Blue Dots Matter: Omaha Edition
Welcome to Omaha, the land of Warren Buffett.
And as of last Tuesday, the land of John Ewing Jr., who was elected as the city's first Black Democratic mayor.
The Omaha campaign for mayor pitted Ewing Jr. against three-term Republican incumbent Jean Stothert. Stothert won her previous mayoral race in 2021 by capturing nearly 65% of the vote, which was seen as a landslide victory for her and the Nebraska Republican Party. With incumbent GOP congressman Don Bacon having narrowly won re-election in 2024 in the always competitive second congressional district, which houses Omaha, it seemed like Stothert would have enough momentum in an off-year election to get re-elected for a record fourth time. She had been a supporter of Donald Trump and was running a campaign rooted in the culture wars that were seemingly so effective for the GOP in red states in 2024 by standing by anti-trans attack ads released by GOP PACs claiming that Ewing Jr. was in favor of transgender men in women's bathrooms. Meanwhile, the Nebraska Democratic Party responded by calling out Stothert, claiming that she would "rather focus on potties, while John focuses on fixing potholes." While local issues were front and center throughout the campaign, there can be no denying that Stothert felt emboldened by the GOP's national stance on transgender individuals, and she believed it was a winning issue for her in her backyard of Omaha.
It was not.
It was not.
Stothert lost handily, becoming the latest in a series of wins for Democrats in swing districts. Combined with Judge Susan Crawford's 13-point win in Wisconsin and we're starting to see the first signs of collective pushback against the Donald Trump-led Republican Party. Trump is the albatross around every single GOP candidate's neck, regardless of whether or not he personally endorses them. For all intents and purposes, Jean Stothert governed as a moderate conservative in Omaha. But her party lurched so far to the right that she could no longer identify which issues constituted the middle of the road in a city where Democrats had a 7-point advantage in voter identification. When you're a GOP elected official in a moderate district and you run too far to the right, you alienate those in the middle. As the Nebraska Democratic Party correctly observed, voters cared more about potholes than potties. A lesson learned too little too late for Jean Stothert.
This latest win for Omaha is why, time and time again, we need to be against this idea of a national divorce. Because these blue dots represent everything to the people who live there. Imagine the relief of the transgender community of Omaha now knowing that they have a champion fighting for them at the local level who sees them as actual human beings and not permanent second-class citizens. Imagine the relief of the city's Black and brown community members, who know that they will have someone at the local level who will push back against these blatant voter purge efforts by the national GOP. And imagine the relief of the low-income folks knowing that their mayor will continue fighting for them in the wake of heartless cuts to critical government assistance programs at the federal level. The most vulnerable residents of Omaha breathed a huge sigh of relief last Wednesday morning, knowing they now have a champion residing in the mayor's office instead of having four more years of a Republican who couldn't care less about them.
There are many more blue dots out there. Those of us in red states know them well. Atlanta. Charlotte. Miami. New Orleans. Austin. Phoenix. Indianapolis. Kansas City. Las Vegas. Cleveland. Oklahoma City. Charleston. Nashville. Each of these cities is surrounded by large swathes of conservative suburbs and rural areas. While statewide politics often fail them, local municipalities can hold the line and create a sense of community during these trying times. Local elections matter. Having someone in charge who has lived experience and understands our country's history of systemic injustice matters. Appointing people to town and municipal government who look like the communities they serve matters. And having Democrats in local control when the alternative would be a most certain Republican expansion of the terrifying policies we're seeing at the national level being brought to our own backyards matters.
Blue dots may seem insignificant. But if you get enough dots, you get a circle. With a big enough circle, you get the state. And with enough states, we recapture the White House in 2028 and deliver a critical blow to the continuing GOP march toward authoritarianism. For the GOP, Omaha is a canary in the coal mine. A smart party would realize that these anti-trans culture wars don't resonate with the 1/3 of Americans who register as independent. But the GOP and intelligence do not go hand-in-hand. In fact, they're now likely to double down on the culture wars for upcoming races to appease their transphobic base. At this point, they can't help themselves. Democrats have a huge opportunity to expand these blue dots in the coming months leading up to the midterm elections.
The more dots, the merrier and the more likely the House is to flip back to bblue in 2026.
This latest win for Omaha is why, time and time again, we need to be against this idea of a national divorce. Because these blue dots represent everything to the people who live there. Imagine the relief of the transgender community of Omaha now knowing that they have a champion fighting for them at the local level who sees them as actual human beings and not permanent second-class citizens. Imagine the relief of the city's Black and brown community members, who know that they will have someone at the local level who will push back against these blatant voter purge efforts by the national GOP. And imagine the relief of the low-income folks knowing that their mayor will continue fighting for them in the wake of heartless cuts to critical government assistance programs at the federal level. The most vulnerable residents of Omaha breathed a huge sigh of relief last Wednesday morning, knowing they now have a champion residing in the mayor's office instead of having four more years of a Republican who couldn't care less about them.
There are many more blue dots out there. Those of us in red states know them well. Atlanta. Charlotte. Miami. New Orleans. Austin. Phoenix. Indianapolis. Kansas City. Las Vegas. Cleveland. Oklahoma City. Charleston. Nashville. Each of these cities is surrounded by large swathes of conservative suburbs and rural areas. While statewide politics often fail them, local municipalities can hold the line and create a sense of community during these trying times. Local elections matter. Having someone in charge who has lived experience and understands our country's history of systemic injustice matters. Appointing people to town and municipal government who look like the communities they serve matters. And having Democrats in local control when the alternative would be a most certain Republican expansion of the terrifying policies we're seeing at the national level being brought to our own backyards matters.
Blue dots may seem insignificant. But if you get enough dots, you get a circle. With a big enough circle, you get the state. And with enough states, we recapture the White House in 2028 and deliver a critical blow to the continuing GOP march toward authoritarianism. For the GOP, Omaha is a canary in the coal mine. A smart party would realize that these anti-trans culture wars don't resonate with the 1/3 of Americans who register as independent. But the GOP and intelligence do not go hand-in-hand. In fact, they're now likely to double down on the culture wars for upcoming races to appease their transphobic base. At this point, they can't help themselves. Democrats have a huge opportunity to expand these blue dots in the coming months leading up to the midterm elections.
The more dots, the merrier and the more likely the House is to flip back to bblue in 2026.