Nebraska's 2nd congressional district

Nebraska's 2nd congressional district
	Nebraska's 2nd congressional district since January 3, 2013
	Don Bacon; R–Papillion
Distribution	97.86% urban; 2.14% rural;
Population (2015)	652,870
Median income	$66,390[1]
Ethnicity	81.6% white; 9.8% black; 3.1% Asian; 10.9% Hispanic; 0.6% Native American; 2% other;
Cook PVI	R+4[2]

Nebraska's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Nebraska that encompasses the core of the Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It includes all of Douglas County, which includes Omaha, as well as the suburban areas of the western part of Sarpy County. It has been represented in the United States House of Representatives since 2017 by Don Bacon, a member of the Republican Party.

Electoral vote; 2008 presidential race

Nebraska and Maine are the only two states in the United States which distribute their electoral votes for president based on presidential candidates' performance in their respective congressional districts in addition to their statewide performance. The statewide popular vote winner for president receives two electoral votes, and the winner of each of Nebraska's congressional districts—there are currently three such districts—receives an electoral vote from the respective district.

While the rest of the state's electorate leans strongly towards the Republican Party, the 2nd district, being centered on the city of Omaha, is much more closely divided between the two main parties—Republican and Democratic.

In the 2008 United States presidential election, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama targeted the district as a strategy of breaking a potential electoral-vote tie.[3] He won the district's electoral vote by a margin of 3,325 votes over his chief general election opponent, Republican John McCain.[4] However, McCain won Nebraska's statewide popular vote, as well as the district-wide popular vote for the other two Nebraska congressional districts, thus receiving four electoral votes from Nebraska.[4]

Obama's victory in the 2nd district meant that Nebraska's electoral delegation was split for the first time ever. It also marked the first Nebraskan electoral vote for a Democrat since 1964.[4] By contrast, in 2012 and 2016, Republican presidential nominees Mitt Romney and Donald Trump won the 2nd district, as well as the overall statewide vote and the electoral votes of the first and third districts.[5]

Recent elections

This district is known as a swing district; it was one of six districts with a margin of less than 5% in all four elections after the 2010 Census.

2006 election

Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District Election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Republican	Lee Terry (Incumbent)	99,475	54.7%	−6.4%
	Democratic	Jim Esch	82,504	45.3%	+9.1%
	Republican hold		Swing
Turnout			181,979

2008 election

Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District Election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Republican	Lee Terry (Incumbent)	142,473	51.9%	−2.8%
	Democratic	Jim Esch	131,901	48.1%	+2.8%
	Republican hold		Swing
Turnout			274,374

2010 election

Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Republican	Lee Terry (Incumbent)	93,840	60.8%	+8.9%
	Democratic	Tom White	60,486	39.2%	−8.9%
	Republican hold		Swing
Turnout			154,326

2012 election

Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Republican	Lee Terry (Incumbent)	133,964	50.8%	−10.0%
	Democratic	John Ewing	129,767	49.2%	+10.0%
	Republican hold		Swing
Turnout			263,731

2014 election

Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District Election, 2014
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Brad Ashford	83,872	49.0%	−0.2%
	Republican	Lee Terry (Incumbent)	78,157	45.7%	−5.1%
	Libertarian	Steven Laird	9,021	5.3%	+5.3%
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing
Turnout			171,050

2016 election

Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Republican	Don Bacon	141,066	48.9%	+3.2%
	Democratic	Brad Ashford (Incumbent)	137,602	47.7%	−1.3%
	Libertarian	Steven Laird	9,640	3.3%	−2.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing
Turnout			288,308

2018 election

Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District Election, 2018
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Republican	Don Bacon (Incumbent)	126,715	51.0%	+1.3%
	Democratic	Kara Eastman	121,770	49.0%	+2.1%
	Republican hold		Swing
Turnout			248,485

Redistricting

In 2011, Nebraska lawmakers moved Offutt Air Force Base and the city of Bellevue — an area with a large minority population — out of the Omaha-based 2nd District and shifted in the Republican-heavy Omaha suburbs in Sarpy County. The move was expected to dilute the city's urban Democratic vote, which Democrats criticized as gerrymandering.[6]

List of members representing the district

Member	Party	Years of Service	Cong ress	Electoral history
District created		March 4, 1883
James Laird	Republican	March 4, 1883 – August 17, 1889	48th 49th 50th	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Gilbert L. Laws	Republican	December 2, 1889 – March 3, 1891	51st	[data unknown/missing]
William A. McKeighan	Populist	March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1893	52nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 5th district.
David Henry Mercer	Republican	March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1903	53rd 54th 55th 56th 57th	[data unknown/missing]
Gilbert M. Hitchcock	Democratic	March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1905	58th	[data unknown/missing]
John L. Kennedy	Republican	March 4, 1905 – March 3, 1907	59th	[data unknown/missing]
Gilbert M. Hitchcock	Democratic	March 4, 1907 – March 3, 1911	60th 61st	[data unknown/missing]
Charles O. Lobeck	Democratic	March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1919	62nd 63rd 64th 65th	[data unknown/missing]
Albert W. Jefferis	Republican	March 4, 1919 – March 3, 1923	66th 67th	[data unknown/missing]
Willis G. Sears	Republican	March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1931	68th 69th 70th 71st	[data unknown/missing]
H. Malcolm Baldrige	Republican	March 4, 1931 – March 3, 1933	72nd	[data unknown/missing]
Edward R. Burke	Democratic	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935	73rd	[data unknown/missing]
Charles F. McLaughlin	Democratic	January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1943	74th 75th 76th 77th	[data unknown/missing]
Howard Buffett	Republican	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1949	78th 79th 80th	[data unknown/missing]
Eugene D. O'Sullivan	Democratic	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1951	81st	[data unknown/missing]
Howard Buffett	Republican	January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1953	82nd	[data unknown/missing]
Roman Hruska	Republican	January 3, 1953 – November 8, 1954	83rd	[data unknown/missing] Resigned when elected U.S. Senator.
Jackson B. Chase	Republican	January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1957	84th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Glenn Cunningham	Republican	January 3, 1957 – January 3, 1971	85th 86th 87th 88th 89th 90th 91st	[data unknown/missing] Lost renomination.
John Y. McCollister	Republican	January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1977	92nd 93rd 94th	[data unknown/missing] Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
John J. Cavanaugh	Democratic	January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1981	95th 96th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Hal Daub	Republican	January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1989	97th 98th 99th 100th	[data unknown/missing] Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
Peter Hoagland	Democratic	January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1995	101st 102nd 103rd	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
Jon L. Christensen	Republican	January 3, 1995 – January 3, 1999	104th 105th	[data unknown/missing] Retired run for Governor of Nebraska.
Lee Terry	Republican	January 3, 1999 – January 3, 2015	106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th 112th 113th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
Brad Ashford	Democratic	January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2017	114th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
Don Bacon	Republican	January 3, 2017 – Present	115th 116th	[data unknown/missing]

Election results from presidential races

Year	Office	Results
2000	President	George W. Bush 57% - Al Gore 39%
2004	President	George W. Bush 60% - John Kerry 38%
2008	President	Barack Obama 50% - John McCain 49%
2012	President	Mitt Romney 53% - Barack Obama 46%
2016	President	Donald Trump 48% - Hillary Clinton 46%

Historical district boundaries

2003 - 2013

References

https://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=31&cd=02
"Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
Curry, Tom (2008-11-02). "Is Obama-Terry the winning ticket in Omaha?". NBC News. Retrieved 2008-11-20. If the national electoral vote tally is close, then the one electoral vote in Omaha would loom large. But with Obama apparently ahead in competitive states such as Virginia, the presidency may not hinge on Omaha's vote.
Staff reporter (2008-11-14). "Obama wins 1 of Nebraska's electoral votes". AP. Retrieved 2009-10-17. (Archived by WebCite at https://www.webcitation.org/5kaEXuAwS)
Walton, Don (2012-11-07). "Romney wins 2nd District electoral vote". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved 2012-11-07. Republican nominee Mitt Romney appeared to have won the battle for Nebraska's only competitive presidential electoral vote Tuesday night. [...] Romney held comfortable leads in both the 1st District, which includes Lincoln, and the vast 3rd District, as well as statewide. (Archived by WebCite at https://www.webcitation.org/6Bzdk9RLy)
Schulte, Grant (May 27, 2011). "Nebraska Redistricting Maps Approved". AP. Retrieved August 10, 2012.

Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

External links

Rep. Don Bacon's official House of Representatives website

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[1] ttps://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=31&cd=02

[Cook-2] "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.

[MSNBC-3] Curry, Tom (2008-11-02). "Is Obama-Terry the winning ticket in Omaha?". NBC News. Retrieved 2008-11-20. If the national electoral vote tally is close, then the one electoral vote in Omaha would loom large. But with Obama apparently ahead in competitive states such as Virginia, the presidency may not hinge on Omaha's vote.

[AP-4] Staff reporter (2008-11-14). "Obama wins 1 of Nebraska's electoral votes". AP. Retrieved 2009-10-17. (Archived by WebCite at https://www.webcitation.org/5kaEXuAwS)

[Lincoln-5] Walton, Don (2012-11-07). "Romney wins 2nd District electoral vote". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved 2012-11-07. Republican nominee Mitt Romney appeared to have won the battle for Nebraska's only competitive presidential electoral vote Tuesday night. [...] Romney held comfortable leads in both the 1st District, which includes Lincoln, and the vast 3rd District, as well as statewide. (Archived by WebCite at https://www.webcitation.org/6Bzdk9RLy)

[3rd-6] Schulte, Grant (May 27, 2011). "Nebraska Redistricting Maps Approved". AP. Retrieved August 10, 2012.