Politics

John Ewing has won the democratic nomination for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, defeating Gwen Howard.

Ewing is the Douglas County Treasurer and a former Omaha police officer who entered the race last summer. 

I caught up with Ewing during his celebration and he says he’s excited to win the nomination and gives a lot of credit to his hard working staff. But he says championship teams don’t celebrate during half time.

Ewing says as he goes forward in the campaign, his leadership experience is what will set him apart.  He says he wants to go to Washington to provide Nebraskans with the Good Life that we always talk about in the state.

Paul Landow, a professor in the Political Science department at UNO, says the economy is the main issue on voters’ minds.  Landow says people are concerned about their jobs, their bank accounts and what direction things are heading in terms of their personal financial life.  

He says anything voters can do to better their own personal financial life at the ballot box is what they’ll do...and if that means voting for new leadership in the House and Senate, they will.  Landow says turnout should be above average for the primary.

One big question this spring is what effect, if any, the redistricting that occurred earlier this year, will have on voters and candidates hoping to be elected.  Landow says the effects will likely be minor until the General Election in November.

Polls are open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. today. 

Today is Nebraska’s Primary Election and Dave Phipps, Douglas County Election Commissioner, says they predict a turnout of 21%.  He says that would be about 66,500 people voting, with early ballots and votes cast today. 

Phipps says he doesn’t expect voters to have many issues with the new polling places.  He says the election commission sent cards in March advising people of their polling places.  Phipps says the election commission has been busy with a higher than usual rate of early votes.

State Senator Gwen Howard and Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing are vying for the democratic nomination in the Second Congressional District race. 

Howard says her focus over the past seven years has been to get things done for the average person, for the working family, the homeowner, for children and for the most vulnerable in our society.  She says she has talked to a lot of people throughout her campaign and heard three main concerns repeated over and over.  They are social security, college debt, and a lack of nonpartisanship in Washington.  Howard says these are the issues she has been most focused on leading up to the primary.

The League of Women Voters of Greater Omaha is offering a non-partisan guide for metro area voters who want more information before they cast a ballot next Tuesday.  The voter’s guide has information on candidates running for races in Douglas County. 

Bev Traub, current president for the League of Women Voters of Greater Omaha, says the guide is meant to assist voters in gaining a more complete view of the candidates who are running for office.  She says not all candidates are equally familiar to the public.

"We try to think of things that may not get the headlines in the newspaper or in the TV or radio interviews so that we have a little maybe different slant on a candidate than you might get from other sources.”