As the winner of the Democratic US Senate primary in Nebraska mulls dropping out to boost Independent Dan Osborn, another congressional candidate not tied to either major political party launched a campaign for the state’s 1st Congressional District on Thursday.

Joining incumbent GOP Rep. Mike Flood and Democratic primary winner Chris Backemeyer is Austin Ahlman, a 28-year-old investigative journalist, anti-monopolist, and self-described “insurgent Independent running in NE-01 to fight for the little guy.”

Ahlman’s launch video shares some struggles his family has faced—his parents working at the Tyson Foods meatpacking plant in Norfolk that closed in 2006, his dad’s cancer battle, and his mom’s suicide—and his work in journalism, “uncovering corruption among Democrats and Republicans, and taking on the corporations that are destroying our way of life.”

It also features his fights for loved ones: against a bank for his family home, to assist his grandmother, “who was getting cheated by utility and insurance companies,” and to help his brother “get his small business off the ground.”

“My family’s story isn’t unique,” he says in the three-minute ad. “Families all across our state are fighting, but the only ones who seem to be getting ahead are the elites on the coasts and the politicians who are selling us out to them.”

The emotional ad makes Ahlman’s policy priorities clear: taking on rising costs, Wall Street buying family homes, corporate monopolies, taxpayer-funded foreign wars, and health insurance companies that deny coverage.

“It’s time we show the billionaires in Wall Street and Silicon Valley who are pitting us against one another that we won’t let them steal our way of life out from under us,” he concludes. “If you agree, then join us, and let’s take Nebraska back.”

As Nebraska Public Media reported Thursday:

Since Ahlman isn’t running with a party affiliation, he will need to petition onto the general election ballot. According to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office, Ahlman will need to collect at least 2,000 valid signatures from voters in the 1st Congressional District to get onto the ballot.

“I think most people these days are Independents,” Ahlman said in a Thursday interview with Nebraska Public Media News. “They do feel pretty fed up with things.”

He said he’d like the country’s spending to refocus on the US and not in conflicts abroad.

“There is so much money from Americans’ pockets being poured into other countries, armies to fight wars in places that we couldn’t even find on a map. And I think this is one area where current voters in… this district don’t have a choice,” he said. “The blue-haired baristas are not the ones stealing people’s way of life. Your uncle, who’s perhaps a little gung-ho at Thanksgiving, is not the one stealing your way of life. It’s Tyson; it’s Google; it’s Facebook; it’s every other corporation that is putting the squeeze and pressure on communities like mine and ripping us apart.”

On social media Thursday, Ahlman called out the GOP incumbent for taking campaign cash from corporate political action committees and special interests.

“I’m in this to beat Mike Flood—and yes, this is personal. We grew up in the same town, but Millionaire Mike’s life was not like mine. I lived in trailer parks. Our whole family spent periods living in my grandmother’s basement. I went to bed hungry,” he explained. “Last year, Millionaire Mike… voted to hand tax cuts to big business and billionaires while gutting healthcare, education, and food programs. Those callous votes show he takes voters for granted.”

Meanwhile, the Lincoln Journal Star reported Thursday that the Independent Norfolk native is already drawing vote-splitting criticism “from Republicans and Democrats alike.”

In response, Ahlman said: “It seems I’ve pissed some people off! Look, taking on the establishment of both major parties was never going to be easy. They’re fighting back, and that isn’t very surprising. But here’s the deal—the overwhelming majority of real people in Nebraska—whether they’re registered Republicans or Independents or Democrats, they all want change.”

“They’re sick of being looked down on, and sold out on, and lied to,” he stressed. “Congressman Flood is selling us out to big money donors as he climbs the ladder in Washington. Americans are ready to elect Independents who work for them, not party bosses or corporate donors. That’s why we’re going to win.”

The state’s Democratic Party is standing by its candidate. The party chair, Jane Fleming Kleeb, told Drop Site News’ Ryan Grim that “Chris Backemeyer is the clear choice for Nebraska’s 1st District. He brings real federal experience from the State Department and is laser-focused on what Nebraskans actually care about—lowering costs and expanding access to affordable healthcare. Mike Flood has failed this district, and a fringe Independent won’t fix that. Nebraska doesn’t need noise from either extreme—we need a steady, experienced leader who will fight for fairness and protect our democracy. That’s Chris Backemeyer.”

Backemeyer was at the State Department under former Democratic President Joe Biden. While there, Zeteo News’ Prem Thakker noted Thursday, he “helped coordinate aid to Israel amid its genocide in Gaza.”

According to Thakker, the Democrat has received “much of his campaign donations from the DMV,” a term for the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, which includes Maryland, and Virginia. Donors include key Biden officials, such as former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and ex-National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

The journalist also highlighted some early polling from Adam Carlson’s Zenith Research that shows Ahlman doing well, particularly after respondents are introduced to candidates’ biographies:

“In head-to-head matchups in these post-bios ballot tests, Ahlman (I) doesn’t just outperform Backemeyer (D) overall by 16 points, but outperforms him among nearly every single subgroup,” Carlson wrote. “Ahlman’s largest overperformances relative to Backemeyer are among groups that Democrats have struggled with of late (especially in this part of the country)—Independents (+46), age 18-44 (+34), moderates (+26), white noncollege (+25), suburban voters (+24), white men (+21), and gun-owning households (+20).”

“In the post-bios three-way vote, Backemeyer (D) is in third place, 6 points behind Ahlman (I),” the pollster added. “But Flood still leads by 14 points despite only being at 42%. As we’ve seen, if Backemeyer drops out, Ahlman takes the lead if it’s a 1:1 race against Flood.”

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