Omaha Democrats campaign for congressional seat: Will Nebraska’s second district go blue?
Alisha Shelton and Tony Vargas have announced their campaigns for Congress. They will be competing for the Democratic Party’s nomination with the Primary in May 2022. Then the winning candidate will run against incumbent Republican Rep. Don Bacon to represent Nebraska’s 2nd district in the House of Representatives.
Alisha Shelton is an Omaha native with a background as a mental health provider. Her platform is centered around advocacy. She believes in providing her constituents with more jobs that have higher pay, access to healthcare (including mental health) and broadband internet services. As a mental health professional, she learned the skills of negotiating, listening and problem solving, which she is prepared to use in Congress. Shelton ran for United States Senate in 2020 and came in third in the election. She would be the first black woman to represent Nebraska in Congress. She is refusing funding from corporate Private Action Committees.
Tony Vargas is a state senator representing Nebraska’s seventh district which consists of downtown and southeast Omaha. He has a background in education, working as a public school teacher and serving on the Omaha Public Schools Board. Vargas’s platform is based on forming relationships with his constituents. He believes in access to education, affordable healthcare, supporting small businesses and working families. Vargas has expressed his support for protections against COVID-19 for meatpacking plant workers. His father died after contracting the illness in April of 2020. Vargas would be the first Latino to represent the Omaha area in Congress.
After the Democratic Primary, either Shelton or Vargas will face Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Don Bacon at the midterm election on November 8, 2022. Bacon was elected to office in 2016 and is currently serving his third term. He is a former military officer who served almost 30 years in the U.S. Air Force. As an incumbent, he has a massive advantage in the upcoming election. Reelection rates higher than 90% are common in the House of Representatives.
Despite Bacon’s advantage, Nebraska’s 2nd District was labeled by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as “competitive” for the 2022 midterms. Nebraska has five electoral votes, two depend on the states and one is given to each of its three districts. In 2020, President Biden won the electoral vote in District 2 leading Democrat leaders to think a flip in Congress might be a possibility. Bacon unseated the last Democrat to represent the district, Brad Ashford, who only held office for one term.
By Aubrey Benton