MoveOn to spend $32 million on key races including Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District
The spending is part of the progressive group’s efforts to help Democrats win the White House and retake the U.S. House of Representatives.
MoveOn.org has earmarked a slice of a $32 million pie for Nebraska’s “blue dot” 2nd Congressional District race between Democratic state Sen. Tony Vargas and Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon.
The spending is also part of an effort to win the district’s lone electoral vote to help Vice President Kamala Harris win the White House.
MoveOn is a progressive nonprofit organization that was a key ally in former President Barack Obama’s successful White House bids. MoveOn said it will send a total of $32 million to bolster campaigns across the nation, including those of 21 Democratic candidates for U.S. House seats in key races. Republicans now have a 220-212 House majority.
“MoveOn is excited to invest in Tony Vargas’ people-first campaign to defeat the MAGA-aligned Don Bacon and take back control of the U.S. House,” MoveOn press secretary Britt Jacovich said in an email to the Nebraska Independent. “In this district and for other competitive races across the country, we will hold MoveOn member-led phone banks and postcard parties, produce digital ads, and hold earned media events aimed at highlighting our endorsed candidates and their impressive records fighting for our communities.”
Jacovich declined to say how much money the group would use in the 2nd Congressional District.
Vargas is running for the second time to unseat Bacon, who is seeking a fifth term. Vargas lost to Bacon by less than 3 percentage points in 2022.
Democrats and progressive groups are working to help Vargas defeat Bacon and to peel off an electoral vote in the Republican-dominated state for Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Nebraska and Maine are the only states that split their electoral votes. In Nebraska, two of the five votes for president are awarded based on the statewide vote; the other three are assigned based on the winner of the election in each of the state’s congressional districts. In 2020, Joe Biden won the electoral vote in Nebraska’s 2nd District to help block the reelection of Republican President Donald Trump.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has reserved $1 million in broadcast TV ads in the Omaha media market to help Vargas.
Democratic groups have reserved more than $3.4 million in advertising in the district so far, including $1.9 million from House Majority PAC.
The University of Virginia’s Center for Politics recently rated the Vargas-Bacon race a toss-up.
Vargas has aggressively bolstered his fundraising this time around.
His campaign raised $1.1 million between April 25 and June 30 and has $2.5 million in cash on hand, according to his most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission.
Bacon’s campaign raised $726,000 during the same period and has $2.2 million in cash on hand, his filing shows.
