The political message from Omaha should be obvious
As I flew into Omaha for the first time, the only thing visible from my descending plane was cornfields. You could even see the tassels. I was wondering, where is the city?
There certainly was a city, with a world-class medical center, famous zoo and great nightlife. Old school steakhouses mixed with Persian and Asian restaurants. Anyone who had spent time in cosmopolitan Omaha would be totally unsurprised that Joe Biden flipped its congressional district in 2020 and that Kamala Harris won it in 2024.
Or that Omaha has just replaced a three-term Republican mayor with a Democrat, John Ewing Jr.
Also understandable, Omaha's rep., Don Bacon, has been Donald Trump's most outspoken Republican critic in Congress. Located in Nebraska's “east coast” along the Missouri River, Omaha's politics have long been purple, and Trump has made that purple bluer. (Nebraska and Maine are the only states that allocate their electoral votes by congressional districts.)
Western Nebraska is cattle country and more libertarian than the Bible belt. (Scottsbluff near the Wyoming border is almost 500 miles from Omaha.) We get how some of the Democrats' more radical social stances — or the ones that the right couldn't stop exaggerating — would turn off these voters.
What's really hard to understand, though, is how rural Nebraska fell for a man promising policies destined to badly hurt its economy. Trump made no secret of plans for a tariff war that directly threatens farm exports.
Trump may have backtracked a little on his trade-killing tariffs on China, but that, and other tariffs, remain so wildly high that foreign buyers of American agricultural products continue to look for other suppliers. And even his recently announced pullback is for 90 days only, so the game goes on.
In addition, MAGA's gunsights are set on cutting Medicaid. Without that money, rural hospitals will close. There's just no explanation for undercutting one's own interests other than overriding antipathy for the other side.
Political parties don't matter so much in state and local races. Andy Beshear is the Democratic governor of decidedly red Kentucky. Deep-blue Vermont has a five-term Republican governor, Phil Scott. Democratic cities elect Republican mayors the people think can keep order and get the roads fixed.
But polarization has turned votes for national office into a more partisan affair. It's hard to find a Republican able to withstand MAGA's threats, which makes Bacon a unique and welcome presence in Washington.
Trump easily won Nebraska's two other congressional districts. Bacon took Omaha's by less than two percentage points, though the district includes suburbs and some farm country. Reason? The turnout in these Western areas was lower.
Which brings us back to the recent mayoral race in Omaha. What does it mean nationally, if anything? As just noted, party doesn't matter so much on the local level. At the same time, the Republican who lost, Jean Stothert, was a moderate.
What would be significant in this race is the extent of turnout for Ewing. Was it Democrats burning to retaliate against MAGA? How many independents and disaffected Republicans joined them to voice their discontent?
The same can be asked about the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court race won by a liberal Democrat, despite the $25 million Elon Musk shoveled into the Republican's campaign. Trump won Wisconsin by less than one percentage point of the popular vote.
Several Republicans in Congress are speaking out against Trump's acceptance of a luxury jetliner from Qatar that will end up in his presidential library. It is not a gift to America. It is a $400 million gift to Trump.
Republicans should view these heartland developments as a serious political message. Some seem to, but what made them wait so long?
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