D.C. Memo: Fiber Feud Splits Top Nebraska Republicans
Republican Gov. Jim Pillen accused of caving to NTIA instead of demanding more money for fiber. "Nebraska gave up,” said Pillen GOP rival Charles Herbster.
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BEAD: What happened to Nebraska Nice? BEAD program spending has created a split on the right in the Cornhusker State, with a potential GOP candidate for governor in 2026 accusing incumbent Republican Gov. Jim Pillen of letting the Trump administration shortchange the state in funding statewide broadband. “The Governor chose the least ambitious path available. No amount of spin can hide the truth: Nebraska gave up,” said Charles Herbster in a Dec 4 post on his X feed. “The Pillen Administration failed our rural communities when given every opportunity to succeed.”
Herbster, an agribusiness executive and cattle rancher, ran for governor in 2022, narrowly losing the four-way primary won by Pillen. Herbster is considering running again in 2026. Herbster is a major donor and a friend of Trump. In the X post, Herbster complained that Trump’s NTIA slashed Nebraska’s June 2023 BEAD allocation by 89%. He slammed Pillen for calling that “a tremendous victory for Nebraska” in his Dec. 3 announcement.
“What he’s not telling Nebraskans is that the state was allocated a total of $405 million to expand broadband access. Under his plan, Nebraska is using only 11% of those funds – meaning we are leaving $360 million unused,” Herbster said. Nebraska’s plan has about 14,000 BEAD locations, with 9% served by fiber, 33% by low Earth orbit satellite Internet service, and 58% by Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), according to data compiled by Broadband Breakfast. “There are no guarantees we get any of the money back for future requests. Not being prepared to use all available funding is inexcusable,” Herbster said. (More after paywall.)
