CD02 House Race Is One Of The Most Important Contests In Election 2020
Nebraska’s Second Congressional District is the one true swing district in Nebraska. At the present time, 38% of registered voters in CD02 are Republicans, 36% are Democrats and 24% are independents. The Cook Political Report gives the GOP in CD02 a +3 Partisan Voting Index (PVI.) In contrast, The Republicans are +11 in CD01 and +25 in CD03. Statewide, the Nebraska GOP enjoys a PVI of +14.
This Omaha based district is usually pretty hard fought but thus far, the Republicans have won most of the elections. There have been only three Democratic representatives since 1976. Between 1976 and 1980, John Cavanaugh represented CD02. Peter Hoagland served between 1988 and 1994. Brad Ashford served between 2014 and 2016 but was knocked off — with Russian help — by current incumbent Don Bacon after one term.
The 2020 cycle will be no exception to this long time historical pattern. Already, Don Bacon has been deemed to be one of the 10 most vulnerable incumbents. This is because Don votes with Trump 96% of the time in a true swing district. Bacon’s vulnerability is verified by the fact that no less than four Democrats are running for his seat. Bacon is opposed by Ann Ashford, Kara Eastman, Morgann Freeman and Gladys Harrison.
Bacon announced his re-election bid last week. Bacon claims to be running on a platform of civility and non-partisanship. Unfortunately, Bacon’s themes make no sense when you take into account the fact he votes with Trump 96% of the time. It’s pretty hard for Bacon to claim to be non-partisan when he votes with Trump virtually all of the time.
Bacon’s claim to be running on civility doesn’t square with the fact that he won’t condemn Trump’s law breaking and vile behavior. On rare occasions, Bacon will mildly admonish Trump but it has been pretty weak.
Bacon is vulnerable because he is simply out of touch. Due to the fact he has been on taxpayer funded health care his entire adult life, Bacon simply doesn’t understand the struggles faced by his constituents. This seeming indifference to his constituents’ problems can be found in his voting record on health care and taxes. On those issues, Bacon has voted with Trump, his party bosses and the top 1%.
In 2017, Bacon said “Hell yes!” to taking away insurance from 23 million Americans and gutting pre-existing conditions protections. That was how he described his support for the infamous Trump Care bill that the GOP tried to ram through in the middle of the night because fewer people were paying attention.
Bacon has voted two times in support of the Trump-Ricketts lawsuit that would repeal Obama Care without a replacement plan if they “win” this case. A Trump-Bacon “victory” in this case would end pre-existing conditions protections in their entirety.
Bacon’s claim that he supports pre-existing condition protections (PEC) is disingenuous in light of these votes. Bacon supports a bill that he claims would maintain PEC protections. However, this legislation would allow states to lift the Affordable Care Act rule that prohibited insurers from charging higher premiums for those with pre-existing conditions, thus making health insurance unaffordable for many.
Bacon’s vote in support of the 2017 tax bill is additional evidence that he is out of touch and doesn’t get it. The super wealthy and the big corporations reaped the lion’s share of the benefits of this $2 trillion deficit funded tax cut — the top 1% will eventually grab 83% of the tax cuts. This bill also increased taxes on Gold Star families and Nebraska football fans. I suppose somebody had to pay for these tax cuts for the billionaires.
Bacon is simply a rubber stamp for Trump and the special interests who fund his campaign. It’s time to bring him home. The Nebraska CD02 contest will be a national bell weather. If the Democratic nominee should win, that will be an indicator that election night 2020 will be a good night for the country. Vote Blue no matter who in 2020!