Omaha Democrats Shrugged

Where Are They?

I noticed a lot of people are claiming the election of John Ewing to Omaha Mayor as a “win” for Democrats and “blue dot”. I am sorry, but I simply do not see it. I thought a flood of Democrats would boost voter turnout but to me, it looks like they totally collapsed. I looked at the Douglas County election results (https://www.votedouglascounty-ne.gov/meer/LG25Results5.pdf) as I show below. District Two and Four really did not tally up many votes. I wrongly assumed District Two would draw out a lot more voters but the vote tallies speak for themselves. More people voted for Brinker Harding then any other City Council member. While Aimee Melton had a competive race, she still obtained more votes than out of three Democrats who won. Only Pete Festersen received more votes.

As to the winners, Democrat Council members received 27699 votes but Republican winners received 32922. In part, this is the result of a mix of competitive and noncompetive races, but realistically, enthusiasm for Democrats appears to be on a downward trend.