Trump-Backed Candidate for Nebraska Governor Accused of Groping 8 Women – Including a State Senator
One of the leading contenders in the Republican primary for governor of Nebraska, Charles Herbster, was accused on Thursday of having groped 8 women in a detailed expose in the Nebraska Examiner.
The Examiner reports on that “all the incidents occurred between 2017 and this year” and “the women ranged in age from their late teens to mid-20s at the time of the incidents.”
Herbster is the CEO of Conklin Co. and has received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump to replace the term-limited Governor Pete Ricketts (R-NE).
Herbster, however, was already a somewhat controversial figure in Nebraska and Ricketts publicly broke with Trump in October of 2021 when the former president endorsed Herbster. Ricketts, who was easily reelected in 2018, said after Trump’s endorsement, “While I agree with President Trump on many things, I strongly disagree that Charles Herbster is qualified to be our next governor.”
Ricketts, who is supporting another candidate in the field, added, “Nebraska deserves better.”
Just got a call from President Donald J. Trump. He’s given me his complete and total endorsement! https://t.co/cP1rrt00bv
— Charles W. Herbster (@CWHerbster) October 26, 2021
The report from the Examiner is certain to raise further doubts in the conservative state about Herbster’s fitness to be governor. Seven of the women alleging unwanted touching from Herbster spoke to the Examiner under the condition of anonymity, but an eighth woman, Republican State Sen. Julie Slama made her allegation publicly.
Slama told the Examiner that at an event in 2019 “as she walked by Herbster, he reached up her skirt, without her consent, and touched her inappropriately.”
“The incident happened in the middle of a crowded ballroom at the Douglas County Republican Party’s annual Elephant Remembers dinner,” the report notes. Another woman details an encounter with the Republican hopeful, alleging he “cornered her privately and kissed her forcibly.”
“Being a conservative Republican woman in politics, you just expect to be treated with respect. To be treated in that way in a public event, in front of everyone, just to prove, I believe, that he could get away with it, and not having recourse, it’s terrifying,” another woman is quoted as saying in the report.
Ellen Keast, Herbster’s campaign manager, denied the allegations in a statement to the Examiner, calling the article a “political hit-piece built on 100% false and baseless claims.” She went on to charge the allegations are cooked up by the “political establishment” with the intent of “smearing and trying to destroy him with lies.”
