In a state where Hispanics are a growing political force, Nebraska’s GOP is doubling down on outreach, starting with South Omaha’s vibrant Cinco de Mayo Festival.
The Festival in South Omaha draws huge crowds every year, bringing over 200,000 attendees annually from six surrounding states and over $7.5 million in revenue according to KETV. Sheriff Aaron Hansen patrolled 24th Street with Deputy Roger the “patrol python.” This year, boxing world champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford mingled with the crowd, posing for photos with passersby.
Political Presence and Absence
The Hispanic community is also becoming an increasingly important voting bloc for Republicans, Donald Trump’s election victory in 2024 came with a resurgence in the Hispanic vote, support among Hispanic voters increased by 14 percentage points, from 32% in 2020 to 46% in 2024, according to Reuters.
As such, Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo festival is also an annual draw for politicians, even in years without an election. With the Omaha mayor’s race just a few days away, incumbent Jean Stothert and challenger John Ewing both showed up to make a last-minute pitch to voters.
Notably absent was Congressman Don Bacon. The “Bacon Brigade” had regularly appeared in parades over the years, particularly for Cinco de Mayo. Rumors have circulated that Bacon is looking to make this term in Congress his last, and his conspicuous absence from such a large event seemed only to confirm this eventuality.
Latino Coalition
The Nebraska Republican Party used the event to kick off its new “Latino Coalition,” an initiative started by Joe Hagerty, new political director of the NEGOP. Hagerty applied for and was awarded a grant from Turning Point USA, which paid for entry into the parade and a table at the festival afterward. This was the first time in recent memory that the Douglas County Republican Party had actively engaged at such an event in South Omaha, other than campaigning for an individual candidate.
Around 18 volunteers showed up to walk the parade on Saturday morning. Others took turns managing a booth at the festival along 24th Street on Friday and Saturday, handing out stickers, temporary tattoos, bracelets, bumper stickers, and candidate signs. Hundreds of people stopped by the booth throughout the weekend, with dozens registering to vote on-site or taking forms home.
Denise Bradshaw, who worked at the booth on Friday evening, registered five people to vote, two of them first-time voters who became citizens after ten years of waiting.
“When I was recruiting people to our table on Friday night, I had several people tell me they voted for Trump,” Bradshaw said. “We [Republicans] gave South Omaha away. Now it is our job to fight for it.”
Conflict and Conclusion
Democrats also had a booth at the Cinco de Mayo festival, and some of them were suspicious of the sudden presence of Republicans.
“One of the Democrats came over to our table and asked why all of a sudden we were there. I said to register voters.” said Mary Roach. “There were many [others] who came by the table and gave a thumbs up.”
Jose Flores, the communications director for the Nebraska Democrats dropped by and took a photo of the booth with his cell phone. Hagerty says that Flores told him, “You’ve got balls to be down here in our community, especially supporting Trump.”
In the mid-afternoon, one heckler showed up to stand front of the booth with a sign that read “NE GOP = ICE.” The woman was told to move along by security, and she was replaced by another woman holding the same sign afterward. She was also told to leave by security.
Hagerty told me about one other heckler, a man in his early 20s, who made a commotion outside the booth, yelling expletives about Trump and telling booth volunteers, “How dare you come into this community!” Toward the end of the day on Saturday, Hagerty engaged with the man when he started grabbing items from the booth.
“Civil discourse has been lost in this country,” Hagerty said. “When we were able to sit down and have a conversation, his total aggression level went to zero.”
Hagerty shared the party platform with the man, issues like the second amendment, family values, and two genders, and the man found that he agreed with most of it. He wasn’t sold on everything happening in the GOP, particularly renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, but this was fine with Hagerty.
“People have different perspectives, and we have to be the party of civil discourse.”
Future Focus
The outreach to Hispanics is happening among other conservative groups as well. Nebraskans For Founders’ Values held a 101 Workshop at the Iglesia Fraternidad Cristiana in Bellevue on Friday, teaching guests how the Nebraska legislature works and how they can become involved.
History indicates that next year’s midterm elections will likely be difficult for Republicans, and the effort to engage voters will only intensify until then. As Nebraska’s Hispanic population grows, initiatives like the Latino Coalition could reshape the state’s political landscape, but their success will depend on sustained engagement beyond festival season.
