In 2008, he ran unopposed, until his support for an increase in the gas tax prompted Jerry Joy to launch an ultimately unsuccessful write-in campaign.
[3] In 2013, Lieutenant Governor Rick Sheehy resigned after the Omaha World-Herald revealed that he had made several thousand late-night calls using his state-issued cell phone to four women, none his wife.
[5] In June 2014, Republican gubernatorial candidate Pete Ricketts named Heidemann as his running mate for the November 2014 election.
[6] In September 2014, Heidemann's sister obtained a restraining order against him, alleging that he had physically assaulted her in the course of a dispute over the care of their elderly mother.
Heineman appointed Omaha legislator John E. Nelson to replace Heidemann as lieutenant governor; Ricketts named State Auditor Mike Foley as his new running mate.