Ricketts’ Riches: Nebraska politician and family deliver deluge of campaign cash

THE SKINNY: 

Pete Ricketts and his family have spent at least $18.6 million on Nebraska political campaigns and causes in the dozen years he was running for governor, serving as governor and then serving in the United States Senate.

The family spending rose to its highest-ever level during the 2024 election cycle, when Pete Ricketts and his parents accounted for roughly 9% of all political giving in the state, according to reporting done by FFP reporter Sara Gentzler and Syracuse University’s Alex Richards. Put another way, the U.S. senator and his parents spent $1 out of every $11 spent by anyone on any Nebraska political race, political action committee or ballot initiative.

“The numbers startle,” said the former governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, a Democrat. “At this level of giving … they may not own Nebraska politics but they seem to have a long-term lease.”

The family – mostly the governor and his parents – has delivered money far and wide.

They have funneled money to all levels of government: high-profile ballot measures, low-level local races and PACs that bolstered candidates or attacked them. They spent heavily in races for the Nebraska Legislature, the body that can advance or curb a governor’s agenda. 

That spending spiked when Ricketts first ran for the state’s top job, jumping to 5% of all recorded Nebraska political giving. 

It spiked again in the 2022 election cycle, as Ricketts prepared to leave the governor’s office. Then family members spent $5.4 million – much of it funneled to electing his successor, Jim Pillen. A week after taking office, Pillen appointed Ricketts to the U.S. Senate.

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And it spiked yet again during the last election cycle, when now Sen. Ricketts and his parents, Joe and Marlene Ricketts, spent nearly $9 million, much of it on the state’s white-hot abortion fight.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Such spending by the chief of the state’s executive branch appears unprecedented in Nebraska. The Flatwater Free Press analyzed records from the state campaign finance commission, which go back as far as 1995. It also interviewed every living former governor.

“Legally, any American citizen can contribute whatever they want to a (Nebraska) campaign,” said former Gov. Dave Heineman, a Republican. “I think it’s viewed differently when you’re a sitting governor and you’re making significant contributions to legislative races, primarily, to impact who might get elected who would reflect your views in terms of policy.”

Republican Matt Williams, a former state senator, found himself targeted by a campaign funded almost entirely by the Ricketts family. When he was in the Unicameral, he voted against Pete Ricketts’ wishes on a handful of occasions.

Ricketts and allies said his political giving is simply guided by attempts to elect conservative political candidates who can win.

But others question whether that spending – particularly while Ricketts was governor – is appropriate, noting that the combo of power and money can influence elections and policy making.

“I think any governor – not just Ricketts – any governor has significant influence,” Williams said. “When you couple a governor that also has financial resources, that doubles down.” 

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By Sara Gentzler

Sara keeps an eye on state government: Its many agencies, the governor's office, courts and the Legislature. She has unearthed troubling data on how Nebraska helps both its crime victims and its convicted criminals, analyzed the effects of low legislator pay and reported on lawmakers' conflicts of interest.

By Alex Richards

Alex Richards is a journalism professor at Syracuse University's Newhouse School. He previously worked as a data reporter and editor for the Chicago Tribune, The Chronicle of Higher Education and NerdWallet. Richards was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2011, and his reporting has been honored with the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and the Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Journalism, among others. He has been a part of teams that have uncovered political patronage schemes, fraudulent student loan businesses and hidden accidents and injuries in hospitals.

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