OMAHA, Neb. — Republican Don Bacon has secured his fifth term in the House, representing Nebraska’s Omaha-based 2nd District, after the announcement of the latest election results, nearly three days following the closing of the polls.
Bacon faced a significant challenge from Democratic state Senator Tony Vargas in what was a rematch of their previous contest in 2022 for the congressional seat.
His victory reflects a pattern of outcomes favoring Republicans, who express confidence about retaining control of the U.S. House, while Democrats maintain optimism about their potential path to a majority and advocate for thorough counting of every vote.
In a press conference a day post-election, Bacon declared his triumph and emphasized his intention to meet the needs of constituents from both parties, acknowledging the nearly equal political split in the district.
“We wouldn’t have achieved this without support from split-ticket voters; otherwise, we would have lost,” Bacon stated on Wednesday, recognizing the essential role of centrist voters in his success.
Despite Bacon’s declaration, Vargas has refrained from conceding the closely contested race, as there were around 15,000 ballots still pending in Douglas County, an area with more registered Democrats than Republicans.
As of late Friday, the Douglas County Election Commission confirmed the counting of over 9,000 outstanding ballots, which leaned slightly in favor of Vargas but were insufficient to overcome Bacon’s nearly 3 percentage-point lead established on Election Day.
Vargas aimed to capitalize on the Democratic presidential ticket’s support, which had previously garnered an electoral vote in the district. However, support for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz did not yield a victory for Vargas as many had hoped.
Nebraska, alongside Maine, allows for the splitting of its Electoral College votes. In Nebraska, the electoral votes tied to the state’s congressional districts are awarded based on the popular vote in each area. Historically, the 2nd District has previously voted for Democratic presidential candidates such as Barack Obama in 2008 and Joe Biden in 2020, and reiterated its pattern by supporting Kamala Harris in the recent election. Former President Donald Trump secured the remaining four electoral votes for the state.
Aware of the district’s moderate political landscape, both Vargas and Bacon positioned themselves distancing from their party’s more extreme factions leading up to the election, actively courting independent and third-party voters. The district has tended to shift leftward over the past twenty years, despite Republican attempts to modify its boundaries to advantage their party.
Bacon highlighted his credentials for bipartisanship in campaign ads, mentioning his readiness to defy party lines, particularly in supporting popular initiatives like the Biden administration’s 2021 infrastructure bill. Nonetheless, he adeptly maintained conservative rhetoric in this competitive district, frequently using social media to affirm his positions, including staunch support for Israel amid its conflict with Hamas and justifying his vote against a bipartisan border security bill.
Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse noted on Thursday that his office was busy processing nearly 6,800 early ballots submitted or dropped off on Election Day, in addition to sifting through about 2,600 ballots that could not be scanned by vote-counting machines.
Kruse explained that various factors could lead to a ballot being unscannable, from using non-standard ink colors to marking ballots improperly or damage incurred from external sources, like coffee spills.
Kruse anticipates that the counting of remaining ballots, which includes over 5,500 provisional ballots, will be completed by the end of the day on November 18. He stated that the commission intends to finalize the vote certification by November 21.