History
In July 2026, lawyer John Cartier submitted over 15,000 signatures to the secretary of state of Nebraska to file as an official party. Cartier, the attorney general for the Omaha Tribe, had previously served as treasurer for Mike Marvin, the Nebraska Legal Marijuana NOW Party's nominee for U.S. Senate in the 2026 election. Following challenges by the Nebraska Republican Party over alleged "political sabotage", the state Supreme Court cleared the America First Party to become an official party within the state. Following its establishment, John Cartier was named as the party's chair, along with Kimberly Bowling-Martin as vice chair, John Knight as secretary, and Devin Specht as treasurer.
The party nominated five candidates for office in Nebraska in the 2026 cycle, including former state legislators Bob Krist for secretary of state and Brett Lindstrom for governor. Krist had previously considered a nonpartisan run for secretary of state before initially backing out. Lindstrom had launched an independent campaign for governor prior to the party's establishment, though he was removed from the ballot after many signatures collected by the campaign to qualify were found to be fraudulent. Lindstrom switched his affiliation to America First in August and announced he would run under the party's nomination on September 1st. He named Navy veteran Mike Picard as his running mate.
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