Democrat Denise Powell prevailed over Republican Brinker Harding in the Nov. 3 general election to represent Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, the state’s so-called “Blue Dot.”
Results in Nebraska’s other two districts kept the state red.
Powell, a mother and small business owner, won 138,733 votes, or 56.4 percent, to Harding’s 100,895, for 41 percent. The Associated Press called the race just before 9 p.m. on Nov. 3.
Powell vowed to represent all residents of the 2nd District.
“Tonight Nebraska’s 2nd District became a key player in the fight to put hardworking Americans first by lowering costs, making health care more affordable, and putting an end to this senseless war in Iran,” Powell said in her victory speech.
Powell has vowed to stop the Trump administration from giving tax breaks to the wealthy. She also said she would stop congressional stock trading and push for a lifetime ban on members of Congress becoming lobbyists and an ethics code for the U.S. Supreme Court.
The district is known as the Blue Dot, because it’s a Democratic outpost in a sea of Republican Red. The district comprises Douglas, Saunders, and Sarpy counties, which includes the city of Omaha.
Democrats consider the district so important that the House Majority PAC sent $2.9 million for advertising, according to the PAC website. The PAC was set up to support Democratic campaigns. The parties fight hard over the spot because Nebraska is one of two states, the other being Maine, that can split its Electoral College votes.
In Nebraska, the overall winner in a presidential race gets two of the state’s five electoral votes. The remaining three go to the winner of each of the state’s three congressional districts. In a close race, this can make winning each of the three districts imperative.
Republicans have been pushing for a winner-take-all system.
“That’s one of the reasons that I have been so firmly in favor of a winner-take-all system to [remove] extra money out of the state system,” Mary Jane Truemper, chair of the Nebraska Republican Party, told The Epoch Times last May. “It really has [an] effect on the down-ballot races as well.”
But maintaining a district’s ideological tone was not the only issue voters considered in the races. Immigration, the economy, and foreign policy were all considerations to voters who ensured Nebraska’s other two congressional districts kept their red hue.
The 1st Congressional District incumbent, Republican Mike Flood, won his third term in Congress. He bested Democratic challenger Chris Backemeyer by a vote of 124,881 to 114,664.
Flood said that in his previous two terms he crossed party lines to get things done for Nebraskans and will continue that work in his third term. He said that includes working with Backemeyer’s supporters.
“I say to those that voted differently last night, I’ll do my best to earn their trust,” Flood said. “But we’ve got a lot of work to do to get this country going in the right direction.”
In the 3rd Congressional District, Republican incumbent Adrian Smith will begin his 20th year in Washington. Smith took 173,220 votes to Democratic challenger Becky Stille’s 48,842.
We had a problem loading this article. Please enable javascript or use a different browser. If the issue persists, please visit our help center.