“Once we get to know each other, all those things we thought divided us? Did not exist. That’s a formula for a Senator.”
All five members of Nebraska’s federal delegation are up for election this year.
A rare and politically overstimulating scenario. Courtesy of former Senator Ben Sasse, who resigned his seat in January 2023 to become President of the University of Florida.
As is routine when a U.S. Senate seat is made vacant in Nebraska, the Governor is tasked with appointing a fill-in representative who is required to secure a mandate from voters for the remainder of the term in a special election. Sasse’s term was set to expire in 2026. In a controversial NE-GOP round of musical chairs, Governor Jim Pillen took office last year on January 5th, Ben Sasse resigned on January 8th, and Pillen appointed his gubernatorial predecessor, Pete Ricketts, to fill Sasse’s seat on January 12th.
For the first time in 70 years (1954), both of Nebraska’s Senate seats are up for election. Ricketts is seeking to validate his appointment, and has also indicated he will seek re-election in 2026.
Rumors began to stir. Who would Nebraska Democrats choose square off against Ricketts? As his political tenure as governor and fundraising prowess would provide an uphill battle.
Earlier this month, NE-Dems threw their weight behind the North Omaha civic leader, educator, and economic development organizer: Preston Love Jr.
Hot off the heals of his campaign kick off event, hosted in North Omaha, KLIN News had the chance to speak with Love and take his temperature on the campaign.
“I was hoping for good attendance and I was hoping for high energy, and we overwhelmed me on both of those. We had a full house. The energy was high, and it was confirmation that maybe I’m making the right decisions on this run,” said Love.
Over his long career, Love has become a flag-bearer for the North Omaha community. While many Omahans may recognize his name at the ballot box, those in greater Nebraska might not be as familiar, and Love will need their votes to secure the race and represent them.
Love, 81, is a native Nebraskan. While spending a good part of his life outside the state, he’s been back for the last 20 years. Love graduated from University of Nebraska-Lincoln and played football for the Huskers under Head Coach Bob Devaney. After college, Love went on to work as an IBM marketing executive for 15 years, the city of Atlanta’s commissioner of planning in the 1980’s, and the national campaign manager of Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign. Currently, Love is an adjunct professor for the University of Nebraska-Omaha, lecturer in Black Histories, and hosts historical tours of his beloved North Omaha.
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- Husker Athletics Photo
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- Preston Love Jr.
Love broke from his autobiography to mention he’s spent the last five years trying to bridge gaps between urban and rural Nebraska. “I’ve become one who is immersed in the idea of bridging gaps,” said Love, “Urban-rural is only one part of the pie now. We’ve got party gaps. We’ve got gender gaps. We’ve got policy gaps. But the real gaps are about how we’ve become so divisive and so divided.”
Love penned an editorial in 2020 “Let’s plant a seed” addressed to rural Nebraska, about the urban-rural divide, “Realizing we shared so many common problems, disparities, and had more things in common than we realize,” he described. According to Love, this olive branch proved fruitful. “We have developed relationships all over Nebraska. I’ve stayed in people’s homes. I’ve taken delegations from my urban North Omaha out there, and they have come to Omaha. I had a group from Ogalala, McCook and Imperial, Nebraska, come to North Omaha for the Juneteenth parade. Isn’t that something?”
“There’s something I learned in this process,” Love said, “Once we got to know each other, all those things we thought divided us? Did not exist. That’s a formula for a senator.”
Campaign slogans (or cliches) aside, Nebraskans will — generally — cast their vote for U.S. Senator based on the candidates alignment on key issues. Love was forthcoming about his stances on subjects that will likely define the lawmaking body in the coming years.
“In Nebraska, we believe in guns, but I do not believe in assault weapons, so I’ll be working in that way. I surely will be working as it relates to a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body. Why? Because it’s her decision to make. I am very concerned about environmental evolution going the wrong way as it relates to our toxic air and toxic waters. I surely am an advocate of folks telling the truth about climate change and responding to it. I’m surely very serious about voter suppression,” Love cataloged, with one addition, “I am very concerned about Donald Trump, some of his followers, and enablers as it relates to democracy. I do think democracy is going to be on the ballot in a silent sort of way in 2024.”
Love and his wife (Courtesy: Love 4 Senate)
Drawing a starker contrast to his opponent, Love said there are some campaign metrics he doesn’t believe he’ll be able to compete with Ricketts on.
“He has lots of money. Even if I raise more money, he’s got more money. I want to be able to raise enough money to run a viable, responsible, and credible campaign. That’s going to be enough money for us. We’ll never win that fight… If that were the race, I’d give up,” Love laughed. “Part of the reason I’m running, and my opponent may be the worst example of it: we surely are uncomfortable about what’s happening with privilege-versus-people. That the privileged are not looking out for all people. That’s not just for the urban community, that’s all over the state.”
Love and Ricketts are also not strangers, “Mr. Ricketts is a man that I know and have met. I respect him as a person, but we surely don’t agree much on issues. I’m surely concerned that Mr. Ricketts kind of represents privilege,” said Love, “That does not automatically mean it’s bad, unless it translates into policies that only affect ‘a few’ and ignore ‘a lot.’ I’ve been a servant for 40 years. I’m a people-candidate.”
Love told KLIN News he would be taking his message to greater Nebraska on the campaign trail. “We’re going out and calling it the ‘Love Bus’ — that’s kind of fun — but it’s really a listening tour,” he described, “I have made some inroads in greater Nebraska, and I want to hear what’s on people’s minds. They don’t have to come up and say, I’m a Democrat or Republican or Independent. I just want to know what’s going on and what’s important.” Love detailed future visits to Nebraska communities like Wahoo, Kearney, Norfolk, and Scottsbluff.
Love offered a message to voters, that sums up his stated campaign strategy, “I’m not trying to be overly corny [laughs] — that’s a good one for Nebraska, isn’t it? — We’ve got to realize that it doesn’t matter whether you’re Republican or Democrat, black or white, urban or rural, we’ve got to get to know each other! Before we can sit together and solve issues.”
KLIN News will continue to follow Nebraska’s 2024 election season. For more information on Love’s campaign, visit Love4Senate.com.