McDonnell’s Mayoral Run

Blue Dot Hoax

So obvious to so many astute and seasoned political observers: Mike McDonnell, currently a Nebraska State Senator (https://nebraskalegislature.gov/senators/landing-pages/index.php?SenatorID=143), wants to be Omaha’s mayor and is laying the groundwork to do so. He has not made an announcement but in reading the tea leaves, it is fairly obvious. He supported the EPIC Option tax. He supported pro-life legislation. He has become a Republican and becoming a pariah in the Democrat Party. And, true to Omaha, he opposes making Nebraska a winner-take-all state.

The problem with Blue Dot Omaha is the presumption it is undefeatable when in reality it is a mere smoke-screen. Mayor Stothert is Republican. Sheriff Aaron Hanson is Republican. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine is Republican. So why are Republicans, as a Party, not able to dominate Douglas County? Why are there over 90,000 nonpartisan registered voters? There was zero chance of changing Nebraska to a winner-take-all state in part because the Douglas County Party is simply too weak. It could make Douglas County a Republican county if more effort was made to do so which would make the winner-take-all issue mute.

The whole take on the Blue Dot idea was fostered and emboldened by the Trump campaign and the concern the presidential election could be determined by Nebraska’s Congressional 2 district. Anti-Trumpers cling to the Blue Dot, the way Linus clings to his blue blanket (https://peanuts.store/products/linus-security-is-a-thumb-and-a-blanket-adult-t-shirt).

However, the Douglas County Republican party needs to be more aggressive in voter registration and encourage people to register Republican by targeting key demographics. Merely doing a voter registration drive at Inner 10 (https://inner10range.com/) twice a month would help as it has a diverse customer base concerned about security and gun rights.

Evangelical Christians, gun owners, and Hispanics need to be encouraged to register to vote and register as Republican but often, they are not even registered to vote. A voter registration campaign at gun ranges would do the trick. At the same time, all Republican organizations should challenge their members to make certain people have re-registered to vote when they have moved. These actions should not be done as short-term measures but as long-term measures.

Some may wonder why gun ranges? Well, here is a jarring fact.

But back to McDonnell, Mayor Jean Stothert has emboldened him. She should have kept City expenditures from dramatically increasing. She should have made more effort to restructure how the City government seeks revenue and moved the City away from the property tax system. I gave clear indications to Republicans of the need to restrain City spending (https://andrewlsullivan.substack.com/p/omaha-why-property-taxes) but it has mostly fallen on deaf ears.

Why am I saying this? There are over 5,000 registered Libertarians in Douglas County and they lean in favor of fiscal and economic issues. In part, this is because the Legalize Marijuana Now Party has siphoned off the potheads which were all too common in the Libertarian Party years ago. Now there is also the No Labels Party which seems to be redundant of the nonpartisan registration. Libertarians and Republicans together make Douglas County a fiscally conservative County. McDonnell likely knows this but local Republicans apparently do not. He already knows how weak Democrats have become, but local Republican Party officials apparently have not or at least not taken the time to take advanatage of the situation.

Republicans need to focus on long-term efforts to make Douglas County red. They need to follow the path of Scott Presler’s group, Early Vote Action (https://earlyvoteaction.com/), and build the Republican voter registration base. He had been getting Evangelicals and gunowners to register to vote in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, I see no such efforts on the horizon for Douglas County, Nebraska.