Jean Stothert and John Ewing Face Off at Debate with Free Speech Society

Omaha mayoral candidates Jean Stothert and John Ewing met at the Free Speech Society in Omaha on Saturday morning for a debate, the second since their first post-primary debate at the Omaha Press Club on Thursday.

Moderator Rick Galusha asked a series of questions chosen by members of the society, giving the candidates two minutes to respond with one-minute rebuttals. No questions were taken from others in attendance.

Illegal Immigration

Some of the questions seemed to be framed from a left-wing perspective. A question on illegal immigration began, “Americans have witnessed federal agents plucking nonviolent people off the streets and sending them across the country into foreign jails. One has to imagine with the Cinco de Mayo holiday right around the corner, this is very concerning for Omaha Hispanics.”

Stothert emphasized a hands-off approach to illegal immigration in Omaha, citing it as a federal issue. “We made it very, very clear that our Omaha Police Department is not going to go out doing raids, going into churches, going down in South Omaha and checking people’s legal status,” Stothert said. “It’s not within our authority to do that.”

Ewing said that this was not enough. He seemed to agree with the premise of the question, that the government was overreaching in its attempt to enforce immigration law, and he referred to the recent case of alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia in his answer.

“We have to go a step further and look at trying to ensure that people who are here who have not committed violent crimes, maybe even people who are here legally and being detained and deported as we’ve seen, should not be deported, should not be sent to El Salvadorian prisons falsely.”

Identity Politics

One question for Ewing referenced McDonnell’s use of the term “DEI hire” when discussing a homeless coordinator, a remark that moderator Rick Gelusha said “quite possibly cost him his primary election.” The question ended by asking Ewing, “How has race played a role in your service to this community?”

Ewing, who would be Omaha’s first Black mayor, did not take the bait.

“I am not running for mayor to be a Black mayor. I am running for mayor to be the mayor of the city of Omaha, for all of the people of Omaha,” Ewing said. He also cited his experience leading efforts as Special Victims Unit commander to pass 10 state statutes to protect women and children, as well as reforming state sales tax collection to boost revenue from $75 monthly to $28 million annually.

A similar question was posed to Stothert, asking for her response to a “prominent Omahan” referring to her as “Mean Jean.”

“Let me ask the women in the audience, do you think if you had a job where you were a leader and had to show strong leadership that they would say that to a man? No, they would not,” Stothert said. “That is a misogynistic comment because I am a woman and I have been a strong leader for the city of Omaha.”

Crime and Recruiting

On the topic of crime, Galusha asked the candidates to respond to the Omaha Police Officers Association, which endorsed Mike McDonnell in the primary and had stated on social media that crime, particularly juvenile crime, was out of control.

“All indexes, every one of them, were the lowest that they had been in decades,” Stothert responded. “The homicide rate is the lowest it’s been in 30 years. We had a 100% clearance rate, and those are all vetted by the FBI. So to say crime is out of control is just a false statement.”

Ewing leaned on his experience in law enforcement. “I am the only person in this race who has recruited police applicants and done that successfully, where we doubled the number of applicants, and we were always at full strength.”

Stothert shot back. “That was 20 years ago. That was before George Floyd, that was before the movement across the country to defund and disassemble the police. That was before COVID. In 2020, we couldn’t do any training classes or academies. In 2021, we only did one that started in May. So to say we were full strength then, you can’t compare it.”

Voter ID

Another question focused on the candidates’ confidence in the current voting system, which quickly turned into a discussion on voter ID.

“I do support voter ID,” Stothert said. “You have to have an ID to drive a car. You have to have an ID to get on an airplane. And I think that there are multiple ways and multiple different IDs that people can get. … I think it’s more security for our election system that we have, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing to do. I think it’s an easy thing to do.”

“I believe voter ID disenfranchises voters,” Ewing said. “I believe it’s a sledgehammer approach to a very, very small problem that doesn’t impact our elections in this state, for this city, so I am not in favor of anything that would disenfranchise voters or reduce our turnout.”

On to the Next Debate

The debate lasted a little over an hour, with other questions on economic development, affordable housing, managing the city budget, and relations with Gov. Pillen and Nebraska’s federal delegation. Stothert and Ewing both stayed after the conclusion to talk with guests.

The two candidates will face off again on KFAB on April 29 at 10 AM in a debate moderated by host Scott Voorhees.