ELKHORN, Neb. — Former state Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont, the 2026 Democratic choice for Nebraska governor, announced a corn and soybean farmer and ex-Republican on Tuesday as her pick for lieutenant governor.
Walz announced the selection Tuesday of Ben Steffen, who farms near Humboldt, while at a supporter’s farm north of Elkhorn. She described Steffen as “salt of the earth” and humble, honest and an “all-around good person.” He is the Richardson County chair for the Nebraska Farm Bureau, chair of his county planning commission, chair of his local water district board and chair of the Nebraska Rural Radio Association. He previously served as president of Ag Builders of Nebraska.
“Like me, he was not interested in politics, but he shared the desire to do what he could for his community, whether it was through public service or helping others thrive,” Walz said.
The lieutenant governor is the right-hand to Nebraska’s governor and, in their absence, acts as the state’s chief executive. They preside as president of Nebraska’s one-house Legislature.
Running mate’s background
Steffen grew up on his parents’ dairy farm near Humboldt in southeast Richardson County. He continues to farm on the same land that has been in his family for more than 130 years with his wife, Paula Sue. In 2022, they made the difficult decision to sell their dairy cows.
Walz, a former teacher, also grew up on a small hog farm north of Fremont in Fontanelle. She was elected to the Legislature in 2016 and served two four-year terms.
Steffen said that when Walz called him this summer and asked him about joining her ticket, he was in his field planting corn. He said he “just about drove my tractor in the ditch.”
“It’s humbling to be considered,” Steffen said.
He said his upbringing instilled in him the values of hard work, honesty, personal responsibility, faith and giving back to others. He testified before Congress on behalf of farmers in 2013 at the invitation of former U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., a former Nebraska governor who had been a U.S. secretary of agriculture under President George W. Bush.
“My story is like many of yours,” Steffen said Tuesday. “When there’s a problem we Nebraskans raise our hands to help. We come together, we find common ground, we work through our differences.”
Pillen campaign, NEGOP fire back
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen’s reelection campaign manager, Taylor Sliva, and the Nebraska Republican Party were quick to downplay Steffen. Both noted Steffen spoke at a recent “No Kings” rally against Trump.
In contrast, Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, was quick to elevate Steffen over Pillen’s running mate, Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly, who is a longtime prosecutor, Lexington native and Nebraska National Guard veteran. The NEGOP disavowed the comparison and noted Pillen is a farmer. His family continues to run the hog farm operation he built in Columbus.
“Your guy complains in the media, speaks at ‘No Kings’ rallies and like your other candidates is a glorified activist,” the NEGOP said Tuesday on X.
Steffen laughed at the description and told the Examiner he bailed hay for four days straight to make time for Tuesday’s event and that while doing so, he was on the phone and plugged his baler three times. His wife, Paula Sue, then told him: “I’m taking the phone away so we can get the hay finished.” Steffen said he is still coughing from grain dust after scooping grain bins this summer and highlighted his background as a former school board member, churchgoer and director of his church choir for 35-plus years, plus his marriage of 40 years.
“If those aren’t conservative family values,” Steffen said, “go ask Jim Pillen what is.”
Steffen was a registered Republican through the 2024 primary election and was a registered Democrat by the 2024 general election, according to the Richardson County Clerk’s Office.
Steffen did donate to the Nebraska Democratic Party sooner, according to the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission. He gave $1,500 to the party two days after the May 2024 primary. In 2024, he gave $500 to a Democrat running to represent his Legislative District 1 and $250 to the Nebraska Farmers Union Political Action Committee. He donated $250 to Walz in January. The NADC did not list any other contributions.
‘Political hogwash’
Alongside her new running mate, the Walz-Steffen pair directed criticism at Pillen, at times by name, and Walz said that if things were going so well, she and Steffen wouldn’t be running.
Walz described the state as being at a “crossroads” with the “least transparent” administration in Nebraska that has led with “financial mismanagement” and brought economic development “crawling almost to a halt.”
“Our governor is ignoring the crisis he created,” Walz said. “I’ve worked a lot of jobs in my life … and if I performed any of them like that, I would have been fired.”
The state budget is projected to be in the hole by more than $1 billion over the next three fiscal years, including $200 million in the current budget year that ends next June 30. Lawmakers will need to address that in the spring, a problem Walz calls the “Pillen budget crisis.”
Pillen told reporters last week Walz doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
“I would call that somebody that doesn’t have a clue what the facts are,” Pillen said last Wednesday. “Doesn’t have any ability to study and really learn what’s going on, and just trying to grab headlines. Political hogwash.”
Tax policy
Pillen has also taken pride in cutting income taxes in 2023 in a bill from former state Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, which Walz ultimately voted for. Voters elected Linehan to Legislative District 39 in 2016 over Democrat Bill Armbrust, whose farm Walz and Steffen were at Tuesday.
Walz was elected to adjacent Legislative District 15 in 2016 over a Republican appointee in a district that heavily backed President Donald Trump. Both Walz and Linehan were reelected in 2020 before being term-limited after 2024.
Linehan has again endorsed Pillen. She chaired the Revenue Committee for six years, beginning in 2019, while Walz chaired the Education Committee in 2021 and 2022. The pair championed reading legislation together in 2024, though they didn’t always see eye-to-eye.
Walz and Steffen said they want to focus on and deliver property tax relief, a promise Pillen also made in 2022 and made again for 2026. He has struggled to find enough legislative support to deliver the amount of sweeping reforms he desires but has vowed not to give up.
Steffen said Pillen has failed to focus on daily issues, and “everyone knows he can’t deliver on property tax relief, especially when he has a billion dollar budget hole.”
“Pillen’s administration has failed,” Steffen said.
Walz previewed her platform last week — “Lynne’s Commitment to Nebraskans” — but hasn’t yet detailed how she would address property taxes. Steffen repeated Walz’s call that doing so will require growing Nebraska’s economy and ensure Nebraska is welcoming for businesses, families and people.
‘A winning team’
Walz told the Nebraska Examiner that the duo met while she was running as the lieutenant governor pick to then-state Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha in 2018. Krist is a Republican turned independent turned 2018 Democratic nominee. He’s now a registered nonpartisan again.
“I view the lieutenant governor as a true partnership,” Walz said Tuesday, “someone who will fight for Nebraskans every single day and treat the role with the gravity that this moment demands.”
Steffen said he took time to consider his decision but ultimately found it easier to make with Walz at the helm. He said that ever since he met her, he’s seen Walz as a “breath of fresh air” who cares about others and wants to bring people together. Steffen, a pilot, said he and Walz will travel Nebraska and meet Nebraskans where they’re at in the coming months.
“Lynne Walz is the leader this moment calls for, and it’s because her leadership is a complete contrast to our current governor,” Steffen said.
The last Democrat to win the governor’s race was Ben Nelson, who won reelection in 1994. He was also the last Democrat to win a statewide office, when he ran for one final term to the U.S. Senate in 2006. Republican voters today nearly double the number of Democrats in the state.
However, Walz has said she doesn’t hear concerns on the ground about her being a Democrat.
“I know that we have a winning team,” Walz said Tuesday. “I’m not optimistic, I know we do, not just for this campaign but to get this great state back on track and bring us back to the best versions of ourselves. I have the right partner in place to do this.”
Walz and Pillen will face off in November. Legal Marijuana NOW nominee Rick Beard of Omaha is also on the ballot, and former state Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha would also be on the ballot if he submits enough signatures by next Monday to qualify as a registered nonpartisan. As of Tuesday evening, his campaign website still said “coming soon.”
The general election is Nov. 3.
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