Krystal Gabel

Gabel, a resident of Brush, Colorado, was a candidate for mayor of Brush in 2021.

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

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 had previously qualified to be an official major party in the state of Minnesota in the November 6, 2018, election, when their candidate for State Auditor, 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.

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

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

In 2018, Gabel ran for governor of Nebraska as a Republican. She ran on a fiscally conservative platform that included the legalization of marijuana. Gabel's campaign to unseat Governor Pete Ricketts drew attention from outside Nebraska because Republican candidates in the United States rarely support drug law reform. 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, 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.

Gabel opposes school choice, saying it harms public education. Gabel supports broad K–12 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.

A proponent of zero waste communities and green sustainable energy, Gabel would let farmers grow hemp to produce biodiesel 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 laws that discourage tiny homes, supports use of electric vehicles, proposes a system of heated streets using power plant waste water, believes free city bus service would stimulate job creation.

Gabel supports affordable healthcare, improved domestic violence services, health insurance reform. In 2018, she said proposals to reduce public funding for Planned Parenthood would hurt working individuals and families, and poor people.

In 2018, Gabel said Nebraska's ban on medical cannabis was leading to patients traveling out of state to purchase “natural” 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, and other drugs, prescribed by doctors.

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, ranchers, farmers.

Gabel supports legalized marijuana for medical 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, and would pardon people with past convictions for nonviolent cannabis offenses. She supports laws protecting LGBTQ rights.

During 2017 and 2018 election campaigns, Gabel opposed raising taxes for working families and individuals. She argued revenue from industrial hemp production and new industries created serving cannabis consumers would spur the economy.

In 2016, Gabel and Mark Elworth 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.

Gabel ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for Omaha Public School Board, in 2016, and for mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska, 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, 143 votes away from making it to the general election.

In 2015–2016, Gabel petitioned for a Marijuana Party of Nebraska 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. However, the Secretary of State said that half of the signatures were invalid, falling short of the 5,397 needed.

Gabel grew up in Akron, Iowa, lived in Nebraska during the 2010s, and moved to Colorado in 2020.

Krystal Gabel (born October 14, 1984) is an American cannabis rights activist, politician, writer. Gabel, a candidate for governor of Nebraska 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 in the Republican primary.