OMAHA, Nebraska – In 2016, Don Bacon won this now blue-leaning urban district in Nebraska by roughly one percentage point. The moderate retired Air Force officer secured re-election even when his district chose Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for president. In recent years, he became ostracized in national MAGA circles over his frequent criticism of President Donald Trump. He announced last year that he would not seek reelection, citing political dysfunction.
Now, he’ll be replaced by Denise Powell, a Democrat. Her Republican opponent Brinker Harding, an Omaha city councilman, conceded at his watch party here before 10 p.m. Tuesday.
The race highlights the eternal tension between “purists and pragmatists,” Nebraska Republican Party chair Mary Jane Truemper told The Daily Wire. Bacon had become a punching bag among national Republicans for his departures from the party line on key issues, but she said “I’d take Don Bacon over a Democrat any day of the week.”
Susan Spahn, a lawyer who serves as president of the conservative group Omaha Liberty Ladies, lamented that conservatives had to “learn that lesson the hard way,” referring to the electoral risks of demanding ideological purity even in swing districts.
Todd Schmidt, a retiree in Omaha who considers himself an independent, said he would have voted for Bacon had he been on the ballot, but instead voted for Powell. “Any Republican is now afraid to go against Trump because they think their career would be over,” he said, adding that he wants the party to “distance itself from the Trump style.”
Schmidt said he views Omaha as a moderately Democrat city–one where, for example, gay people feel at home but transgender-identifying people would not. He said he’d interacted with Bacon during his years in office, and trusted him. He knew little about either candidate to replace him, but viewed Powell as the more moderate of the two, mostly because he questions whether there is such a thing as a moderate Republican anymore.
The Daily Wire
Spahn thinks the opposite, saying she believes a moderate Republican is now being replaced by a radical Democrat. “You have those who will vote D no matter what, then you have some who can step back and acknowledge that socialism is bad and I’m not going to vote for someone who supports socialism,” she said, saying she thought Omaha residents would feel that way about Powell.
To be sure, even strategic and pragmatic Republicans here have significant ire towards Bacon. They say he let a personal grudge against Trump make him short-tempered and petty. Although he initially attracted supporters from both parties, by the end it was the opposite: He’d alienated Republicans, and in this hyper-partisan age, they question whether there was much reward from Democrats for doing so, saying they’d still throw him under the bus for a full-on liberal.
Harding had none of Bacon’s baggage with Republicans, and had more of a track record in accomplishing things locally. He previously worked as chief of staff for Omaha’s Republican mayor, noting that he balanced the budget, lowered taxes, and lowered crime. Powell, meanwhile, worked at an architecture firm and co-founded the liberal activist group Women Who Run Nebraska. Powell’s campaign raised twice as much money as the Republican.
But the tide had run against Republicans nationally this year, and Democrats in Nebraska seemed to be in a particularly ruthless mood. As The Daily Wire previously reported, Democrats played a devious trick in the Senate race against incumbent Pete Ricketts: running a plant candidate in the primary who then dropped out so that the real Democrat-favored candidate could run as an “independent,” seeking the same moderate constituency that Bacon once captured.
That independent, Dan Osborn, was a union organizer, and Republicans here say if Bacon was a RINO–a Republican In Name Only–Osborn is an Independent In Name Only. He has pledged to caucus with neither party if he wins–something Republicans don’t buy, partly because such a person would likely not receive any committee assignments in the Senate, making it difficult to represent the state.
Residents here say Osborn told conservative audiences one thing and liberal audiences another, and that the “Nebraska nice” tendency to trust people could make them easier marks for deceptive politicians.
“I went into this evening with every expectation that we were going to win,” Harding told The Daily Wire. “I’m still on the Omaha City Council, and I’m going to continue to work to make it a better place,” he added.
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