Denise Powell projected to win Democratic primary in key Nebraska district

Denise Powell, a political organizer, won the competitive Democratic primary in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, CBS News projected, amid concerns that another leading hopeful in the race risked harming the party in presidential politics. 

Powell will face Republican Brinker Harding, a member of the Omaha City Council, in the general election. Harding did not have a challenger in the primary to replace GOP Rep. Don Bacon, who is retiring after a decade in Congress. 

Though the Omaha-area district has been in GOP hands for all but two years in the last three decades, the district has voted Democrat in three of the last five presidential elections. 

Nebraska, a solidly Republican state, allocates its Electoral College votes by congressional district, instead of winner-take-all, giving Democrats a chance to deny Republicans of at least one electoral vote in the presidential election. The vote could take on greater importance in a close race for the White House. 

In 2024, President Trump and his allies unsuccessfully pressured Nebraska Republicans to change the allocation to winner-take-all for the state. Kamala Harris won the district — known as the “blue dot” — that year. Barack Obama won the district in 2008, followed by Mitt Romney in 2012, Mr. Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. 

The state’s electoral system was a key issue in the Democratic primary. 

Powell warned that if state Sen. John Cavanaugh had won the contest and went on to flip the House seat in November, Republicans could be emboldened to try again to change the electoral system to winner-take-all or redraw the congressional map because Cavanaugh would have to resign his seat. 

Republican Gov. Jim Pillen would have then appointed Cavanaugh’s replacement, potentially giving the party more support in opposing the current electoral system of splitting votes. The 2024 effort fell short after a single Republican state senator announced his opposition. 

Powell accused Cavanaugh of jeopardizing the “blue dot” for “for his own political ambitions.” 

“We cannot afford a candidate whose campaign hands Republicans the votes to gerrymander us into oblivion,” Powell said in a statement Friday. “Sending John Cavanaugh out of the Unicameral and into a congressional seat he can’t protect is exactly how we lose NE-02 — not just in November, but for the foreseeable future.” 

Cavanaugh had a section of his campaign website pushing back on the attacks that his candidacy harms the district’s “blue dot” status. 

“John would not resign until January, meaning by the time he resigns, new senators will be elected. Half the Legislature is up for election this year, and elected Democrats in Nebraska are confident that they will pick up more than enough seats in November to offset John’s vote,” his website says.