In the Nebraska primary election on Tuesday, voters will pick their candidates for what is expected to be one of the most competitive House races in the country — and for a Senate race that could be close if the Democratic wave is big enough.
Nebraska primary elections 2018: Deb Fischer defends her Senate seat while Democrats target House pickup
Democrat Brad Ashford, an ex-Republican and former Congress member, is looking to reclaim the congressional seat he won in 2014 and lost in 2016. Incumbent Rep. Don Bacon beat Ashford by a single percentage point in 2016, and Ashford has earned the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue endorsement. But he does have a real primary race: Kara Eastman, president of a local nonprofit, is also running. She has a more progressive platform, backing Medicare-for-all.
Sen. Deb Fischer is a mainstream Republican through and through, and she’ll almost certainly keep her seat. But Democratic hopeful Jane Raybould — a Lincoln City Council member and former candidate for lieutenant governor — is promising to be “an independent voice” while slamming the incumbent as a “Washington Republican.” If 2018 really does bring a blue wave, this race could get competitive.
Medicare-for-all progressive woman wins surprise victory in a key Nebraska House primary
Kara Eastman. AP Photo/Nati HarnikA progressive candidate running on Medicare-for-all beat a former US Congress member in the Democratic primary for a crucial 2018 House election in Nebraska.
Kara Eastman, president of a local nonprofit, narrowly prevailed over former Rep. Brad Ashford in the Democratic primary in Nebraska’s Second Congressional District. Ashford had been elected to the seat in 2014, though he lost it to Republican Don Bacon in 2016. He had received public support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
Read Article >4 winners and 3 losers from the primaries in Pennsylvania and Nebraska
VoxTuesday’s primaries featured the crucial state of Pennsylvania plus a smattering of contests in the not-so-crucial states of Nebraska, Idaho, and Oregon.
The realities of a complex array of races with their own local dynamics defy the construction of pat narratives. Left-wing Democrats won some races and lost others, while in other cases, former insurgents have not been entirely embraced (or co-opted) by the establishment.
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