PAPILLION- Following a GOP upheaval last summer that changed party leadership from Ricketts loyalists to Trump loyalists, party leaders have asserted a more populist brand of conservatism, including against fellow Republicans. After last year’s state convention rumble, the feud blew back into view in late May in suburban Sarpy County. That’s where a state party effort to force the removal of a sixth-year county chair and hold a re-run election ran into public resistance from some of the state’s top elected Republicans.

Gov. Pillen accompanied Nebraska’s entire congressional delegation and statewide officeholders in defending Sarpy County Chairwoman Nora Sandine. A letter from Pillen dubbed it “unprecedented” and “gross overreach” to try to oust Sarpy GOP Chairwoman Nora Sandine using the state party’s powers. It also called for an end to the intra-party fight for the good of Republican candidates in Nebraska’s fastest-growing county.

The new GOP leadership is questioning the validity of Sandine's re-election, while Sandine’s supporters say she won fair and square. Some current party leaders have said they spent months trying to persuade Sandine to hold another election and to involve people new to the county party, including some who oppose Sandine. Nebraska GOP Chairman Eric Underwood has said he wants to bring Republicans together by “empowering the grassroots” and “revitalizing county parties from the bottom up.”

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