team is prioritizing public education and economic opportunities for all children. He pushed back against GOP criticism of public education, drawing cheers.
“Wow. Well, hello, Nebraska,” he said, smiling and pointing to the crowd. “I have to admit it feels pretty good to be back home. Things got pretty exciting … over the last 10 days.”
Runza fight
Walz, 60, sharpened his elbows for former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance. Vance will visit Nebraska next week for a fundraiser and might also host a public event. Walz told the crowd not to be fooled by a Yale philosopher who’s backed by venture capital.
“You think J.D. Vance knows one damn thing about Nebraska?” Walz asked the laughing crowd. “You think he’s ever had a Runza. That guy would call it a Hot Pocket. You know it.”
A Runza, for the uninitiated, is a German-style meat and cabbage sandwich sold by a Nebraska-based hamburger chain of the same name. Walz’s caravan stopped at a Runza restaurant, at 77th and L Streets on his way out of town, someone in the caravan shared with the Examiner.
Walz also ducked outside the rally venue to greet and wave to the people who couldn’t get in.
Values from his roots
He spent much of his speech focused on the values he said he learned in north-central and western Nebraska, saying that he still doesn’t know the politics of a group of his friends from high school, but they are there for one another when needed.
Faustman, the former student who helped introduce him, said when Harris selected Walz as her running mate, she told her husband that she couldn’t wait for the rest of the country to get to know him, because he is “just a good decent human being.”
She and others who spoke, including Walz, contrasted the Harris-Walz stance on reproductive freedom with the views held by Trump and Vance. Faustman and Walz spoke about their families’ challenges with needing fertility treatments and how they didn’t want to see political restrictions on IVF.
Walz worked out the latest version of his stump speech, in which he called Republicans “weird” for sticking their noses into people’s private exam rooms and libraries and bedrooms. He criticized them for trying to overturn elections.
“Yes, it’s weird,” Walz said. “But it’s much worse than that. It’s dangerous.”
Military criticisms
Walz appeared to address some of the GOP criticism he has faced about when he ended his his 24-year career in the Nebraska and Minnesota National Guard. His unit deployed to Iraq shortly after he retired in 2005 to run for Congress. Many who served with him have defended his retirement.
He said he signed up for the Guard after high school graduation and loved his time in service. He called serving a “privilege” and said “the Guard gave me a lot,” including a purpose, as well as the ability to use the GI Bill to attend Chadron State College.
Vance and others have criticized Walz, the highest-ranking enlisted man to serve in Congress. Vance served in the Marine Corps and was deployed as a combat correspondent, or military journalist. He has accused Walz of misrepresenting his own time in the service, which Walz denies.
Presidential stakes in Omaha
Walz’s visit Saturday to La Vista, which sits on the border of the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts in the Omaha area — on the second weekend after joining the Harris campaign — hints at the importance of the 2nd District to the broader presidential race.
A single swing-district vote matters in Republican-heavy Nebraska. Nebraska and Maine are unique nationally in awarding a single Electoral College vote to the winner of the presidential popular vote in each congressional district.
Democrats are trying to win a second-straight stray Electoral College vote in the 2nd District. Former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, won the vote in 2008, followed by Republican Mitt Romney in 2012, Trump in 2016 and Democratic President Joe Biden n 2020.
Gov. Jim Pillen and Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature, with urging from Trump and his campaign, have been trying to get state lawmakers to shift the Republican-leaning state to winner-take-all yet this year.
Thus far they lack the votes to change the process this close to an election. A top Maine state lawmaker has said Maine would act if Nebraska games the system to favor a single candidate. One electoral vote could matter in a close race.
Energy campaign
The question this fall in NE-02 is whether Democrats can harness the energy of a resurgent campaign in the wake of Biden dropping out, or whether Trump will regain momentum in the districts.
Nebraska Democrats have celebrated Walz being Harris’ running mate by amplifying his ties to rural Nebraska, his ability to make progressive policies more approachable and the importance of adding a Midwestern voice to the ticket.
Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, said the goal of the rally was to motivate and sign up volunteers to knock on voters’ doors, make calls and text them and make sure to “defeat Donald Trump once and for all.”
Republicans weigh in
The Nebraska Republican Party had no immediate comment. A spokeswoman said they were in the middle of a state central committee meeting and would reply soon.
“Tim Walz and Kamala Harris do not represent the commonsense, Midwestern values of those in the Cornhusker State,” said Liz Huston, a regional spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign. She said Nebraskans will re-elect Trump.
“Just like Harris, Walz is dangerously liberal and a champion for the Harris-Biden agenda that has burdened Nebraska families with high prices, higher taxes, and made communities less safe,” Huston said in a statement to the Examiner.
The fight for Congress
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Preston Love Jr., who has spent years organizing voters in North Omaha, said that the presidential race would be close in the 2nd District but that Harris would win and that she is “up to this fight.”
Democratic State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha, who is running a repeat race against Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon in the 2nd District, drew some of the event’s loudest chants when he stepped on stage. He said he would fight for Nebraskans’ economic and reproductive freedom.
Vargas, who represents South Omaha in the Legislature, said his immigrant parents had provided him and his siblings with “the American dream” by securing union jobs that paid wages significant enough to let their children be the first in their family to attend college.
Like Walz, Vargas emphasized his time teaching, which he said helped show him the importance of public service. He previously served on the Omaha Public Schools board and is term-limited from running again for the Legislature.
“I believe Nebraskans deserve someone in Washington who puts people over politics,” Vargas said. “I will work every day for working families. I will fight to protect reproductive freedom and to … keep our communities … safe from gun violence.”
House rematch
Bacon, in a campaign statement, criticized Vargas for endorsing Harris and Walz, which he called “the most left-wing ticket in U.S. history.” Bacon, who has endorsed Trump three times, said Nebraskans don’t want Harris or her policies.
“Tim Walz and Tony Vargas are both tax and spend, defund the police, and open borders liberals,” Bacon said. “I’ll keep working as the most effective and bipartisan Republican in Congress.”
Vargas said he was excited to spend the next 85 days working, organizing and talking to flip the 2nd District House seat, to help Democrats regain control of the House and to help Harris and Walz win the White House.
“I’m so excited, because I get to join these two next year in Washington, D.C.,” Vargas said.
Other highlights
Other attendees included former U.S. Sen. and Nebraska Gov. Ben Nelson, a Walz friend; Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird, the state’s highest-profile elected Democrat; and national gun control activist David Hogg, in town for another event.
Omaha singer Jayde Dorsey, 12, drew some of the day’s highest praise from Walz and members of the crowd for her renditions of “A Change is Gonna Come” and “Rise Up.” Walz said he could see her singing at their inauguration.
As at many other rallies held during the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside and worked to draw attention to their cause. One person tried to disrupt Walz’s speech.
Political activist MajieAhna Winfrey from North Omaha drew thunderous applause with her statement about the stakes of the November election.
“The path to the White House runs through Nebraska,” she said. “Let’s go win this thing.”
Nebraska softball finalized its coaching staff on Wednesday. Head coach Rhonda Revelle signed an extension that runs through the 2031 season. The program also finalized several previously announced coaching changes.
Revelle earned the extension after leading Nebraska to one of its best seasons in history, bringing the team back to the Women’s College World Series for the first time since 2013. The Huskers totaled a school-record 52 wins in Revelle’s 34th season as Nebraska’s head coach, helping solidify her as the winningest coach in Nebraska athletics history.
“As we said when we had the privilege of naming the field at Bowlin Stadium in her honor, Rhonda Revelle is Nebraska Softball. Rhonda is not only a great leader of our softball program, but she is a world-class individual who elevates our entire athletic department in many ways. The trajectory of our program is at an all-time high coming off a record-breaking season and we are excited for the years ahead under the leadership of Rhonda and her outstanding staff.”
Revelle also re-worked the responsibilities of her coaching staff, elevating existing staff members and bringing in a slew of former players as assistants. This comes following the retirement of long-time assistant Lori Sippel in June.
Diane Miller has been elevated to associate head coach, and Mandie Nocita was promoted to assistant coach. Olivia Ferrell and Jordy Frahm also join the staff and will serve as assistant coaches. Hannah Coor and Hannah Camenzind have been added as graduate assistants. Lauren Camenzind will be a graduate manager for the Huskers.
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Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen on Wednesday announced measures to further cut state spending, including a cut in state agency spending and a hiring freeze on most positions.
Pillen said in a news release that the measures are necessary after the state paid out $307 million more in state tax refunds than anticipated in fiscal year 2026, which ended June 30. Tax receipts have come in below projections in March, April and May, leading to a current expected deficit of $172 million.
That’s after lawmakers closed a $646 million budget hole in their most recent legislative session.
The governor has previously sought to cut spending to provide more property tax relief to Nebraska residents and had called for additional cuts during the current fiscal year.
“I am pleased with the progress we have made, but I’m not satisfied,” Pillen said in a news release.
Accompanying the release was a memo Pillen sent to state agencies, boards and commissions in which he called on them to “exercise additional fiscal restraint.”
Among the measures outlined in the memo:
- A freeze on creating any new positions or filling any vacancies without approval from the state budget office. The freeze does not apply to law enforcement or corrections positions.
- A 5% reduction in budgets for all state agencies.
- All agencies, boards and commissions must provide monthly cash flow projections.
- Agency leaders are directed to “concentrate” on eliminating redundant processes, services regulation and aid programs.
- Agency leaders are directed to reduce their agencies’ physical footprint and “consolidate teams and services.”
All state entities are required to submit their plans for reducing spending by the end of the month.
The memo also said agencies should “prepare for downward adjustments to appropriations” not only in the current fiscal year but also in the 2028 and 2029 fiscal years.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Nebraska’s lawsuit against Colorado over a proposed canal that would take water out of the South Platte River in Colorado and send it to a reservoir in Nebraska.
Nebraska claims Colorado is deliberately obstructing efforts to build the ditch, known as the Perkins Canal, even though everyone agrees Nebraska has the right to do so. The canal is necessary, Nebraska says, because Colorado isn’t sending enough water into Nebraska.
The Perkins Canal would divert water from the South Platte River near Ovid to a storage site somewhere in Nebraska. The South Platte River Compact, ratified by both states and Congress in 1923, requires Colorado to guarantee a flow in the river of 120 cubic feet per second at a water gauge near the state line during the irrigation season. The compact also authorizes Nebraska to build the canal and grants the right to use the power of eminent domain to acquire land on which to build it. Initial work was done on the canal more than a century ago, but the project was abandoned as unfeasible.
Nebraska resurrected the idea in late 2021, citing fears that urban development along Colorado’s Interstate 25 corridor and plans to expand water storage were causing Colorado to violate the terms of the 1923 compact.
The idea that Nebraska might actually build the canal has water users in the lower reaches of the river worried that doing so would disrupt the water augmentation process that underpins much of the crop irrigation along the South Platte, especially between Fort Morgan and the Colorado-Nebraska state line. It is designed to help Colorado meet the terms of the 1923 compact.
Colorado land owners have resisted Nebraska’s efforts to buy land in the Julesburg area so the canal can be built. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Gov. Jared Polis, while recognizing Nebraska’s right to build the canal, have nevertheless sworn to do all they can to protect Coloradans’ property and water rights. Seeing such rhetoric as subverting Nebraska’s right to build, Nebraska sued Colorado in the Supreme Court in July 2025, alleging that Colorado is obstructing Nebraska’s efforts to go ahead with the Perkins project. Nebraska also attacked Colorado’s water augmentation system, saying it doesn’t work.
To understand augmentation, it’s important to know that Colorado operates on the prior appropriation doctrine, meaning the oldest (senior) water right holders get their water first. During dry periods, senior users may place a “call” on a stream, forcing junior users to stop taking water to ensure the senior rights are fulfilled. When someone pumps water out of a river basin, it eventually pulls water out of nearby streams and rivers, which can illegally shortchange senior surface-right holders. In that case, the junior wells would have to be shut down until senior rights were satisfied
To avoid such shutdowns, called “curtailment,” Colorado devised a system called augmentation in which the water that is pumped during the irrigation season must be replaced during the winter months so it flows back through the aquifer into the river in the following irrigation season. Some augmentation is done simply by buying water rights from upstream users, increasing the amount of water in the river. The system is highly complex and requires detailed accounting of river flows.
In a prepared statement issued last week, after the high court agreed to hear the case, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said Colorado is in compliance with the compact.
The court’s decision, he wrote, “merely opens the door for Nebraska to bring its claims against Colorado. Nebraska’s burden to prove those claims is incredibly high and we will vigorously defend Colorado’s full entitlements under the compact.”
Perkins Canal needed because Colorado is harming Nebraska
But Nebraska officials insist water augmentation isn’t doing what it was supposed to do. In its 55-page complaint to the U.S. Supreme Court, Nebraska calls the augmentation system illegal and a violation of the river compact.
“Colorado’s water administration system, including its augmentation plans, have harmed and will continue to harm Nebraska,” the lawsuit reads. “For example, many augmentation projects … allow junior well owners to pump water out of priority during the irrigation season, provided they pump or divert additional water during the non-irrigation season and apply it to recharge ponds. This method assumes that water will percolate back into the water table and make its way to the South Platte River in time to make whole downstream senior users.”
Kent Miller is general manager of the Twin Platte Natural Resources District, which includes most of the South Platte River in Nebraska. He’s said he’s watched the river since 1972 and is skeptical that augmentation even works.
“Those plans have not been working, and I base that on the fact that the Western Irrigation District rarely receives what it’s supposed to receive,” Miller said.
In May, U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer filed an amicus brief with the high court recommending that the court allow the suit to go ahead, but with conditions.
In its lawsuit, Nebraska addresses augmentation because of its complexity and insists that any mechanism Colorado uses to comply with the compact should be simple. In his amicus brief, Sauer recommended tossing the argument.
“Nebraska reads Article VIII (of the compact) as mandating that compliance mechanisms be ‘simple,’ and it alleges that Colorado has violated that requirement,” Sauer wrote. “But Article VIII imposes no such requirement; it merely authorizes Colorado officials to enforce the Compact without action by the Colorado legislature. Because Nebraska’s Article VIII claim is facially meritless, it should not be permitted to proceed further.”
Sauer further recommended disallowing arguments that Colorado is obstructing Nebraska’s efforts to build the canal, saying Nebraska offers no evidence of such obstruction.
In signaling its acceptance of the lawsuit on Monday, the Supreme Court said it wants to hear all of Nebraska’s complaints and let the justices judge for themselves whether parts of it lack merit. Colorado originally had 30 days to respond to the court’s action but, on July 2, requested a 60-day extension.
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