“[Gov. Pete Ricketts] canceled the fundraiser,” the source said. | AP Photo Nebraska governor nixes Tuesday fundraiser with Pence

Gov. Pete Ricketts’ political team has pulled the plug on a Tuesday fundraiser that was set to feature GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, according to two Republican sources in Nebraska.

Ricketts “canceled the fundraiser,” said a Nebraska Republican source familiar with the decision. The source added it was “up to the campaign” whether to proceed with plans for a rally that was set to feature Pence in Nebraska around the same time as the fundraiser.


A source close to the Ricketts family said there had been discussions about two separate fundraisers featuring Pence — one for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and one for the Nebraska state Republican Party — but that both were canceled “because of a lack of interest in the donor community in Nebraska for the Trump-Pence fundraiser.”

As a result, the Ricketts family source said, the Trump-Pence campaign appeared poised to cancel the rally.

Brian Baker, a political adviser to the Ricketts family, wouldn’t comment on the change in plans, but said that neither Ricketts nor his family was backing away from its support for Pence or Trump’s campaign.

“Gov. Ricketts and the Ricketts family would be pleased to welcome Gov. Pence any time he wishes to come to Nebraska,” Baker said.

The source close to the Ricketts family said: “Gov. Ricketts team has been in touch with Gov. Pence’s team and they’re working to reschedule the rally.”

A Pence aide disputed that the event’s cancellation had anything to do with recent upheaval. The fundraiser was being put together at the last minute to begin with and is now being rescheduled, the aide said. He said a planned Nebraska rally has also been postponed and that Pence will instead campaign in Iowa on Tuesday.

A second Nebraska GOP source noted that Pence’s Secret Service detail and campaign advance team had already traveled to Nebraska to prepare for the trip, which was to have included a fundraiser for the Nebraska Republican Party at the Omaha Press Club set for Tuesday evening.

Contacted Monday morning, state GOP chairman Dan Welch said he’d heard there was a change to the plan but wasn’t sure yet whether it was a cancellation.

Ricketts, son of billionaire TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, endorsed Trump before the Nebraska primary and well before the rest of the family — but after Trump essentially clinched the nomination with a win in the Indiana primary.

So far, the family’s outside money operation — composed of the Future45 super PAC and the 45Committee nonprofit — has signaled that it will proceed with an eight-figure ad campaign boosting Trump and attacking Clinton.

GOP finance operatives will be watching the operation closely for any signs of wavering in light of Gov. Ricketts' move.

But a GOP operative familiar with Future45 said: “The PAC is not pulling its support.”

