NE-02, NE-Sen, NE-01: News Channel Nebraska’s Joe Jordan takes an early look at which Democrats could run in 2020 for the House and Senate.
The biggest Democratic target in the state next cycle will almost certainly be GOP Rep. Don Bacon in the Omaha-based 2nd District, which Trump carried 49-47. Bacon fended off a challenge from Democrat Kara Eastman 52-48, which turned out to be a surprisingly close showing since national Democrats never spent much on this race. Jordan name-drops attorney Ann Ferlic Ashford, who considered running here in 2016. Ashford’s husband, former Rep. Brad Ashford, ran instead and narrowly lost the primary to the more progressive Eastman in an upset.
It’s not clear how interested Ann Ferlic Ashford is, but Jordan writes that if she got in, she “would likely campaign from the center as a moderate Democrat hoping to pick up moderate Republican votes.” That could be the wrong approach in a primary, though, as former Rep. Ashford found out the hard way.
GOP Sen. Ben Sasse is also up in 2020, and as we’ve written before, he says he’ll decide on running for re-election in the summer. Nebraska backed Trump 59-34 and it’s very unlikely this seat will be high on Team Blue’s target list, but Jordan writes that there’s plenty of speculation that Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler could run. Last week, city voters approved a ballot measure to restrict mayors to three consecutive terms, so Beutler, who opposed the referendum, can no longer run for a fourth term next year as he planned.
Finally, Jordan turns his attention to GOP Rep. Jeff Fortenberry in the 1st Congressional District. This seat, which includes Lincoln and several nearby rural areas, backed Trump 57-36, and Fortenberry won an uncompetitive re-election contest last week 61-39, so he’s not an obvious Democratic target. However, if Fortenberry actually does have a credible opponent, there’s good reason to think he won’t perform well under pressure.
Just before Election Day, an unknown person messed with one of Fortenberry’s campaign signs by changing his name to “Jeff Fartenberry” and adding googly eyes on his face. Fartenberry was not happy and tweeted, “Political violence, including the vandalism we see right here in Lincoln, is a threat to good citizenry and free expression in our republic. It is not funny. It is never acceptable.”
Fortenberry’s chief of staff, Reyn Archer, found it so unfunny that, after he saw that a local political science professor named Ari Kohen had merely liked a photo of the altered sign on Facebook, he reported Kohen to the university chancellor. Kohen recounted that Archer also threatened him and “told me they could put this out publicly that I liked vandalism, and essentially, that that would be bad for me.” Kohen reported him to the House Ethics Committee and supplied a recording of their conversation.
The incident made national headlines, but it didn’t prevent Fortenberry from easily winning. However, Jordan writes that state Sen. Adam Morfeld is a name that is “quickly popping up” for Democrats as a possible candidate.