Krystal Gabel (born October 14, 1984) is an American

cannabis rights Cannabis rights or marijuana rights (sometimes more specifically cannabis consumer rights or stoner rights) are individual Civil rights, civil and human rights that vary by jurisdiction. The rights of people who consume Cannabis (drug), cannabis ...

activist, politician, and writer. Gabel, a candidate for

governor of Nebraska The governor of Nebraska is the head of government of the U.S. state of Nebraska as provided by the fourth article of the Constitution of Nebraska. The officeholder is elected to a four-year term, with elections held two years after presidential e ...

in the 2018 election, at age 33 was the youngest of a record number of women who ran for governorships, nationally. In 2020, Gabel ran for

Nebraska Public Service Commission The Nebraska Public Service Commission regulates railroads, household goods and passenger carriers, telephone companies, grain warehouses and construction of manufactured housing (mobile homes). The Nebraska PSC is composed of five commissioners. ...

in the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

. Gabel led a successful

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...

drive to acquire ballot access for a

Nebraska Legal Marijuana NOW Party Nebraska Legal Marijuana NOW is a political third party in the U.S. state of Nebraska established in 2016 as the state affiliate of the Legal Marijuana Now Party. In 2022, Legal Marijuana NOW Party ran more candidates for Nebraska statewide offi ...

branch, and serves as national

Legal Marijuana Now Party The Legal Marijuana Now Party is a political Third party (United States), third party in the United States. The party’s platform includes abolishing the Drug Enforcement Administration and legalizing hemp and cannabis (drug), marijuana. As of ...

chairperson. Gabel, a resident of

Brush, Colorado Brush is a Statutory City located in Morgan County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 5,339 at the 2020 United States Census. Brush is a part of the Fort Morgan, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Brush, Colorado was na ...

, was a candidate for mayor of Brush in 2021.

Early activism

Nebraska Legal Marijuana NOW

In 2015–2016, Gabel petitioned for a

Marijuana Party Cannabis political parties are generally Single-issue politics, single-issue parties that exist to oppose the laws against cannabis (drug), cannabis. Australia In the 1970s, J.J. McRoach ran for parliament as candidate for the Australian Marij ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

to be officially recognized by the state. In order to make the ballot, they needed 5,397 signatures statewide. In July 2016, the party turned in 9,000 signatures to the

Nebraska Secretary of State The secretary of state of Nebraska is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Nebraska. In Nebraska, the secretary of state is elected for a four-year term. Vacancies are filled by appointment by the governor of Nebraska. The c ...

. However, the Secretary of State said that half of the signatures were invalid, falling short of the 5,397 needed. In 2016, Gabel and

Mark Elworth Mark Gerald Elworth Jr. (born August 6, 1976) is an American freelance musician, businessman, cannabis rights activist, perennial candidate for public office, and rockhound. Elworth was the Libertarian Party candidate for Governor of Nebraska in ...

changed the name of the Nebraska party to Legal Marijuana NOW, and in September 2016, began circulating petitions for 2020 ballot access. They said the organization planned to collect double the number of signatures they submitted in 2016, to ensure their success.

Independent candidate

Gabel ran unsuccessfully as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate for Omaha Public School Board, in 2016, and for mayor of

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

, in 2019. In 2016, Gabel placed third out of four candidates in the race for two seats on the Omaha Metropolitan Utilities District, 1.2 percent short of winning. And in 2017, placed third in the primary for

Omaha City Council The City Council of Omaha, Nebraska, is elected every four years on a nonpartisan basis. The next election will occur in 2025. Omaha has a strong mayor form of government. Members are elected by district. Currently seven city council districts a ...

, 143 votes away from making it to the general election.

Republican gubernatorial candidate

In 2018, Gabel ran for governor of Nebraska as a Republican. She ran on a

fiscally conservative Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., ''An ...

platform that included the

legalization Legalization is the process of removing a legal prohibition against something which is currently not legal. Legalization is a process often applied to what are regarded, by those working towards legalization, as victimless crimes, of which one ...

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

. Gabel's campaign to unseat Governor

Pete Ricketts John Peter Ricketts (born August 19, 1964) is an American politician serving as the 40th governor of Nebraska since 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party. Ricketts is the son of Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade. He is also, with oth ...

drew attention from outside Nebraska because

candidates in the United States rarely support drug law

reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

. Gabel said she chose to run in the primary as a Republican because the signature requirement for running in the general election as an independent candidate was infeasible for people of working-class means, such as herself. A record number of women ran for high-profile offices in the US, in 2018, including six women under age 40 who vied for Democratic or Republican Party nominations for governor. Gabel, at age 33, was the youngest of these candidates. Had she been elected, Gabel would have become the youngest women elected to governor in American history, breaking the record, in 2011 by

Nikki Haley Nimrata Nikki Haley (née Randhawa; born January 20, 1972) is an American diplomat and politician who served as the 116th and first female governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, and as the 29th United States ambassador to the United Na ...

, of 38 years old. Running against an incumbent in the Nebraska Republican primary was a long shot, and Gabel lost on May 15, receiving 19 percent, 31,300 votes.

2020s career

Nebraska Republican Party

Gabel ran for Nebraska Public Service Commission, in 2020, and was defeated in the Republican primary. She received 7,165 votes, 45 percent.

Colorado MAGA Patriot Party

Early in 2021, Gabel filed paperwork to establish a MAGA Patriot Party, headquartered in Brush, Colorado. Gabel said third parties elevate regular people by providing a mechanism that ordinary

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...

need to either be a candidate, or to be a volunteer. And competition by third parties stimulates the democratic process.

Legal Marijuana Now Party

In 2021, Gabel became national chairperson of the Legal Marijuana Now Party. On April 21, 2021, Legal Marijuana NOW gained official recognition as a state political party in Nebraska, earning the party ballot access for their candidates, and allowing Legal Marijuana NOW Party to register voters.

Minnesota Legal Marijuana Now Party Minnesota Legal Marijuana Now is a political third party in the U.S. state of Minnesota established in 1998 to oppose drug prohibition. Minnesota Legal Marijuana Now became a major party in Minnesota in 2018 when their candidate for State Audit ...

had previously qualified to be an official major party in the state of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

in the November 6, 2018, election, when their candidate for

State Auditor State auditors (also known as state comptrollers, state controllers, state examiners, or inspectors general) are fiscal officers lodged in the executive or legislative branches of U.S. state governments who serve as external auditors, financial ...

, African-American businessman Michael Ford, received 133,900 votes, more than 5 percent, giving their candidates ballot access without the task of having to petition.

Colorado independent candidate

Gabel ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Brush, Colorado in 2021.

Political views

Civil rights

Gabel supports legalized marijuana for

medical Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

and non-medical use. In 2017, while campaigning for governor, Gabel said, “I believe … current Governor Pete Ricketts is wrongly criminalizing cannabis and ruining the entire lives of many Nebraskans. … I want to be elected so that our state’s politics and laws serve Nebraskans and protect their rights, not criminalize or prevent them from living a good life.” Gabel supports

prison reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are impacted by crimes. ...

, and would

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

people with past convictions for nonviolent

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

offenses. She supports laws protecting

LGBTQ rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishment for homosexualit ...

Economy

During 2017 and 2018 election campaigns, Gabel opposed raising

taxes A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or ...

for working families and individuals. She argued revenue from

industrial hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...

production and new industries created serving cannabis consumers would spur the economy.

Education

Gabel opposes

school choice School choice is a term for education options that allow students and families to select alternatives to public schools. The most common in the United States, by both the number of programs and by the number of participating students are scho ...

, saying it harms

public education State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

. Gabel supports broad

K–12 K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an American English expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States, which is similar to publicly supported school grade ...

and higher education funding, calling it a wise investment. In 2018, she said, “If the state doesn’t readjust its budget to fully fund our public schools, our school districts will fail, students and taxpayers will pay more for education, and our college towns will turn into ghost towns. I strongly believe Nebraska’s tax dollars should go directly into front-end investments that give Nebraskans better opportunities.” Gabel argued that reducing state funding for education would lead to increased local taxes.

Environment

A proponent of

zero waste Zero waste is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages redesigning resource life cycles so that all products are reused. The goal of this movement is to avoid sending trash to landfills, incinerators, or the ocean. Curren ...

communities and green

sustainable energy Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Most definitions of sustainable energy include considerations of environmental aspects such as greenh ...

, Gabel would let

farmers A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mi ...

grow hemp to produce

biodiesel Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat (tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oil with ...

fuel. Her foe in the 2018 election, Governor Ricketts, opposed allowing hemp farming in the state, and instead supported Nebraska's current, university-based hemp research. Gabel favors rewriting

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

laws that discourage

tiny homes The tiny-house movement (also known as the small house movement) is an architectural and social movement that advocates for downsizing living spaces, simplifying, and essentially "living with less."Ford, Jasmine, and Lilia Gomz-Lanier. Family a ...

, supports use of

electric vehicles An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...

, proposes a system of heated streets using

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

waste water, believes free

city bus A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

service would stimulate job creation.

Healthcare

Gabel supports affordable healthcare, improved

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

services, health insurance reform. In 2018, she said proposals to reduce public funding for

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

would hurt working individuals and families, and poor people. In 2018, Gabel said Nebraska's ban on medical cannabis was leading to

patients A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health c ...

traveling out of state to purchase “

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...

” medicine. Earlier, in 2017, Gabel had accused Ricketts of denying patients an option for their health care. Gabel said marijuana was not dangerous as

opioids Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. Other medical uses include suppression of diarrhea, replacement therapy for opioid use ...

, and other drugs, prescribed by doctors.

Public safety

A vocal defender of American

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

2nd Amendment The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution protects the right to keep and bear arms. It was ratified on December 15, 1791, along with nine other articles of the Bill of Rights. In ''District of Columbia v. Helle ...

rights, Gabel said if elected she would revisit laws that fine, penalize, incarcerate, criminalize people who possess marijuana, and said she believes it is a priority to serve, protect and respect all people's rights. Gabel said she would improve funding for drug addiction

rehabilitation Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to: Health * Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished * Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...

programs. Gabel said she values

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

created by recognizing common

values In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live (normative ethics in ethics), or to describe the significance of dif ...

shared by everyone, and the act of ending

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

would help reestablish

public trust The concept of public trust relates back to the origins of democratic government and its seminal idea that within the public lies the true power and future of a society; therefore, whatever ''trust'' citizens place in its officials must be respect ...

Social justice

In the 2018 Nebraska governor race, Gabel said government is meant to be run by the people, not the elite. She said, “The office of governor was designed to seat a common Nebraskan.” Gabel ran her campaign on a budget less than $5,000. Ricketts reported raising $600,000 to run his campaign, and $1.7 million cash fund. Gabel's platform included building a Beginning Farmers program for individuals, families,

small businesses Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have fewer employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being able to ap ...

ranchers A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

, farmers.

Personal life

Gabel, who graduated from

Akron–Westfield Senior High School Akron–Westfield Senior High School is a rural public high school within the Akron–Westfield Community School District in Akron, Iowa, United States. The area served by this school was officially merged from Akron and Westfield school district ...

at age 17, and holds a degree in writing from

Briar Cliff University Briar Cliff University is a private Franciscan university in Sioux City, Iowa. History In March 1929, Mother Mary Dominica Wieneke, Major Superior of the Sisters of Saint Francis of Dubuque, Iowa, along with the Most Rev. Edmond Heelan, Bishop ...

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

, operated a free

community garden A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plo ...

South Omaha, Nebraska South Omaha is a former city and current district of Omaha, Nebraska, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. ...

. She is national chairperson of the Legal Marijuana Now Party. Gabel grew up in

Akron, Iowa Akron is a city in Plymouth County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,558 at the 2020 census. History Akron was incorporated September 7, 1882. The town's name is a transfer from Akron, Ohio. Geography According to the United States ...

, lived in Nebraska during the 2010s, and moved to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

in 2020.

Political candidacy

Gabel has run several times for various offices, including: * Omaha Public School Board, Subdistrict 1, and Metropolitan Utilities District, in 2016 * Omaha City Council, District 2, in 2017 * Governor of Nebraska in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

* Mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska, in 2019 * Nebraska Public Service Commission, District 2, in 2020 * Mayor of Brush, Colorado, in 2021

Notes

External links

Ballotpedia: Krystal Gabel
* McCartney, Rob (May 13, 2018
Chronicle: Krystal Gabel runs for governor

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gabel, Krystal 1984 births Living people American cannabis activists Briar Cliff University alumni Cannabis political party politicians Women in Colorado politics People from Akron, Iowa Politicians from Lincoln, Nebraska Politicians from Omaha, Nebraska 21st-century American women