Linda Vermooten: When the Personal becomes Political
I've been following local politics in the Omaha area for a couple of years, but I've rarely gotten to see a race from the ground-level like the one for Linda Vermooten, candidate for Nebraska's State Board of Education.
I first met Linda in April 2023 through our friends the Mills at a birthday for their nine-year-old son. I didn't talk with Linda much at the time, but when my wife commented on her accent, Linda said that she was "from the South" — which I later learned meant South Africa.
A few months later, I heard Linda on the radio with Matt Innis on KFAB discussing her campaign in District 2, which happened to be my district. The patriarch of the Mills family, who had recently painted Linda's house, suggested one Saturday morning that we drop by and chat about her campaign. The three of us spent an hour or two talking about local politics and networking groups in the area where Linda could help gain support. It was the most "grassroots" involvement I'd ever had with a political campaign before.
Contention on the campaign trail
I would spend the following months walking with Linda in local parades (usually with our friends the Mills) and taking photos at a handful of events. One would think that a down-ballot race like hers would mostly fly under the radar, particularly in a Presidential election year. I would learn at her campaign kickoff in August, however, that her candidacy represented a unique threat to some entrenched political interests.
When I arrived at the American Legion Post 32 in Papillion for the event, I saw two women holding "Parents Against [Kirk] Penner" signs standing outside the front door. One woman was screaming at a guest, who stood between her and the door trying to calm her down, while the other was recording the altercation on her phone. Another guest told me quietly to walk by and not engage, which I did.
Over the following year, local left-wing groups and bloggers ramped up the mudslinging. A political action committee was also formed to attack candidates like Linda. They even created a website specifically to attack her, using one of the very photos I took at her campaign kickoff — without permission, of course.
Attacks on a Yard Sign
An inflection point came when I got a new yard sign from Linda to place along a busy street behind my dad's house. The last one had seemingly blown away during a recent windstorm, and I was eager to replace it.
A few days later, I found that it had been apparently run over — flattened by a passing car, whose tire marks were still visible on the grass and on the sign itself. I was able to prop the sign back up, as it was only minimally damaged, but I also knew this act needed a response.
So, I called Linda's campaign manager, and she soon brought by a parade-sized banner, which she stapled to the back of my dad's fence. She told me that when she came to hang the sign, she found the smaller sign had been run over a second time, and so she took it with her.
My hope now is that the larger sign will send a message — one my dad described as the "unintended consequences" of political aggression. Linda is not just another candidate to me in this race — she's a friend. And the outsized amount of anger the left has shown over a down-ballot race like hers only indicates how important it must be to them.
