Herbster says he's pondering 2026 run

Charles Herbster, the wealthy Falls City businessman and close ally of President Donald Trump who finished second in Nebraska's 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary to Gov. Jim Pillen, has not yet decided whether he will seek office again in 2026, he said this week. Herbster, who has long been floated as a potential primary challenger to Pillen when the Republican incumbent seeks a second term next year, said in a brief phone interview Wednesday that he has been encouraged to run for office again but is "not making any decision at this point." "I've had a lot of people call me and encourage me to consider running in 2026," he told the Journal Star, later adding: "I want to see what the voters want, and I want to see what's going to take place in the state of Nebraska over the next few months. So I'm not making any decision." He also did not rule out seeking another political office next year or beyond. "There's always a possibility that I might consider doing something in politics in the future," he said. "I'm just not sure what that would be." A longtime ally of Trump who held posts in all three of his presidential campaigns, Herbster could pose the most serious threat to Pillen's incumbency if he decides to challenge the governor. Pillen coasted to victory in the 2022 general election with nearly 60% of the vote in a state that hasn't elected a Democrat in a statewide race since 2006. But Pillen, who announced his plans to seek reelection earlier this year, narrowly edged Herbster in 2022's three-way GOP primary, capturing 33.9% of the vote to Herbster's 29.9%. Former State Sen. Brett Lindstrom, who finished third with 26.1% of the vote, is running to represent Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District in Congress next year. Herbster has long been a loyalist to Trump, who remains popular among Nebraska Republicans and who endorsed the Conklin CEO's 2022 run for governor, traveling to the Cornhusker State ahead of that year's primary to campaign for Herbster. An agriculture adviser to Trump in the president's first term, Herbster was reportedly among the candidates to be Trump's Secretary of Agriculture last year. He was not appointed to the post. Herbster has also been willing to throw money at political candidates he backs -- including himself. He donated more than $450,000 to support Trump's bid for the White House last year, a total dwarfed by the amount he poured into his own gubernatorial campaign in 2022, when he spent at least $11.3 million on his largely self-funded campaign. Pillen, meanwhile, raised more than $2 million in 2024 and had $3.66 million on hand at the end of December, according to campaign finance records.