LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Republican candidate for governor Pete Ricketts will announce a new running mate to replace Nebraska Lt. Gov. Lavon Heidemann, who resigned from office and withdrew from his party’s ticket.

Ricketts will announce his new pick Tuesday afternoon at the Nebraska Republican Party headquarters in Lincoln.

Heidemann announced Tuesday morning that he was withdrawing one day after a judge issued a protective order requested by his sister. His sister alleged that Heidemann had grabbed her wrists and pushed her during a dispute over farmland and their elderly mother.

Ricketts says Heidemann notified him Monday night that he was withdrawing, and he accepted the news with “a heavy heart.”

Ricketts, of Omaha, is running against Democrat Chuck Hassebrook, of Lyons. Hassebrook has chosen Jane Raybould of Lincoln as his running mate.

 

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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has granted a protection order against Nebraska Lt. Gov. Lavon Heidemann after his sister accused him of violent behavior.

The order issued Monday against Heidemann, an Elk Creek farmer, comes as he looks to return to the office as the running mate of Republican gubernatorial candidate Pete Ricketts.

Heidemann’s sister, Lois Bohling, filed a sworn statement last month in which she says he grabbed her wrists and screamed at her in a dispute involving their mother and their family’s farmland.

Heidemann released a statement saying he disputes many of his sister’s claims, but did not elaborate. The statement describes the situation as a “private, legal family matter” relating to his late father’s estate and medical treatment for their mother.

Heidemann was appointed lieutenant governor in February 2013.