On the evening of Tuesday, January 20, 2026, Jim Pillen held a telephone town hall. He promoted it on his campaign accounts. Callers from across Nebraska submitted questions, and for an hour the governor answered them.

Three separate times during that hour, he referred to Nebraskans who criticize him as "libtards."

The first came early:

"Nebraskans are about faith, family and hard work. We're about the American dream. I will tell you that if you sit and listen to the 10 keyboard warriors that are the libtards, if you listen to that, you would think the sky is falling down."

The second came while he was describing what an "incredible privilege" it is to serve as governor:

"I love the people in Nebraska, and you know, I don't really give a damn what those libtards and these people want to criticize."

The third was about people who had shown up to protest at one of his events that day:

"We had some demonstrators in one of our places today that wear the red things – whatever. The libtards have lost their brains."

The word, and why families objected

The slur is built out of a word used to demean people with intellectual disabilities. That is why the backlash came from disability advocates and families rather than from the political opponents Pillen was aiming at.

The nonprofit Disability Rights Nebraska said it found "the repeated use of this term to be highly unprofessional and lacking in integrity."

State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha put the objection directly: "The governor is missing the point. Ableist slurs are harmful because they equate disability with something contemptible." She added that "Disabled Nebraskans deserve leadership that takes their dignity seriously."

When reporters tried to ask Pillen about it, they didn't get an answer. They tried three times, and a spokesperson stepped in before the governor could respond each time.

A written statement came a week later. Pillen's communications director, Laura Strimple, said he has always supported "Nebraska's developmentally disabled community," pointed to his clearing of the long-stalled developmental disability waitlist and increased special education funding, and called him "a fierce advocate for the inherent dignity and value of all people."

Strimple said the comment was never aimed at people with disabilities or their families, "nor did the thought ever cross his mind." It was meant, she said, for "the group of liberals who continually dress in Handmaid's Tale outfits as a form of political protest and disrupt official events, as well as other left-wing radicals."

That explanation answers a question nobody asked. The objection was never that Pillen meant to insult disabled Nebraskans. It was that the word does that regardless of who he was aiming at — which is exactly what Hunt said, and what the governor's statement never engages with.

Even inside his own party the response was cool. Rep. Don Bacon, asked about it at a press conference, said he had thoughts and then said, "I think I'll just keep it to myself." Charles Herbster, the agribusinessman weighing a primary challenge, said Pillen "deserves to be challenged on the words he uses" because it's "part of the job," and added: "he acts as if he has all the answers, and if you question him, you're either a liar or a 'libtard,' in his words."

What else he said on that call

The slur got the headlines. The rest of the hour deserves more attention than it got.

He told Nebraskans the budget hole isn't real. The state faces an estimated $471.5 million shortfall after the economic forecasting board lowered revenue projections. State senators have called closing it their top priority. Pillen's response:

"We got to get everybody to understand that – even though the press tries to say that we're broke and we have a $400-some million hole – quite honestly, we have a budget prepared that fills it."

And then:

"Quite simply, we've got bushel baskets and bushel baskets of money. And when these people try to make it like we're broke, it's just crazy. It's unacceptable."

Here is what fills that hole. The budget plan Pillen introduced the week before puts much of the reduction on the Department of Health and Human Services — a $22 million cut in the current fiscal year and $130.4 million in the next, if senators approve it.

That is roughly $152 million out of the agency that runs Medicaid, child welfare, and services for people with disabilities. A governor with bushel baskets of money does not need to take it from there.

He promised a six-week abortion ban. Nebraska law currently bars abortion after 12 weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. On the call, Pillen said the state needs to pass a so-called "heartbeat" bill — which restricts abortion as early as six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. He made it a loyalty test:

"When I'm talking to people running for election – if you aren't pro-life, if you don't want to go after a heartbeat [bill], I'm not supporting you. That's where we have to go."

He celebrated being first in line for federal cuts. Pillen pointed to Nebraska being the first state to implement Medicaid work requirements, announced alongside Medicare and Medicaid administrator Mehmet Oz in December, and the first to start the school scholarship tax credit created in Trump's budget bill.

He wants to extend the coal plants. On energy, Pillen said Nebraska has to "win the power game," calling for extending coal plants and adding nuclear — while pointing to data centers and aviation fuel plants as the growing demand. Nebraska's electric bills have already been climbing as power use rises.

The part he keeps promising

Pillen also returned to the promise he has been making since 2024: property tax relief. His answer on the call was that he needs more time.

"We have to get that fixed. A really, really critical piece for tax policy [is a] broad-based sales tax, so that we can fund education to drop our property taxes to 40%. It's a really, really important piece. We'll get a small piece of it this year, but we need more time."

"Broad-based sales tax" is the same idea Nebraskans already rejected. His 2024 plan would have applied new sales taxes to more than 120 everyday goods and services, and a Republican on his own task force said it helped large property owners at the expense of middle- and lower-income renters. The bill died on the last day of the session. The special session he called went nowhere.

And the thing he promised to cut has gone up. Property taxes assessed in 2025 rose another $285 million — the third-largest increase in state history. His one win was a $6 million statewide decrease in 2024, against a statewide total of $5.3 billion.

His pitch on the call was: "That's why re-election is so critical."

The bottom line

In one hour on the phone with Nebraskans, Jim Pillen used an ableist slur three times, told voters the state's half-billion-dollar shortfall was something the press made up, defended a budget that takes $152 million out of health and human services, and said he won't support candidates who won't back a six-week abortion ban.

Then his office made sure reporters couldn't ask him about the easiest part of that to answer.

Nebraskans deserve a governor who can take a question. We deserve better.

Source

Jackie Ourada, "Nebraska governor takes jabs at 'libtards,' champions conservative wins in campaign call" — Nebraska Public Media, January 21, 2026. Reaction reported by Juan Salinas II, "Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen responds to backlash over saying 'libtards'" — Nebraska Examiner, January 28, 2026. Photo by Fred Knapp / Nebraska Public Media.