Big time. Not only was the messaging terrible, but they completely failed to coordinate with local parties.
It would only work in a vanishingly small minority of swing districts. Bacon got elected because he ran as a moderate while the NE Dems allowed a pro-Sanders progressive to squeak out a primary win vs a much more electable moderate of their own. Now that Bacon's an incumbent, he'll be real hard to get rid of.
Kara Eastman squeaked out a primary win with 51.64% in 2018, and any Democrat who lost in 2018 didn't have much chance in 2020. In 2020, the primary candidates got 62.1%, 31.2%, and 6.7%. Eastman isn't running again. Now that I live in the district, I hope Bacon doesn't get challenged by a farther right Republican because I think the Republican would win the general. Before redistricting, FiveThirtyEight called it the most even district in the country. Democrats wanted to undo the gerrymandering from ten years ago, Republicans wanted to divide Omaha to make all three districts safe R, and neither happened. I think Bacon is more likely to win by over 5% than to lose, and I wouldn't be shocked if he wins by double-digits. Bacon made an event to justify voting for infrastucture. I wanted him to run for governor because I have no hope that a Democrat can win that. Going back to the topic title, California Republican Devin Nunes will resign from the House to lead an organization Trump made. After a Democrat wins a safe special election in Florida on January 11 and is seated, there will be more vacancies that elected Republicans than that elected Democrats for the first time in this Congress. That assumes no other Democrat leaves soon.
Fair enough; I do think if Ashford had gotten the nomination in 2018 he would've won and probably been able to hold the seat in 2020. But I don't disagree with your assertion that Bacon has made the seat safer for the state GOP. (For the record, I don't dislike Eastman--I have friends who worked on her campaign--I just think she was the wrong candidate for the district. And I am far from sold on Jane Kleeb's leadership). The Governor's race (which, as you rightly note, will almost certainly be decided in the GOP primary) is shaping up to be interesting. I moved away over 21 years ago, given that my parents and many friends still live in Nebraska, it still matters to me. But man, the politics in the state have changed in the two-plus decades I've been gone.
Can't find a thread on foreign elections here, in any case that is some big news from Chile. The candidate of the Left won decisively yesterday against the far right / pro Pinochet candidate. The Chilean people really showed a great level of maturity yesterday. Huge result in Chile: the socialist Boric has beaten the far right in today’s presidential electionhttps://t.co/3fMkck2rwI— Nando (@nandorvila) December 19, 2021 How did @gabrielboric reverse a first round loss to be elected Chile's next president?Voter turnoutAn additional 1.2 million Chileans voted Sunday versus a month ago, boosting turnout to 55%, the highest since voting stopped being mandatory in 2012.https://t.co/FEM09zhHAE— Joshua Goodman (@APjoshgoodman) December 19, 2021