When you think of the bastions of progressive liberalism, three cities automatically come to mind: San Francisco, California; New York, New York; and Fremont, Nebraska.

Yes, Fremont, Nebraska, home of Lynne Walz. The candidate who Governor Pillen’s spokesperson said was propped up by far-left donors and staff. Pillen’s campaign said that Walz wants to “trick Nebraskans by pretending to be a moderate.”

Lynne Walz is a former state senator with a rural background who was elected twice by the voters of towns like Fremont, Hooper and Scribner. Does Pillen’s camp think those small Nebraska cities harbor a large number of latent commies?

I doubt that Pillen’s campaign people would be open to any advice from me, but if I were them, I wouldn’t try to convince voters that Lynne Walz is a liberal. It makes them look foolish.

Lynne Walz is the definition of moderate. When she was in the Unicameral, she worked with another gubernatorial hopeful, Brett Lindstrom, to pass property tax relief and school funding legislation.

She ran to head up the Education Committee and beat out Republican incumbent Mike Groene through a secret ballot. Since Democrats are so outnumbered by Republicans in the so-called nonpartisan Unicameral, it took a number of Republican votes to get the gig. That wouldn’t happen if she were the liberal the Pillen camp would have you believe.

I really hate trying to put labels like liberal or conservative on people. I especially hate it when you put those labels on politicians. It puts them in a silo and defines them in a way that may or may not be accurate. People are more complicated than one monolithic term. What do those terms even mean anymore anyway?

If you take a look at Nebraska, we’re supposed to be such a conservative state. Yet if you take a look at how we vote on issues like minimum wage, medical marijuana, expanded Medicaid, and gambling, we are far more liberal than most of the politicians we elect want us to be.

If you put two conservatives in a room together, by definition, one of them will be liberal. Likewise, if two liberals are in a room at the same time, one will be more conservative than the other.

Pete Ricketts is accusing his opponent Dan Osborn of being a liberal Democrat. Osborn is a lifelong registered independent. Our Senator must really be worried about losing to Osborn because he’s running a ton of TV spots. One of those ads shows Osborn saying that if he had defeated Deb Fischer, he wouldn’t have voted for the so-called Big Beautiful Bill.

According to the CBO, that singular piece of legislation will add another 3.4 trillion dollars to our primary deficit through 2034. When you factor in the interest, it’s projected the deficit will grow to 4.1 trillion dollars over the same period.

Pete Ricketts voted for that bill. Does his lack of fiscal responsibility make him a liberal? Is Dan Osborn a conservative because he would have voted against the bill?

I understand why politicians use the words liberal or conservative as pejorative terms. It creates an emotional response in voters. Especially voters who don’t have the time, inclination, or intelligence to look deeper into the issues and decide for themselves.

A good idea is a good idea or a bad idea is a bad idea regardless of which side of the aisle it comes from. If we want this Republic to remain standing, we need to elect more moderates and independents. We need to elect more people who are willing to work together. We need to rebuild many of the bridges between the two parties that have been burnt. We can’t dismiss an idea or a solution to a problem just because it comes from a member of a different tribe.

If Lynne Walz was the liberal that the Pillen camp wants to make her out to be, she never would have been elected to the Unicameral in the first place. If you haven’t had the opportunity to meet Lynne yet, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to before November. She is traveling the state and getting good crowds to hear her message. It is a message of unity that seems to be resonating with a lot of voters.

And not just the voters in that bastion of liberalism, Fremont, Nebraska.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.