Sen. Ernie Chambers fought for decades to get the death penalty abolished in Nebraska.

Nebraska is one of the last states where death penalty foes expected lawmakers to get rid of capital punishment. For 38 years, a lone senator from Omaha—Ernie Chambers—had introduced a bill to dump the death penalty in the Cornhusker state. It was greeted with eye-rolls and no doubt whispered remarks of there-he-goes-again among the conservative senators who dominate the unicameral legislature. But in May 2015, Chambers succeeded when senators voted 32-14 to abolish the death penalty.

And when first-term Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts vetoed the ban, the legislature overrode him.

Ricketts was reportedly furious. The billionaire governor was determined to back a referendum to repeal the ban, and he is supporting a few far-right candidates against sitting senators who defied him on this and two of his other high-profile vetoes. He wants to replace what he considers renegades with lock-step Republicans who stick to the state GOP’s party platform even though the legislature is, by law, meant to be nonpartisan, even though everyone there knows who is a Republican or Democrat.

Ricketts and his even wealthier father have scooped a bit of their pocket change—about $300,000—into the repeal campaign.

Pema Levy at Mother Jones writes: