Nebraska reaction to Biden-Harris decision focuses on 2nd District impact

Vice President Kamala Harris looks on as President Joe Biden delivers remarks about border security policies in the Roosevelt Room in the White House on Jan. 5, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

OMAHA — Local efforts to keep the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District blue will have a new standard-bearer after President Joe Biden on Sunday announced he would not run for re-election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee.

Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, issued a statement Sunday expressing deep respect for Biden’s work and for his decision to step aside. Democrats are preparing for the national convention in Chicago next month. Nebraska is sending 34 delegates to the convention.

Precious McKesson, representing the state party and the local Biden campaign, said the party is waiting on the national rules committee to clarify the nomination selection process and working with Democratic National Committee lawyers on securing ballot access for the nominee.

“I don’t think it changes anything,” McKesson said of Biden’s decision. “I think it re-energizes. … Our delegates were already pledged delegates to Joe Biden. I am confident they will be pledged to Vice President Harris.”

Vargas-Bacon race impact

Kleeb said local partisans will be laser-focused on helping Democratic State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha win his competitive congressional race against Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon of Papillion and on helping the Democratic nominee for president win the state’s “blue dot.”

Biden won the Omaha area’s single Electoral College vote in 2020. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, won it in 2016 and won Nebraska’s four other electoral votes in 2016 and 2020.

The 2nd District has been Nebraska’s most competitive for years, flipping between then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama in 2008 to Mitt Romney in 2012.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and the Nebraska Republican Party want to switch the GOP-leaning state to winner-take-all as soon as a special session this summer if he can find the votes. Nebraska is one of two states that awards an Electoral College vote to the presidential winner in each congressional district.

The state GOP had no immediate comment on the Biden-Harris news.

Political observers say both the presidential race and the control of the House of Representatives could come down to the Omaha-area race. Vargas lost to Bacon by three percentage points in 2022. In 2020, Biden beat Trump in the district by six points.

Vargas, in a statement, thanked Biden for “his longtime leadership and honorable service.” He said his “selfless decision to step aside” will ensure the Democrats have a “strong nominee” who can win and serve the nation “capably” over the next four years.

“Our greatest imperative this fall is to ensure we beat Trump,” Vargas said. “That’s why I will support the Democratic nominee. The stakes of this election are incredibly high, with the risk of a second Trump presidency doing incalculable harm to our democracy, rights and freedoms.”

Bacon, in a statement, said Biden made the right decision for national security to step down. Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general, said the last presidential debate showed Americans that Biden was no longer up to serving as commander in chief.

“Unfortunately, Father Time always wins in the end, and it will happen to all of us at some point,” Bacon said in a post on the social media network X.

He also criticized Vargas for waiting so long to comment on Biden after the debate.

Love, Ricketts, Osborn weigh in

Preston Love Jr., the Democratic nominee running against Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, issued a statement commending Biden for his “many years of public service.” He said he looked forward to “strongly supporting Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee” for president.

“Our focus must continue to be on preventing Donald Trump and his enablers … from winning in November,” Love said. “A second Donald Trump presidency would be devastating to our most vulnerable communities. Now is the time for us to come together and find a path to victory.”

Ricketts, in a statement, said only one choice, Trump, will lead to “security and prosperity for American citizens, and that’s a Trump-Vance administration.” He stressed Harris’ role as the Biden administration’s point person on border security and said she pushed for “terrible policies.”

“The strength of the Trump-Vance ticket has never been more evident than today,” Ricketts said on X. “Kamala Harris owns the Biden policies.”

Dan Osborn, a nonpartisan candidate for U.S. Senate against Republican U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, tweeted that he respects Biden’s decision. He said most Nebraskans want “honest leadership who will stand up to corruption regardless of party.”

Fischer’s campaign had no immediate comment on the Biden-Harris news.

A new old role for convention delegates

In August, 4,000 or so delegates from across the country will shift from having a largely ceremonial role, which was expected after Biden won the Democratic primaries, into a much higher-profile role of selecting the Democratic presidential nominee on behalf of their respective states.

Picking a presidential nominee was old hat for major party convention delegates prior to 1972, when the modern primary election system emerged. But Biden becomes the first presumptive nominee from a major party to leave the race after winning his party’s primary elections.

State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue is one of the delegates who will get to vote in Chicago. She is a candidate for Congress in the 1st District against Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Flood.

Her first national party convention is now expected to name a nominee, which she said has her  “very excited” because of the number of “very qualified people who could step up to the plate.” She said she is hopeful that “maybe a woman could be one of them.”

“This is a whole new process,” Blood said. “It’s democracy at its finest.”

McKesson said the party hopes to have more answers Monday about the next steps for its convention delegates.

Could boost youth turnout

Retired University of Nebraska at Omaha political scientist Paul Landow, who cut his teeth helping with Omaha-area Democratic campaigns, said it is too soon to tell how Biden’s dropping out might impact the presidential or House races in the 2nd District.

Harris, if chosen, could help the party better motivate young people to vote this November, Landow and McKesson said. Landow pointed to recent polling that showed Trump faring worse against a younger, more progressive Democrat than against Biden. Trump still narrowly led, however.

McKesson said she hopes people will take a little time to thank Biden for his decades of work and for “what had to be a hard decision for him and his family.”

“I want everybody to think about what he has done,” she said.

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