Omaha Republicans are still reeling after losing the mayor’s race on Tuesday. Many of them, including Gov. Pillen, blamed low voter turnout as a factor.
Back in April, city councilman Brinker Harding addressed this very issue, and he believed that he and Don Rowe didn’t have Democrat challengers specifically as a strategic plot by the Democrats:
“It’s been mentioned a couple of times: Don and I don’t have an opponent. I think the three of us had a panel discussion a few months ago, and I said, in my conspiratorial mind, that was by design. They—those who don’t want the current leadership, Don, Aimee, me, or the mayor to be re-elected—wanted to suppress the West Omaha vote. I think you saw that in part in the primary. Brian said it was 25%. By my math, it was a little less than that, but 25% is abysmal, and it’s really quite embarrassing. The hope that we’re going to get maybe 30% for the city election is, again, abysmal. I think we should have a much higher goal than that.”
One other consideration: every single other city council seat in Omaha was already controlled by a Democrat, but every one of them had at least one challenger. Was that meant to boost turnout in Democrat precincts as well?
While the left (and their friends in the media) will try to cast the election as a referendum on Trump, Republicans should be focused on why voters stayed home — and what can be done to get out the vote successfully next time.
