Ashford endorses Bacon
Don Bacon picked up yet another endorsement from a Democrat. This one comes from former Congressman Brad Ashford, the Democrat Bacon defeated in 2016.
Just goes to show, Comrade Kara Eastman is too extreme for her own party, let alone the good people of Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.
In case you missed it…
Republican Don Bacon wins endorsement of former rival, Democrat Brad Ashford
Joseph Morton
Omaha World Herald
October 7, 2020
WASHINGTON — Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., has secured the support of the man he defeated to get the job back in 2016.
Former Rep. Brad Ashford, D-Neb., said in a statement to The World-Herald on Wednesday that he is backing Bacon over Democratic challenger Kara Eastman in Nebraska’s Omaha-based 2nd District.
“It was my intention to remain neutral in this Congressional race,” Ashford said. “However, more than ever we need unifiers not dividers in Congress.”
Ashford released the statement just minutes before the start of Wednesday night’s debate between Bacon and Eastman.
In the statement, Ashford touted his own bipartisan record during the one term he served in the House and said that Bacon has followed a similar path by supporting protections for those brought into the country illegally as children, helping craft a bipartisan pandemic relief proposal and fighting to maintain private health insurance for families.
“We need to send Don Bacon back to Congress to work across the aisle to meet the challenges we face as a state and a nation,” Ashford said. “He has demonstrated time and again that that he will put people above party to find bipartisan solutions.”
Ashford has run for public office as a Democrat, a Republican and an independent over the past few decades.
He and Bacon have worked together on various issues since the 2016 campaign that featured plenty of pointed rhetoric between the two.
Bacon’s camp, for example, accused Ashford of being a flip-flopper and suggested he was failing to protect Nebraska from Islamic State terrorists.
Ashford said Bacon was engaging in fear mongering and that Bacon refused to condemn then-candidate Donald Trump for comments directed at Gold Star family members who had criticized Trump at the Democratic National Convention.
“Donald Bacon proved yesterday that he is on the extreme fringe of his own party,” the Ashford campaign said at that time. “A fringe that places party politics ahead of those that serve, our vets, and families of those in uniform.”
Ashford sought a rematch against Bacon in 2018 but lost the primary to Eastman and then endorsed her in the general election.
His wife Ann Ashford ran for the seat this cycle, but lost the primary to Eastman.