Brett Lindstrom and the Heirs to the Tea Party

It was a warm Saturday in August 2011 when I visited the SumTur Amphitheater for the Heartland Liberty Fest. The Tea Party movement was in full swing, Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign was gaining momentum, and a young candidate named Brett Lindstrom had decided to primary Lee Terry in Nebraska’s Second District.
The national debt was nearly $15 trillion at the time, and the unemployment rate was over 9%. Lindstrom addressed these issues and tapped into the energy of a movement that wanted a return to fiscal discipline. The 2008 financial meltdown was still fresh in voters’ minds, and Ben Nelson was still in the U.S. Senate, hoping that Nebraskans would forget the “Cornhusker Kickback” before the next election.
This was a time when insurgent candidates were challenging establishment candidates in the Republican Party, but the idea of Donald Trump running for office was still mere fodder for jokes at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The world has changed since those days when budget deficits dominated political discourse. As fiscal concerns faded, a divisive “woke” agenda emerged, pushed through initiatives like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Critical Race Theory.
Then came 2020, bringing the COVID-19 pandemic, a summer of riots, and a presidential election held primarily by mail, fraught with accusations of fraud. A wide-open border also created an environment where border security became more important than budget deficits. After Donald Trump staged a historic comeback in 2024, he pursued an aggressive agenda to secure the border at the start of his second term.
Concerns about the budget are looming once again, however. The recently passed budget reconciliation, dubbed the “big beautiful bill,” made the tax cuts from Trump’s first term permanent and provided much-needed funding for border security. It did not address the budget deficit, however. The national debt now exceeds $37 trillion — more than doubling since Brett Lindstrom’s first run for Congress.
The Tea Party formed to challenge establishment Republicans, specifically over fiscal issues, but it never became a legitimate third party. After Ross Perot’s two runs, it was clear such efforts would only split the Republican vote and help elect Democrats. Now, however, former Trump ally Elon Musk has teased the idea of forming an “America Party,” which could do just that ahead of the midterms. With the “big beautiful bill” now passed, Republicans must again become a party of fiscal discipline, or a looming third party may do it for them.
Brett Lindstrom stepped off the political stage in May 2022 after conceding to Jim Pillen at a somber primary election night party. The race had been rife with attacks among the candidates, but before I left that evening, I congratulated Brett on running a clean race and not getting down “in the mud.” I also reminded him that another candidate faced a disappointing primary in 1976 but made a great comeback four years later. He smiled and nodded, recognizing the reference to Ronald Reagan, and said, “That’s true.”
This morning, Lindstrom announced that he will be running once again for the open House seat in Nebraska’s Second District. He has endorsements from state senators Rita Sanders and Christy Armendariz, as well as former state senator Tom Brewer, with more likely to be announced soon.
The political landscape has changed, but the desire for an insurgent candidate to bring both parties back to a sense of fiscal discipline still burns. Now we’ll see if a Reaganesque comeback is possible for Brett Lindstrom.