For more than a decade, Democrats have put out television ads, digital spots and mail pieces aiming to convince Republican primary voters to vote for GOP primary candidates they believed would be easy to defeat in a general election. In many cases, it has worked.
Republicans are now giving the strategy a try. And on Tuesday night in Nebraska’s 2nd District, their efforts got off to a good start.
Political consultant Denise Powell has a narrow 1,080-vote lead in a Democratic primary for a must-win U.S. House seat in Nebraska after a GOP-linked group called Lead Left PAC aired ads tying her opponent, state Sen. John Cavanaugh, to President Donald Trump. The Associated Press estimates 89% of the votes in the race have been counted but has not yet called the race.
“While we are still awaiting the final results of this primary, we are confident in our path to victory. We know this process takes time — but Democracy is worth fighting for,” Powell said in a statement on Wednesday. “Thank you to every Nebraskan who showed up for this pivotal election. We are directly seeing the impact each of you has had in getting us to where we are, and we’re proud of all the work we have done together.”
The Nebraska race is one of four U.S. House races across the country where GOP-linked PACs are spending heavily to boost particular Democratic candidates. In a swing district in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, Lead Left has spent nearly $1 million backing former Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure, who has struggled to raise money, over two other candidates seen as more significant threats to Republican Rep. Ryan MacKenzie.
