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LINCOLN — Nebraska’s most influential political consultant has chosen to step away from the state’s highest-profile candidate, the governor, the consultant’s company confirmed Thursday.
Jessica Flanagain, whose critics have called her “Voldemort,” “the Dark Lord” and “She Who Should Not Be Named” for her knife-fight style of campaigning, resigned from Gov. Jim Pillen’s campaign.
She helped voters elect Pillen in 2022, when the hog farmer and former university regent won a three-headed Republican primary that became the state’s most expensive governor’s race.
Flanagain, when reached Thursday, declined to comment. But Rob Phillips, president of her parent company, Axiom Strategies, said the firm had ended its contract with Pillen.
Pillen’s campaign manager did not return messages seeking comment Thursday. The governor has previously praised her as effective and joked about her sharp elbows with opponents.
Timing questioned
Some politicos contacted about Flanagain’s departure noted the timing. She left Wednesday, a day after Lincoln police said the department is investigating a state contract Pillen steered.
Questions linger about the state’s $2.5 million emergency no-bid bioeconomy contract between the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and Julie Bushell, a lobbyist Pillen knew and recommended for the contract, an arrangement the state auditor said seemed to reflect “favoritism.”
A key question being probed: Did the Governor’s Office or staff under Pillen’s control manufacture an emergency so the state could skip competitive bidding and give Bushell the contract?
Pillen staffers and direct reports have said Bushell was already doing the bioeconomy work for the state before the Legislature had approved the funding that later became the contract.
State Auditor Mike Foley has argued that reinforces his belief that Nebraska faced no emergency that would legally justify not sending the state contract out for competitive bids.
The governor and his team have said the federal funding Bushell helped access was worth the state money. Pillen has said his staff followed the law and that he is “really proud of what we did.”
Audit and investigation referrals
Foley referred his findings on the contract last month to Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers and the Nebraska State Patrol. Misleading the auditor is a misdemeanor.
The Attorney General’s Office typically reviews such auditor referrals alleging potential wrongdoing and decides whether the findings merit additional investigation by a police agency.
The AG’s Office recently referred the contract probe to the Patrol, which told the Examiner this week that it asked Lincoln police to step in to avoid any possible conflict of interest.
Pillen appoints the head of the State Patrol, and its troopers provide his executive protection detail, the security personnel who resemble a state version of the Secret Service.
Potential primary challengers stand down
Flanagain resigned after the filing deadline for GOP candidates to challenge Pillen in a red state where Republicans outnumber Democrats 2-to-1, with a growing number of nonpartisans.
Despite the governor’s political vulnerabilities and a push by donors for other entrants, Pillen’s 2026 campaign raised more than $10 million and kept potential GOP challengers from filing.
Charles Herbster, the multi-state millionaire agribusinessman who finished second to Pillen in the 2022 GOP race, flirted longest with a bid but ultimately did not run. He did not comment.
His longtime consultant, Rod Edwards, who worked against Flanagain in that 2022 governor’s race, said he “was not surprised” by her departure’s timing. She waited until after the filing deadline, when no other GOP candidate could join the primary race.
Another race awaits
Pillen is the heavy favorite this fall to face Democrat Lynne Walz, a former state senator from Fremont who is the heavy favorite in her primary as well, and some on his team have told people they expect a real race in a tough year for GOP turnout.
Jane Kleeb, who chairs the Nebraska Democratic Party, said the departure of “a cutthroat operative” like Flanagain “speaks volumes,” raising questions about the governor’s campaign.
“Jessica Flanagain didn’t leave Jim Pillen’s campaign — she escaped it,” Kleeb said. “Nebraskans are watching a governor who can’t hold together his own team while he’s busy blowing a $646 million budget hole, giving out no-bid contracts and ignoring the kitchen table issues families care about.”
Patrick Lee, who worked with former State Sen. Brett Lindstrom on his 2022 GOP gubernatorial bid, said he had seen first hand how Flanagain “dismembers her opponents.” Many blamed her for the actions of a third-party group that ran ads criticizing Lindstrom’s support for increasing the gas tax for roads that blunted his momentum.
“The primary was the toughest fight for the governor,” Lee said. “With Nebraska at the tip of the spear to keep the House and Senate, I’m sure Jessica is focused on winning the tough races.”
History lesson
Flanagain’s background in regional politics is long, including a stint as executive director of the Nebraska Republican Party and helping Mike Huckabee win the Iowa caucuses in 2008.
She is perhaps best known for her work with another of her clients, U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., a former two-term governor now facing the toughest general election of his career.
Ricketts faces registered nonpartisan Omaha labor leader Dan Osborn in the general election, in a race drawing allegations of both campaigns planting extra candidates to cull votes.
She also helped elect former U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry in Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District and his successor, U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, who replaced Fortenberry after Fortenberry resigned following a conviction for lying to or misleading federal investigators. That conviction was later overturned on a venue question. The Trump administration declined to continue a follow-up prosecution.
Lincoln police now investigating $2.5M no-bid contract flagged by Nebraska auditor
She also encouraged Foley to run in his first auditor’s race. He did not immediately return a message late Thursday seeking comment.
Only a handful of Flanagain’s contemporaries spoke on the record Thursday about her or Pillen. Several expressed fear of angering either of them. Both have a history of punishing opponents.
Chris Peterson, a longtime GOP consultant, said it’s clear Flanagain is narrowing her political focus in 2026.
“Jessica has a twenty-year professional relationship with Pete Ricketts,” he said. “It’s not surprising she is prioritizing his Senate race, especially in a year when the political winds aren’t setting up to be friendly for Republicans.”
Examiner Reporter Juan Salinas II contributed to this report.
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- 12:17 pmEditor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the reason U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry’s conviction was overturned.
