State Republican parties are going rogue
State parties were once extensions of the national party, working together toward a common goal of electing the strongest Republican candidates. But that has changed in the era of Trump and the GOPs painful identity crisis. Elements of the right are now more interested in far-right purity than electability.
Eric Underwood, head of the Nebraska GOP since 2022, has purged the state party and inserted Trump loyalists. One of the Nebraska GOPs committee chairs, Fanchon Blythe, who is also a member of the RNC, is an election denier who posted a picture on her Facebook page with Jacob
Angeli-Chansley, better known by his nickname the QAnon Shaman, in December. Months earlier, Angeli-Chansley completed a two-year jail sentence for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Neither Underwood nor Blythe responded to requests for comment or interviews.
But its not just Bacon. The state GOP is not endorsing Sen. Deb Fischer, who is running for her third term. And its backing the challenger to Sen. Pete Ricketts, who is running to finish the term to which he was appointed last year to when Republican Ben Sasse resigned.
Ricketts said the party didnt reach out to the campaign to discuss an endorsement. It just sent a questionnaire to be filled out.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/13/state-republican-parties-are-going-rogue/