Nebraska attorney general candidates take differing approaches to campaign trail

LINCOLN — While Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers said he views his public service one term at a time, it was a quick decision to seek reelection.

With an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case concerning Colorado’s water rights with the South Platte River, his ongoing legal battle with TikTok and other pending lawsuits, Hilgers said he has unfinished business.

“(I) want to see those fights through,” Hilgers said.

The GOP incumbent faces a challenge from Democrat Jocelyn Brasher, who said she decided to run after watching Hilgers take the Attorney General’s Office in what she believes is the “completely wrong direction.” She said Hilgers seemed to have brought his work as a former lawmaker into the office with him and is legislating based on his personal political views.

“Mike Hilgers has forgotten that he’s no longer the speaker of the Legislature,” Brasher said.

Hilgers served six years as a state senator before becoming attorney general, including two years as speaker. He described his approach to AG as trying to “really conserve our democratic republic” and seeking to uphold the framework of the U.S. Constitution and the Nebraska Constitution.

Brasher was a deputy Dodge County attorney and previously worked five years in the Nebraska AG’s Office in its Consumer Protection Division under former Attorney General Doug Peterson.

The two have taken vastly different approaches to the campaign trail. Being a new name on the ballot, Brasher said she has visited “all four corners of the state,”putting herself in front of voters directly. She said many of her conversations have involved telling voters specifically what Hilgers has been doing as AG, as she argued that Hilgers has not been transparent to his constituents.

Hilgers, meanwhile, has focused on running positive advertisements that focus on his accomplishments. He has continued his work as AG through the race, and he said as an incumbent with a history in elected office, his campaign strategy is less traditional.

“You have a resume, a track record, and so in many ways, it is easier to campaign,” Hilgers said.

Brasher has been endorsed by several known Democrats, including former U.S. senator and governor Ben Nelson, Omaha Mayor John Ewing and Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird. Hilgers has gathered endorsements from several organizations, including the Nebraska Farm Bureau, the Nebraska Professional Fire Fighters Association, the Lincoln Police Union and the Omaha Police Officers Association.

Under Hilger’s leadership, the AG’s office has pursued legal battles against Google, Facebook/Meta, TikTok, the Biden administration, China-based Temu and Lorex, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California, Colorado, a Swiss billionaire, General Motors, Change Healthcare and more. He said he believes he has built the “best pound-for-pound law firm” in the U.S.

Brasher argued that engaging in national lawsuits and “culture wars” is not what the AG is meant to do, particularly,she said, when the subjects of the lawsuits have nothing to do with Nebraska or its residents. From her conversations with voters, she said, Nebraskans care about strengthening public safety and cracking down on data centers, human trafficking and violent crime, among other issues.

Hilgers has incurred criticism due to his role in the fight against cannabis legalization in Nebraska. His office has accused petitioners of fraud in a successful 2024 ballot initiative that legalized medical cannabis in Nebraska, with certain restrictions, and is part of a multistate lawsuit seeking to stop the Trump Justice Department’s order reclassifying marijuana as a less harmful drug.

From his perspective, Hilgers said, cannabis doesn’t appear to be a big issue for voters this election. His conversations with voters have mostly centered on issues his office has already been involved in, such as consumer fraud protections and Nebraska’s water rights concerning Colorado.

“(Cannabis) has hardly come up at all,” Hilgers said. “And when it has, (it’s) people thanking me for ensuring that people aren’t cheating when they’re trying to get things on the ballot.”

Brasher said she wasn’t surprised that Hilgers doesn’t think cannabis is a big issue to voters because he hasn’t been on the campaign trail the same way she has. However, from her view, cannabis legalization might be the biggest topic on voters’ minds.

Concerning the 2024 medical cannabis initiative, Brasher argued that Hilgers was trying to overturn election results that he doesn’t agree with. She said she believes he would continue to fight against legal marijuana access if reelected.

If elected, Brasher said, she would pursue regulations for medical cannabis, but would align the regulations with what voters requested. She said this would likely involve setting guidance for law enforcement.

Brasher argued that Hilgers has allowed irresponsible spending at a time when the state is facing a continued budget deficit, saying that he has “blown” the AG’s budget for multiple years.

Hilgers countered that his office has actually been a net positive for Nebraska’s budget due to the influx of settlement revenues. He noted that Nebraska is slated to receive more than $200 million in a settlement with Facebook’s parent company, Meta, which will be paid out over 10 years into the state’s consumer protection cash fund.

“Nebraskans can actually add up and tally the inflows and outflows of the consumer cash fund and see that we will have added more to it than we have taken out,” Hilgers said.

If reelected, Hilgers said, he plans to double down on his past promises, which include building his solicitor general team, working on mental health and technology issues, and supporting law enforcement, particularly in rural Nebraska.

“You never know what the fight’s gonna be in, say, 2029,” Hilgers said. “But you have to think enough ahead to know what you want to accomplish, and we’ve got a good sense of that.”

If elected, Brasher said, she wants to bring the AG’s office “back to basics,” which to her involves enforcing Nebraska’s laws as they are written. She said she hopes voters understand how important the AG’s office is, saying it is supposed to be “the people’s lawyer.”

“I know how much good this office can do when it is actually focused on the people here at home,” Brasher said.