--- title: Pete Ricketts: Nebraska Governor Will Endorse Donald Trump description: In a surprise move, Ricketts endorsed Trump after his family spend some $5.5 million to defeat the billionaire canonical: https://time.com/4320469/donald-trump-pete-ricketts-nebraska-governor/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-05T23:35:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:19:57.410Z article:section: Politics og:title: Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts Will Endorse Donald Trump og:description: The Ricketts family reportedly spent some $5.5 million trying to stop Trump og:url: https://time.com/4320469/donald-trump-pete-ricketts-nebraska-governor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cec5bc87161708d/698850fc3c16393e3c457fdb/nebraska-governor-death-penalty.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Neb. Gov. Pete Ricketts gestures during a news conference in Lincoln, Neb. on May 20, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts Will Endorse Donald Trump twitter:description: The Ricketts family reportedly spent some $5.5 million trying to stop Trump twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cec5bc87161708d/698850fc3c16393e3c457fdb/nebraska-governor-death-penalty.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts Will Endorse Donald Trump by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White May 5, 2016 11:35 PM UTC  Neb. Gov. Pete Ricketts gestures during a news conference in Lincoln, Neb. on May 20, 2015. Neb. Gov. Pete Ricketts gestures during a news conference in Lincoln, Neb. on May 20, 2015.Nati Harnik—AP by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White May 5, 2016 11:35 PM UTC Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts is [expected to endorse](http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/05/05/in-surprise-move-nebraska-gov-pete-ricketts-to-endorse-donald-trump-for-president/) Donald Trump, after his family helped fund a group that attempted to stop the New York businessman from becoming the [Republican presidential nominee](http://time.com/4319197/how-the-gop-is-dealing-with-donald-trumps-nomination/). Taylor Gage, a spokesman for Ricketts, said that the governor will appear with Trump at an Omaha rally Friday, according to the Wall Street _Journal_. “The governor has always said he will support the GOP nominee to retake the White House,” Gage said. “The governor is supporting Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee.” The Ricketts endorsement comes as a surprise as Trump warned in February that his family should “be careful, they have a lot to hide” after it funded Our Principles PAC, a group aimed at stopping him. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/701779181986680832) The Ricketts family is said to have spent some $5.5 million trying to stop Trump, according to the Wall Street _Journal_. The governor was expected to endorse Texas Sen. Ted Cruz before he [ended his campaign after a defeat in the Indiana primary](http://time.com/4317299/ted-cruz-drops-out-ends-campaign-indiana-primary-analysis/), effectively making Trump the presumptive Republican nominee. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4320469/donald-trump-pete-ricketts-nebraska-governor/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4320469/donald-trump-pete-ricketts-nebraska-governor/"},"headline":"Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts Will Endorse Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-05-05T23:35:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:19:57.410Z","description":"The Ricketts family reportedly spent some $5.5 million trying to stop Trump","url":"https://time.com/4320469/donald-trump-pete-ricketts-nebraska-governor/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","nebraska","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cec5bc87161708d/698850fc3c16393e3c457fdb/nebraska-governor-death-penalty.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cec5bc87161708d/698850fc3c16393e3c457fdb/nebraska-governor-death-penalty.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Neb. 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