Lee Terry won’t get GOP rival’s blessing

Joe Jordan | Nebraska Watchdog

When it comes to Congressman Lee Terry’s re-election push, Dan Frei is pushing back.

Only hours after his badly underfunded bid to unseat Terry in Tuesday’s Republican primary came up just short on votes but long on attaboys, Frei tells Nebraska Watchdog he’s keeping his distance.

“I do not have an endorsement for Congressman Terry,” says Frei who was also a no-show at the GOP’s post-election unity breakfast in Lincoln.

Despite ponying up $900,000 to Frei’s $40,000, Terry, an 8-term incumbent, managed a meager six-point win.

Terry: 53%, 25,025

Frei: 47%, 22,339

Frei’s decision to leave Terry hanging has opened up several possible scenarios:

Brad Ashford

• A Frei write-in campaign this fall? Maybe, although Frei says, “I have no intention of running a write-in campaign.”
• A quiet push for Democrat Brad Ashford in November? Some anti-Terry Republicans are suggesting a strategy enabling Ashford to beat Terry this fall, followed by Frei taking on Ashford in 2016. Frei tells Nebraska Watchdog he intends to keep his campaign web address—votefrei.com—active for the next few years.

While some suggest Frei’s bitter, a sore loser looking to take out his venom on Terry, Frei says he has no axe to grind, adding, ”Let’s see how this unfolds, we’ve got a long time until November.”

Contact Joe Jordan at joe@nebraskawatchdog.org

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Category: Nebraska, Brad Ashford, Joe Jordan, Lee Terry, Nebraska Watchdog