OMAHA — Democratic donors in and beyond Nebraska’s borders are focusing more money and attention this year on the Omaha-area rematch race for the U.S. House.

From April 1 to June 30, Democratic challenger State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha outraised the four-term Republican incumbent, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon of Papillion.

Vargas reported raising $1.36 million in the second quarter, with $2.5 million in cash on hand. That’s more than double his cash on hand at this point in 2022, campaign finance filings show.

Bacon raised $970,000 for his campaign, plus another $80,000 for his Bacon PAC, the filings show. He listed $2.2 million in cash on hand, more than double his campaign’s tally in July 2022.

Contrast that with the second quarter of 2022, when Bacon raised $409,000 and listed $1.2 million in cash on hand and Vargas raised $550,000 and listed $533,000 in cash on hand.

Vargas outpacing 2022 tallies

Vargas appears to have held onto his local Democratic donors and expanded his reach with national donors, with much of his money coming to his campaign through online donations portal ActBlue.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said recently it would steer donors to spend more money on a smaller number of races this year, including Nebraska’s 2nd District.

The Vargas campaign has said donors also see that Bacon is coming off a primary in which nearly 40% of Republican voters chose another candidate, Dan Frei, who raised and spent very little.

“Nebraskans across all political parties are making it clear they’re fed up with Don Bacon hurting middle class families and siding with his party bosses, just to protect his political career,” Vargas said in a statement. “That’s why my campaign is seeing more grassroots support and momentum than ever before.” 

Bacon ahead of schedule, too

Bacon, like most long-term incumbents, raised much of his money from groups and people with business before Congress. He also appears to have maintained his support with local GOP donors.

To date, Bacon has raised and spent the most on this election cycle, because he was fending off a primary challenger, which forced him to spend funds earlier on advertising and door-knocking.

In all, Bacon has raised $4.3 million this cycle and spent $2.1 million, according to OpenSecrets.org, which tracks congressional campaign spending. Vargas has raised $3.5 million and spent $1.1 million. Vargas did not face a primary challenger.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has been ramping up its support for Bacon and other targeted GOP incumbents. It has pledged that Bacon will have all the support he needs.

Bacon, in a statement, thanked his supporters for “putting our campaign in its strongest-ever position to win this fall.” He has said his voting record matches the district and its values better than Vargas.

“We had a competitive primary. Tony Vargas didn’t,” said Matthew Zacher, Bacon’s campaign manager, who pointed out that the district retains a slight GOP lean. “We have been outraised three of four election cycles and won each time.”

Looking ahead to November

Bacon beat Vargas by about 3 percentage points in 2022.

Polling touted by both campaigns has shown the race within the surveys’  margin of error, with each side highlighting a result that shows their candidate leading.

Many political observers expect the race to take on a harder edge than in 2022. That year, more than $18 million was spent on the race, including more than $11 million from outside groups.

Other House races

In eastern Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., raised $283,000 and listed $501,000 in cash on hand, federal campaign finance records show.

His Democratic opponent, State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, raised $23,000 and listed $20,000 in cash on hand.

In Nebraska’s PAC-MAN-shaped, largely rural 3rd District, one of the most conservative districts nationally, Republican U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith continues to outraise Democratic opponents.

Smith raised $296,000 and listed $1.1 million in cash on hand at the end of June. His Democratic opponent, Daniel Ebers, had not filed a campaign finance form with the Federal Election Commission. Candidates must file if they raise $5,000 or more.

OMAHA, Neb. — Public school advocates believe they have enough signatures to ask Nebraska voters in November to repeal a law that provides taxpayer money for private school tuition, marking the latest twist in a long-running fight with state lawmakers who have repeatedly opposed efforts to let voters weigh in on the public funding plan.

Organizers of Support Our Schools, which has been furiously gathering petition signatures over the past nine weeks, say they expect to have more than the roughly 86,500 signatures needed by Wednesday to ask voters to repeal the private school funding law.

“I mean, I’m a nervous wreck,” Karen Kilgarin, an organizer with Support Our Schools, said days before the deadline. “One of our biggest challenges is that we’ve really only had 67 days this time around to meet the deadline.”

If the repeal measure is approved for the November ballot, organizers fully expect school choice supporters to file a lawsuit to try to thwart the referendum, said Tim Royers, a Support Our Schools organizer and Millard Public Schools teacher.

“We’re very confident that, should they choose to try and file a court challenge to get us off the ballot, we would successfully defeat that challenge,” Royers said.

It’s the second time in a year public school advocates have had to carry out a signature-gathering effort to try to reverse a legislative measure to use public money for private school tuition. The first came last year, when Republicans who dominate the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature passed a bill to allow corporations and individuals to divert millions of dollars they owe in state income taxes to nonprofit organizations. Those organizations would, in turn, award that money as private school tuition scholarships.

The private school scholarship program saw Nebraska follow several other red states — including Arkansas, Iowa and South Carolina — in enacting some form of private school choice, from vouchers to education savings account programs.

Before the measure was even enacted, Support Our Schools began organizing a petition effort, collecting far more signatures than was needed to ask voters to repeal the law.

But rather than letting Nebraska voters decide, school choice supporters sought to thwart the petition process. Omaha Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, who introduced the private school funding bill, first called on Secretary of State Bob Evnen to reject the ballot measure, saying it violated the state constitution that places the power of taxation solely in the hands of the Legislature.

When that failed, Linehan successfully pushed a new bill to dump the tax credit funding system and simply fund private school scholarships directly from state coffers. More significantly, because Linehan’s new bill repealed and replaced last year’s law, it rendered last year’s successful petition effort moot — perfecting what Linehan called an “end run” around the effort to have Nebraska voters decide whether public money can go to private schools.

That move is in line with a growing trend among Republican-dominated state legislatures to find ways to force through legislation they want, even when it’s opposed by a majority of voters. A number of those efforts center on citizen-led petitions for law changes.

“They know that this is not popular with the public,” Royers said. “They know that every time vouchers have gone on the ballot in other states, it’s been defeated.”

Supporters of school choice say it’s needed for students and their families who are failed by low-performing public schools — particularly low-income families unable to afford private school tuition on their own. Opponents say private school funding programs end up being too costly for states to maintain and undercut public schools. Some have also said it violates the Nebraska Constitution’s prohibition against appropriating public funds to nonpublic schools.

When Linehan’s new direct funding of private school tuition scholarships passed this year, opponents again launched a petition effort to repeal it — but with less time and more obstacles than they had last year.

Royers noted that lawmakers waited until the last day of the session this year to pass the new private tuition funding bill. It then took days for Republican Gov. Jim Pillen to sign it into law and some 10 days for Evnen — also a Republican — to approve the language for a new petition effort.

They also had to start before most public schools were out for the summer, leaving teachers unable to help with signature collection early in the process. Most difficult, Royers said, was having to explain to people who had signed the repeal petition last year why they had to sign again if they wanted voters to have a say.

Linehan said she expects the fight over school choice “will probably end up in court,” but that the decision to file a lawsuit to stop the ballot measure would likely be up to the Nebraska Attorney General’s office.

Even then, if Support Our Schools succeeds in getting the repeal question on the ballot, Linehan said she expects that effort will fail if voters understand that it’s meant to help people — including foster children and military families — without the means to send their children to private school.

“I don’t think if Nebraskans understood the situation, if they will vote to take those scholarships away from those kids,” she said.

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (KTIV) – The group, “Support Our Schools Nebraska” held a petition drive to support public school students.

This was their last day to get signatures. They have a total of 14 events going on throughout the state.

Last year, more than 117,000 Nebraskans signed a successful referendum petition to put the repeal of a private school voucher system on the ballot. That measure was stopped by State Senator Lou Ann Linehan.

Support Our Schools Nebraska wants public funds going to public schools not private since the majority of students in Nebraska attend a public school.

“Most people want to have a voice, so they want to have a vote and say I want my tax dollars going to the public schools that’s where it’s important where they be because most of the kids in Nebraska go to public schools very few go to the private schools,” said Tracia Blom a Nebraska teacher.

They say they have enough signatures, and this should be on the ballot this November.

“We are confident we’re going to be on the ballot and then in November we’re just going to really make sure people remember that they need to get out and vote and that they are voting for their public schools,” said Vice President Support Our Schools Nebraska Paul Schulte.

For more information on Support Our Schools Nebraska visit the link here.

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