GOP candidate in ruby red state backtracks from Trump amid panic of Dem victory

A mayoral race in Nebraska's "blue dot" could be a test of voter dissatisfaction with Donald Trump's second presidency — and a bellwether for next year's midterm elections.

Democrats in the liberal enclave in a conservative state are hoping to unseat Omaha's three-term Republican mayor, Jean Stothert, in a technically nonpartisan election. But anger over Trump's agenda has fueled closer-than-expected results in special elections for GOP-held seats in Florida and a decisive victory for Democrats in Wisconsin's Supreme Court race, reported the Washington Post.

“What I’ve been working to do here in this election is capture the momentum of all of the different blue dot groups and get them to be as focused on this election as they are on national elections, reminding them that the local elections actually have more impact on their lives,” said challenger John Ewing Jr., who would become the city's first Black mayor. “So we’ve been able to be very successful with that.”

The race between Ewing, the Douglas County treasurer and a former deputy police chief, and Stothert, who made history as the first woman mayor in 2013, has largely focused on local issues. But Trump and GOP culture war issues have loomed large.

"Ewing has run ads critical of Stothert for backing Trump in 2024," the Times reported. "The Republican mayor, in turn, has put out ads suggesting Ewing 'stands with radicals' on the issue of 'boys in girls’ bathrooms and sports' — leading his campaign to demand a retraction."

Stothert, a former intensive care nurse, has raised nearly twice as much as Ewing, but Democrats have a 39 percent-to-32 percent registration advantage in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, and the GOP incumbent mayor has distanced herself a bit from Trump – whom she says she supported because she wanted a more secure border and a better economy.

“I can honestly say as a Republican, I don’t like everything he’s doing and decisions he’s making," Stothert said in a recent interview. "I wish he’d slow down on a lot of these decisions he’s making. I don’t advise the president.”

Nebraska is one of only two states that split electoral votes among statewide and congressional district winners, and Trump and other conservative leaders intensely pushed the state's legislators to change the rules for awarding electoral votes. But that effort proved unsuccessful and the district was one of only three in the country that split its vote between Kamala Harris and a House Republican – moderate Rep. Don Bacon.

“Not only did we fight like heck and build a coalition to protect the blue dot from being erased by the governor and the legislature, but we then won that blue dot,” said Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb.