Nebraska Democrats vote not to fill vacancy for Senate race

LINCOLN — The Nebraska Democratic Central Committee voted Sunday not to fill the vacancy caused when Cindy Burbank dropped out of the Senate race.

The committee approved a motion not to fill the party ballot line for the race – continuing the Democratic strategy of clearing the field for nonpartisan U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn.

There was only one objection. Crystal Rhoades tried to offer an amendment to nominate Kishla Askins, who was a candidate in the 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary, to replace Burbank, but it was ruled out of order. Rhoades, who is the Douglas County District Court clerk, was also a candidate in that primary.

Inside the meeting

Audio from the meeting obtained by the Examiner shows that Rhoades rose to nominate Askins, and Party Chairwoman Jane Kleeb ruled her motion out of order because someone had already moved not to fill the vacancy.

“You actually can’t. A nomination supersedes everything except an adjournment, but I will speak to why I want to make this nomination,” Rhoades told Kleeb.

In response, Kleeb repeated “you’re out of order” twice, with others in the room echoing her ruling.

“The motion on the floor is what we’re discussing,” Kleeb said.

Rhoades responded “very good” and said they are the Democratic Party, “not the ‘Nonpartisan Party’, not the ‘Everybody-but-Republican Party.'”

“And the conversation that we are having here is the wrong conversation, because the conversation we need to be having is why won’t Nebraskans elect a Democrat?” Rhoades said.

She noted the party’s condemnation just that afternoon of an ad from an Osborn-aligned political action committee where he said he would oppose allowing transgender student-athletes to play on teams matching the students’ gender.

“We should not be doing this,” Rhoades continued. “We should be looking for ways to make our party functional enough to elect Democrats.”

Kleeb, in response, told Rhoades: “Thank you for your feedback. I’ll remind everybody that 99% of the candidates that we’re supporting are Democrats.”

Jacob Carmichael, the other representative from Legislative District 9 in midtown Omaha opposite Rhoades, said the conversation she mentioned should be had but that nominating someone who wasn’t on the ballot for Senate, but who lost her own congressional primary “by a good amount, is just not smart.”

“We can strategize. We can build power. We can have conversations about more effective ways and changes we need to do that,” Carmichael said. “We cannot do that 72 days before an election.”

Michael Marcheck, chair of the Nebraska Stonewall Democrats, the LGBTQ caucus which endorsed Askins in the spring, rose to speak in opposition to Rhoades’ idea. Kleeb cut him short

The committee vote happened amid a lawsuit by William Forbes, who lost to Burbank in the Senate primary. 

A Lancaster County district judge earlier declined to grant Forbes a temporary injunction to force the party to replace Burbank. Judge Susan Strong said Forbes was unlikely to succeed in forcing the party to fill the spot. 

A court hearing is scheduled Monday morning in the case. 

Kleeb wrote in her court affidavit for the lawsuit that deciding not to fill the vacancy “would align with NDP’s organizational strategy and political desires to oust Republican Senator Ricketts and ensure that Nebraskans enjoy more diversified political representation in Congress.” 

Burbank was among candidates accused of being a “plant” to help either Osborn or incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, an allegation all have denied. Burbank filed to withdraw one day after the secretary of state verified Osborn’s petition signatures to be on the fall ballot.

While the race is technically a three-person contest, Legal Marijuana NOW U.S. Senate candidate Mike Marvin suspended his campaign and endorsed Osborn last week. The race between Osborn and Ricketts has turned state politics upside down with multiple lawsuits surrounding it.

The candidate list in the Senate race isn’t set in stone because there might be two new state political parties — pending a state Supreme Court ruling. 

The general election is Nov. 3.

Examiner Reporter Zach Wendling contributed to this report.