Nebraska GOP endorses Rep. Don Bacon after Walz visit to Omaha
The state party refused to endorse the incumbent Republican member of Congress in the primary election.
Perhaps feeling the heat after a Saturday stop by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in Omaha that included praise for Democrat Tony Vargas in his 2nd District Congressional race, the Nebraska Republican Party finally announced it has endorsed Republican Rep. Don Bacon’s reelection — something it refused to do in the primary election.
Walz, a native Nebraskan whom Vice President Kamala Harris picked as her running mate in her bid for the White House, held a rally in Omaha, where he stumped for Vargas in his too-close-to-call race to unseat Bacon in the Omaha area’s 2nd District.
On the same day, the state Republican Party voted to endorse Bacon and the other four Republican candidates for the U.S. House and Senate. The state party, which was taken over by loyalists to former President Donald Trump in 2022, refused to endorse the Republican incumbents in this year’s primary. Bacon and the other incumbents all won their primaries.
“In the representative process of primary elections, it is pertinent that we respect the voice of the voters; therefore, we support the candidates whom Republicans chose in the primary election,” Nebraska Republican Party Chair Eric Underwood said in a statement released Aug. 18.
Paul Landow, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said the party has been in disarray since 2022.
“The Republican Party has gone off on its own until now,” Landow told the Nebraska Independent in an email. “But with the Harris ticket changing everything, the GOP has decided that they better get on board or chance losing their local races. But it is late in the game for them to be endorsing their own candidates.”
The national Democratic Party is pouring money into swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, but is also spending in Nebraska’s so-called “Blue Dot” 2nd District to help Vargas unseat Bacon and to peel off an electoral vote for Harris.
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, Vice President Joe Biden won the electoral vote in the 2nd District to help block Trump’s reelection.
The University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rates the Vargas-Bacon race a toss-up.
A new survey by conservative pollster Remington Research Group shows Vargas narrowly trailing Bacon 46%-44% and Harris leading Trump in the district 50%-42%.
