Nebraska 2nd Congressional District candidates raise more than $1 million in early fundraising

There’s plenty of national attention on the seat, seen as a key battleground with implications for which party will control the House after 2026.

Republicans hold the seat, but the district is solidly purple with Bacon winning races by close margins while voters supported Democrats for president in 2020 and 2024. Election forecasters have identified the district as a race to watch, and Bacon’s decision to retire drew even more attention while also tilting predictions in favor of a Democrat.

The election is more than a year away, but with competitive races on both sides, candidates will have to make their marks ahead of the May primaries.

Of eight candidates campaigning, only three reported fundraising with the Federal Election Commission for 2025’s second quarter, which went from April 1 to June 30. Most joined the race after the filing deadline.

Denise Powell led the way, drawing almost $430,000. Powell is in her first run for office but has a background in campaigns. She founded a political action committee geared toward supporting women candidates. Her campaign announced the fundraising total in a news release, saying the figure was a record for a first-time House candidate in Nebraska.

State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha raised more than $130,000.

Mark Johnston, a retired eye surgeon in his first campaign, raised just under $7,000.

Evangelos Argyrakis, a former lawyer, started his campaign within the quarter but did not report receipts to the FEC. The other two Democrats in the race, veteran and former federal official Kishla Askins and Douglas County District Court Clerk Crystal Rhoades, announced their campaigns in July, after the filing deadline.

On the Republican side, the two candidates who have announced campaigns shared early fundraising figures on social media but did not file receipts with the FEC.

Omaha City Councilman Brinker Harding was the first Republican to launch and said he received $220,000 in two days of campaigning. Former State Sen. Brett Lindstrom announced his candidacy several days later and then announced drawing $250,000 in the first week.

Incumbents typically draw big bucks compared to newcomers or challengers, but the total raised among candidates is comparable to the same period two years ago, when three-term incumbent Bacon was running for reelection and opponents were starting to emerge. In 2023’s April through June quarter, Bacon drew $717,000 while eventual Democratic nominee Tony Vargas, who ran for the seat the year prior, said he raised $250,000 in the first days of July.

Early fundraising for Powell and Cavanaugh and the totals that Harding and Lindstrom announced all outpace Bacon’s fundraising for April through July of 2015, showing how money raised in the district has grown over the last decade.

Bacon was in his first election and seeking to unseat Democrat incumbent Brad Ashford. He raised about $110,000 in that quarter. Ashford raised more than $155,000.