Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) defeated a challenger from the right flank of his party in his attempt to win reelection in Nebraska’s 2nd District without the support of the state and local chapters of the Republican Party.
Some feared Bacon would lose the primary race against populist business executive Dan Frei after Frei secured the endorsement of the Nebraska GOP and the Republican Party’s chapters in the three counties housed in Nebraska’s 2nd District. The local chapters had argued that Frei is more closely aligned with former president Donald Trump than Bacon, who has often sought to strike a moderate stance in the narrowly divided House.
But Bacon secured the party’s nomination without the Nebraska GOP’s backing. He wasn’t the only incumbent that the state’s party abandoned this primary cycle.
As The Washington Post reported Monday, the state’s entire congressional delegation is on the ballot this year, and the Nebraska GOP declined to endorse any of them, whether they’re in the House or the Senate — a sign that some local GOP chapters are eager to embrace more right-wing candidates who they argue are more supportive of Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. It highlights a growing rift between national, establishment Republicans and the more grass-roots chapters of the party.
In an interview with The Post last week, Bacon said there will be a “time for reflection” after Tuesday’s election for the local members of his district’s GOP.
“I think it’s so foolish,” he said of the Nebraska GOP’s decision not to endorse incumbents. “There will have to be some self-reflection and I feel sad because it weakens the party, it weakens our support. Their actions may not hurt me, but I think they will have some impact … at some point. A divided party doesn’t perform as well. It’s a gift to the Democrats.”
Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general, represents a swing district in which President Biden beat Trump by more than six points in 2020. In the midst of the dramatic intraparty fight that ousted Kevin McCarthy from his role as House speaker in October, Bacon argued that House Republicans had to be more willing to work across the aisle, noting that, “in the end, a bipartisan way may be the only answer.”
While he ran without the backing of the local GOP, Bacon garnered the endorsements of many of Nebraska’s Republican officials, including Gov. Jim Pillen, and Sens. Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts. He also has the backing of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and the National Republican Congressional Committee. A spokesman for the NRCC, a group that historically backs incumbent candidates, said Monday that Bacon has the organization’s “complete support.”
Bacon credited his loss of the local GOP’s endorsements to right-wing Republicans aligned with Stephen K. Bannon — the former Trump adviser and well-known right-wing agitator — flooding the party’s meetings and making noise.
“Angry people come out and vote,” Bacon told The Post. He said he’s going to continue working to “make sure our Republican folks get out and vote in good numbers.”
Bacon’s challenger, Frei, acknowledged in an interview with The Post on Monday that he faced an “uphill battle” to unseat a sitting House member, but he touted the support he received from the state and local Republican Party as a sign that voters want a new representative.
“Don is touting that he’s got all the elected representatives endorsing him,” said Frei, who narrowly lost the 2014 Republican primary to then-Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) before Terry ultimately lost in the general election. “He can have every one of them — I’ll take the people in the grass roots every day.”
Randy Adkins, a professor of political science at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said local parties’ endorsements of Frei over Bacon reflects a “takeover” of the state GOP and its local chapters by the “populist wing” of the Republican Party. Frei appeared to agree, saying that local GOP chapters have been “taken over by America First patriots that are sick and tired of seeing what’s going on in D.C.”
“They are doing it so that they can elect individuals that are going to go to D.C. and make a difference for the people of Nebraska,” Frei said.
