Anti-Keystone activist to lead Nebraska Dems

Jane Kleeb, an outspoken opponent of the Keystone XL pipeline, has been tapped to lead Nebraska’s Democratic Party.

Kleeb was elected at a Saturday convention with help from supporters of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, though she pledged to work with more moderate Democrats as well, the Omaha World Herald reports.

{mosads}For years, Kleeb has made a name for herself as an early and loud opponent of Keystone XL, which would have run through Nebraska on its way from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

President Obama blocked the project in November. Kleeb has since taken her fame from Keystone and her group, Bold Nebraska, and used them in numerous other fights against fossil fuel development and pipelines around the country.

“For too long the people of Nebraska have been subject to the leadership of a party that is all too content to sacrifice the progress of the people for the comfort of the elite,” Kleeb, who will become chairwoman in December, told the World Herald.

She supports Sanders but made it clear that she will fight for Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in the presidential election.

“The Republican Party that champions the status quo is due for a wake-up call,” she said, according to the World Herald. “That wake-up call comes in the form of our newly energized Democratic Party, bolstered by Bernie supporters who finally have a seat at the table and Hillary supporters who are on the cusp of history, putting a woman in the White House.”