By AARON SANDERFORD
Nebraska Examiner
OMAHA — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts made headlines this week for wading into Missouri’s Republican U.S. Senate race, but it’s far from the first time he has taken sides in a GOP primary.
During the 2021-22 election cycle, Ricketts has given more than $1.2 million to more than 20 federal races and committees, including to candidates in contested primaries.
The unusual move reported this week is that Ricketts joined a group of GOP donors attacking former Gov. Eric Greitens’ Senate primary bid. He gave $250,000 to Show Me Values, a super PAC formed, in part, because some fear Greitens might lose to a Democrat. The group includes Missouri’s top GOP donor, an heir to the Anheuser-Busch fortune.
Greitens’ top GOP competitors in the Senate race are Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler.
Greitens resigned from the governor’s office in 2018 after his hairstylist alleged sexual assault. Ricketts had backed Greitens’ earlier bid for governor and hosted him in Nebraska in 2017.
But Ricketts on Thursday called Greitens “not fit to be in office.” Ricketts used similar language against former Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster, who denied groping allegations by eight women, including a Republican state senator.
Ricketts, co-chairman of the Republican Governors Association, has faced some political fallout in Nebraska from spending more than six figures to help University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen win the GOP primary for governor.
Republicans who took over the state GOP leadership this month during the party’s convention in Kearney have said some of their frustration was with some of Ricketts’ actions during the primary. Ricketts has acknowledged some of those concerns, saying he would still back Republican candidates.
He and his family have long donated to political causes and continue to do so.
Ricketts’ largest federal donation this cycle, based on data maintained by the Federal Election Commission, was the $266,300 he gave to a political action committee run by U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., who represents the sprawling 3rd Congressional District.
Days after the donation, Smith’s Victory Fund PAC gave $251,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which helps elect GOP candidates to the House. Ricketts’ next largest donations were a pair of $109,500 gifts to the NRCC. He also gave $63,500 to the Republican National Committee.
He donated $55,000 to the Big Red Leadership PAC for newly elected U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., who represents the Lincoln-centered 1st District. He also gave $47,300 to the Victory Fund for Rep. Don Bacon, who represents the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District.
The governor’s out-of-state beneficiaries in 2021-22 include $50,000 to the Carolina Senate Fund, to help the GOP Senate nominee in North Carolina hold onto a seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. Ricketts backed former Gov. Pat McCrory, who lost to Ted Budd.
Ricketts gave a combined $30,000 to GOP Senate candidate Josh Mandel, who lost the Ohio Senate primary to J.D. Vance. Vance received a late endorsement from former President Donald Trump, which analysts said won him the GOP race.
Ricketts also gave the Illinois GOP $10,000 for congressional candidates. He gave the $5,800 maximum for federal primary and general elections to Illinois House nominee Esther Joy King. He gave the same amount to Arizona GOP House candidate Juan Ciscomani, who is competing for an open seat.
Nebraska’s governor gave $5,800 each to Georgia Senate nominee Herschel Walker, Nevada Republican Senate nominee Adam Laxalt, Washington GOP Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley and New Hampshire GOP Senate candidate Vikram Mansharamani.