Left: Screenshot of Nebraska government website | Right: Screenshot shared by Gov. Jim Pillen
© 2026 Blaze Media LLC. All rights reserved.
A far-left Nebraska state senator is defending her actions after she removed portraits hung in the Nebraska State Capitol as part of America's 250th anniversary celebration.
On Wednesday, state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh (D) of Omaha took down multiple pictures and portraits from the Founders Museum, a traveling patriotic art display from PragerU meant to commemorate the heroes of the American Revolution.
'Celebrating America during our 250th year should be a moment of unity and patriotism, not divisiveness and destructive partisanship.'
Surveillance video shared on X by Republican Gov. Jim Pillen shows Cavanaugh removing the pictures while others pass by. A still-frame shared by Pillen further shows Cavanaugh beaming with glee as she carries the pictures away.
"Celebrating America during our 250th year should be a moment of unity and patriotism, not divisiveness and destructive partisanship. I am disappointed in this shameful and selfish bad example," Pillen said in the X post.
Cavanaugh told the Nebraska Examiner that she believed the exhibit violated Capitol regulations. "We are not allowed to adhere anything to walls in the hallway of the Capitol," she explained.
"I have always been a stickler for the rules ... so I removed the prohibited objects."
RELATED: Trump announces 'Patriot Games' high school athletic competition for 250th anniversary of founding
The Founders Museum portrait shared by Gov. Pillen, though Cavanaugh denies taking this particular portrait down.
Cavanaugh claimed she attempted to remove the images without damaging them and alerted the Nebraska State Patrol that she had stored the pictures in her office.
The affected images were later recovered and restored to the Capitol walls.
While leafleting is prohibited in the Capitol and on its grounds, some art can be displayed with approval. Speaker John Arch told the Examiner that the Nebraska Capitol Commission had authorized the Founders Museum exhibit.
In response to Cavanaugh's stunt, PragerU asked on X: "Why would an elected official take a tribute to American history off the wall of the capitol?"
Cavanaugh, described by the Examiner as "a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan Legislature," made national news in 2023 when she filibustered the Let Them Grow Act, which banned the genital mutilation of kids, by chanting a mantra about the importance of "trans people."
"Trans people belong here! We need trans people! We love trans people," she repeated, slowly at first before building into a shrieking crescendo, during which she flailed about, wagging her finger and pounding the podium.
Despite Cavanaugh's theatrics, Let Them Grow passed and was later signed into law by Gov. Pillen.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Want to leave a tip?
We answer to you. Help keep our content free of advertisers and big tech censorship by leaving a tip today.
Want to join the conversation?
Already a subscriber?
