But like many of CNN’s more than 50 voters, most of whom are Republicans, Lisa Ketcham, 59, said she had “mixed” feelings about the accusations amid fierce opposition from the businessman and farmer. / ranch that turned them down. Ketcham, an Omaha Republican, said the accusations were worrying for her, but neither controversy nor Trump’s approval would be the driving factors when she votes.
In an interview with CNN, Herbster also dismissed the allegations as “politically motivated slander.”
“They did it to Donald J. Trump. They did it to Brett Cavanaugh, “Herbster said, alluding to allegations of sexual violence against the former president and current Supreme Court judge. Herbster’s thunderous denials, his referral to one of his prosecutors in an advertisement, his quick move to a lawsuit against her, and his apparent disinterest in thinking about how some of his previous interactions with women may have caused discomfort, remind Trump of his apology without apology. years later, Trump presented himself as a “victim” while criticizing what he considered to be targeted at men during the height of sexual harassment known as the viral hashtag. #MeToo.
As with Trump, this aggressive strategy seems to be helping Herbster overcome the accusations. In interviews with voters in Nebraska in recent days, there has been little evidence that allegations of sexual abuse have played a key role in influencing their views in one way or another.
Ketcham, a 59-year-old Omaha woman whom CNN met at Village Pointe Mall, said she plans to do her “research” on Herbster, “as far as he can do for Nebraska,” but leans toward Pillen, the main rival. of Herbster. However, she said she wanted to see women’s allegations investigated more closely: “If (Herbster) wants to have any influence, he needs to clarify those allegations.”
But talks with voters suggest that Ricketts’ support for Pilen may ultimately carry more weight on Tuesday than Trump’s support for Herbster. Although Trump won Nebraska by 58 percent to 39 percent over incumbent President Joe Biden and remains extremely popular with Republican voters, Ricketts is actively campaigning against Herbster, a longtime political rival he said he did not qualify for as governor.
Many voters in the state said they supported Pilen, in part because of Ricketts’ faith in him and his focus on economic issues, while others said they supported Lindstrom because he thought he was less negative. Some voters expressed disgust at the negativity of Herbster’s advertisements, as well as complete exhaustion from the “smear of mud,” as one voter put it, at a time when Nebraskans are facing urgent economic problems such as inflation.
“Global problems affect us like any other. … Gas runs out, outpatient running out, fertilizers. We can’t deliver manure to farmers, and we’re an agricultural community,” said Vicki Ewyn, a 64-year-old Republican who works for an agricultural company. for delivery, maintenance and distribution. “These farmers are suffering.”
Charges against Herbster
Herbster’s public scrutiny of women’s behavior began with a mid-April report by Nebraska Examiner detailing the reports of the eight women. The only one who agreed to be named initially was Republican Sen. Julie Slam, who said Herbster sexually raped her by lifting her skirt and touching her without consent at a 2019 GOP dinner.
Declaring the allegations “false and malicious lies”, Herbster sued Slama in Johnson County District Court, claiming that “Slama’s false statements” had “severely damaged his reputation”.
In her April 25 counterclaim for sexual assault, Slama said she was “shocked, killed and traumatized by Herbster’s actions” at the GOP dinner in 2019 – when she was 22 – and said that “also she fears retribution, which could happen if she comes out, because she knew Herbster was a multimillionaire and a major donor to the Republican Party in Nebraska. “
In late April, Elizabeth Todson, one of eight women interviewed by the Nebraska Examiner, also identified herself publicly. In a statement to CNN by her attorney, Todson said Herbster “touched her sexually” while greeting her table at the same GOP dinner and that Herbster’s decision to “come out with my story is extremely difficult because of my fear of the consequences.” whom she called “a powerful voice in Nebraska politics.”
Herbster’s political enemies defended women. Ricketts, a close ally of Slam – who was spokesman for his campaign in 2018 and was later appointed by Ricketts to fill a vacant position in the state’s unicameral legislature – called the allegations “beyond terrible”, said Herbster should seek forgiveness from “The women he grabbed” and urged him to seek treatment. Pilen said that “sexual violence against women should be disqualified for anyone who wants to serve as a leader” and that he prayed for women. Lindstrom said he was “disgusted to read the stories of my colleague, Senator Straw, and other brave women,” adding, “We need to listen and stand with the victims.”
But Herbster, who has already spent at least $ 11.3 million to fund his campaign, according to financial reports, has refused to back down.
Asked by CNN if he could remember the meetings with Slama and Todsen in 2019 – and how his memories differ from theirs – he repeatedly rejected the question, saying that their accounts are “100% fake” and noted that he goes to “Hundreds and hundreds of events all the time.”
Herbster compares his situation to that of Trump – who was accused of a number of violations by at least 15 women during his 2016 campaign, all of which he denied – and the firestorm Cavanaugh faced in 2018. , after being accused of sexual assault decades earlier at a high school party, a claim he denied.
Herbster put these arguments on the air. An ad that uses a set of Jenga as a metaphor for what the narrator suggests are “fabricated lies” against the candidate condemns the allegations as a slanderous campaign organized by Ricketts and Pilen. Advisors to the two men told CNN the claim was absurd.
“It’s ridiculous to assume that I or someone else conspired to talk to eight women and even more witnesses to make up stories about Charles Herbster,” Ricketts told CNN. “It’s just not plausible.”
The ad targets Straw, claiming that she kept in touch with Herbster via text messages and phone calls after the alleged incident in 2019 and “even invited Herbster to her destination wedding,” the narrator said.
Slam’s lawyer, Dave Lopez, described the ad in a statement to CNN as an attempt to “harass victims of sexual assault in silence” and said “conspiracy allegations” that the allegations were organized as a defamation campaign were false. In court documents in response to Herbster’s lawsuit, Slama said the lists of her and her husband were used to “generate wedding invitations.”
Her counterclaim acknowledges that Herbster donated $ 10,000 to her legislative campaign in 2020, but denies that she “unilaterally sought contact” with him “both professionally and socially” in years after dinner in 2019. His case included a text message he received from Slam in January 2022, to which he replied: “I’m sorry (who) this is, I receive so many text messages.”
Asked by CNN why he is suing Slama, Herbster said he has six businesses and said he would do whatever it takes to clear his name.
Some skepticism about the timing of the allegations
Even among Pilen and Lindstrom’s supporters, some have expressed strong suspicion that the allegations came so close to the original.
Ewyn, a Republican who works for the agricultural company, said she thought the allegations were politically motivated, but added that she was already leaning toward Pilen when they emerged. “I’ve been around since 1988 and I do political things, so people like to dig that up,” she said.
John Van Hausen, 69, of Syracuse, who said he planned to vote for Lindstrom, was unconvinced by the charges against Herbster: “You never know. It’s politics,” he said.
Herbster voters share this concern. “Why is it suddenly rising now?” Shannon Martinez, a 41-year-old Sarpi County Republican, said she said she planned to vote for him.
Others are still deciding. Jen, a 36-year-old Omaha hospice nurse who spoke on condition of her own name, said she planned to vote for Herbster, but the accusations against him “threw a wrench” and made it a really difficult decision. “Although she still thinks she will vote for him, she said she is waiting to see” if anything comes out more. ”
Asked what he would say to voters who want women to be taken seriously, Herbster told CNN that his grandmother taught him three things: “She said, ‘You always pull a chair for a lady. You help her take off her coat. You always open the car door. “He added:” I have always been brought up to respect and honor all women, all women of all ages. And that’s how I’ve lived my whole life.
Herbster said many Nebraska residents have approached him in recent weeks to tell him they are praying for him.
“I don’t like to use this to be useful, but I think it was useful for the campaign. “I think it inspired people, made more people vote,” he said.
If the accusations have no other political impact, they have brought Trump to the state. Appearing in Greenwood at a recent rally, Trump called Herbster, a major donor to Trump’s campaign, whom he appointed to chair its agriculture and rural advisory committee in 2016, a “good man” who was “badly slandered.”
“That’s why I came out here,” the former president …
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