Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon cites political dysfunction in deciding not to seek reelection

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, announced Monday he will not seek reelection next year amid an increasingly polarized political climate.

Bacon, 61, said at a news conference at Omaha’s airport that he would not seek a sixth term representing Nebraska’s second district with its so-called blue dot that includes many progressive voters around Omaha.

Bacon has had to navigate an ever-thinning line between staying in his party’s and President Donald Trump’s good graces without alienating his increasingly Democratic district. He said he is proud of his bipartisan approach in the face of bitter partisanship and dysfunction in Washington.

“It is disconcerting to get attacked from the right,” Bacon said.

Bacon said he believes he could win the district again, but he wants to be able to spend more time with his family in Omaha and his eight grandchildren. He has been in office for nearly a decade.

″I think it’s time for a new Republican to be your nominee that can do 12-14 hours a day and hold this seat,” Bacon said.

Bacon said in “this district, you got to win swing voters. It’s just a fact of life.” But he said Republicans will have a good shot at keeping the seat in 2026 because the Democrats in the race so far are appealing to the hard left.

An Air Force veteran first elected in 2016, he won reelection in 2024. He serves on the House Armed Services Committee and has been at the center of many debates in Congress. He has also been chairman of the conservative-centrist Republican Main Street Caucus in the House. He plans to finish his term.

Bacon has earned a reputation as a centrist — an increasingly rare designation among Republicans as the party has moved farther to the right. But he has long acknowledged that moderation is a necessary attribute for anyone seeking to represent the Omaha-centered district, which is closely divided between Republican and Democratic voters.

Nebraska is one of two states that doesn’t follow a winner-take-all system of awarding Electoral College votes. Instead, Nebraska and Maine allow presidential electoral votes to be split by congressional district. Bacon’s district has seen its elector vote go to a Democratic presidential candidate three times — to Barack Obama in 2008, to Joe Biden in 2020 and to Kamala Harris in 2024.

The political climate is rapidly changing in Omaha, where voters recently rejected a fourth term for Republican Mayor Jean Stothert in favor of her Democratic opponent, John Ewing.

Seeing an opportunity to flip a vulnerable seat, several Democrats have already announced their candidacy. The most widely recognized is John Cavanaugh, a state senator from Omaha who’s father, John J. Cavanaugh III, represented the 2nd District in Congress from 1977 to 1981.

Bacon has managed to survive the district’s swing to the left by staying squarely in the middle. In his most recent campaigns, he touted his bipartisan credentials in political ads and cited his willingness to buck his party to support measures such as the Biden administration’s popular 2021 infrastructure investment bill.

Despite Bacon’s willingness to rebuke both his party and the Trump administration, he has consistently voted with most of their agenda. But his criticism of Trump has been enough to draw the growing ire of his party. Bacon faced a primary challenger in 2024 who was endorsed by the Nebraska Republican Party, which is led by Trump loyalists.

Even so, Bacon has grown more vocal in his criticism of the Trump administration. That includes the president’s chaotic tariff policies, with Bacon going so far as to introduce a bill to return authority to issue tariffs to Congress.

Bacon said he won’t decide whether to vote for Trump’s overall Big Beautiful Bill until he sees the final form. He said the House bill that focused on adding work requirements to Medicaid and auditing the program would good things, but there have been changes.

“The Senate has done some new provisions in there that are concerning,” Bacon said. “ There’s a lot of great stuff in this legislation too, so we’ve got to weigh it out.”

On Sunday, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina also decided to not seek reelection next year. He had held to his opposition of President Donald Trump’s tax breaks and spending cuts package because of its reductions to health care programs.

___

Associated Press writer Josh Funk contributed to this report from Omaha.