2025 Omaha Mayoral election

[HskrFanMike]

With Schwab Field (TDAPO), the options that Omaha and MECA have are really limited. It was built for (and justified by) the CWS, which means it's baseball only from March through June, for fear of damaging the field. So that pretty much rules out UFL (merged USFL and XFL) spring football. They did have hockey there once, but UNO fans seem to be the only hockey fans out there that despise outdoor games. Not sure that happens again. Concerts can work in spots from July through September, but with the stadium's concert capacity only slightly higher than the indoor CHI arena, that doesn't give much bang for the buck

There's a huge issue with pro baseball, and that's because the MiLB agreement with the "Storm Chasers" gives them complete control over pro baseball in the Omaha area. MECA and the Cubs were apparently ready to schedule an MLB exhibition game there many years ago (since the Cubs were owned by the Ricketts family and wanted to play at the ballpark with their company name on it), but couldn't get the "Storm Chasers" management to sign off on it. The only reason the MLB game happened in Omaha was that MLB put enough pressure on their ownership to agree to it.

Back to the election, here's how I handicap the primary: McDonnell is clearly in the lead at this point; just look at the negative ads going up against him. So now it comes down to who he'll face. Stothert is likely a heavy favorite to get more votes than John Ewing, but if Ewing can hold a sizeable amount of local Dems with McDonnell's MAGA-turn undercutting Stothert's support, it would not shock me to have the incumbent finishing third. (Surprised, yes. Shocked, no.)

I do find it funny that McDonnell is co-opting Stothert's playbook from 12 years ago. 12 years ago, Stothert campaigned hard against the restaurant tax...despite knowing full and well that it made too much sense. (And thus, never followed through on her primary campaign promise.) I'm not worried one bit about McDonnell's campaigning against the streetcar, because once he's in office, he'll eventually have to admit that it has to go forward...if only because Stothert pretty much committed the city to it. About all he probably can do is pause it while he studies it.

[Brad]

Concerts can work in spots from July through September, but with the stadium's concert capacity only slightly higher than the indoor CHI arena, that doesn't give much bang for the buck

MECA has said before that most bands charge more for outdoor shows, which is even less bang for the buck.

[Linkin5]

Concerts can work in spots from July through September, but with the stadium's concert capacity only slightly higher than the indoor CHI arena, that doesn't give much bang for the buck

MECA has said before that most bands charge more for outdoor shows, which is even less bang for the buck.

Just one more thing and then I’ll shut up. The attendance at the Pink concert was 35K, that is about double what would fit in CHI.

[Brooklyn Decker]

I disagree, Stothert is clearly in the lead. McDonnell has been negative since day one. Seems like Stothert is holding on to the McDonnell mugshot for now, but I'm sure it will get used at some point.

[Renovator2559]

Stothert campaigned hard against the restaurant tax...despite knowing full and well that it made too much sense. (And thus, never followed through on her primary campaign promise.) I'm not worried one bit about McDonnell's campaigning against the streetcar, because once he's in office, he'll eventually have to admit that it has to go forward...if only because Stothert pretty much committed the city to it. About all he probably can do is pause it while he studies it.

She explained it pretty well on her announcement campaign

If you add the Police and Fire department budget, that's 2/3 of the city budget; if we took 42 million out of our budget. Who is it going to hurt the most? The Fire and Police department and that is a move I will not make

Does Omaha want to follow the trajectory of Portland who has many social issues and high crime, due to their "innovative" defund the police; as well as Portland mostly becoming a ghost town because people are scared of riding transit, while at the same time they are experiencing the worst traffic congestion?

[GenX]

Bemoan the lack of a major secondary tenant all you want, but the CWS is a |expletive| gold mine for the city not just in yearly economic impact (over $100M/yr) but in two weeks of nonstop media exposure. The Chuck is a one of a kind, purpose-built stadium specifically for the CWS, worth every penny and square foot of those city blocks, empty or not.

I sure don't hear this level of whining about Memorial Stadium being used for a handful of events every year.

I was planning on closing my post with a point nearly identical to this, but I couldn’t find the right words. Thank you!

[HskrFanMike]

Stothert campaigned hard against the restaurant tax...despite knowing full and well that it made too much sense. (And thus, never followed through on her primary campaign promise.) I'm not worried one bit about McDonnell's campaigning against the streetcar, because once he's in office, he'll eventually have to admit that it has to go forward...if only because Stothert pretty much committed the city to it. About all he probably can do is pause it while he studies it.

She explained it pretty well on her announcement campaign

At best... that's a wink wink bit of revisionist history.

Let's dial back a few years.

When it comes to Omaha’s restaurant tax, Mayor Jean Stothert has been able to have her cake and eat it too.

Stothert benefited from the restaurant tax politically in the 2013 election, when she campaigned on her opposition to the tax and ousted Mayor Jim Suttle in part because of his tax hikes.

But since then, through four city budgets, Stothert has benefited from the revenue the tax generates.

And for all her opposition, she’s made no move to reduce or get rid of the tax.

https://omaha.com/news/local/despite-he ... b9420.html

[Greg S]

Speaking of the restaurant tax and it's origins. What rank in the fire department was McDonnell when all of the pension spiking occurred that led to the restaurant tax? Wasn't he the union president at the time that allowed it to happen. I think Fahey was the mayor at the time that led to that disaster.

[swinquest]

It is my understanding that he was the head of the union and it was passed by the city council in 2003. Pulling together a couple of notes, so I may not be 100% accurate.

[djc311]

Speaking of the restaurant tax and it's origins. What rank in the fire department was McDonnell when all of the pension spiking occurred that led to the restaurant tax? Wasn't he the union president at the time that allowed it to happen. I think Fahey was the mayor at the time that led to that disaster.

If this is the case, why doesn't Stothert go after these points - unless she's trying to steer clear of making the restaurant tax a topic since she did say she was going to abolish it at one time. I'm not a fan that it's ended up sticking around because we were told it was temporary. Regardless of what it's used for, people remember things you don't want them to remember.

All that being said, I'd rather have her in there than McDonnell.

[Greg S]

Speaking of the restaurant tax and it's origins. What rank in the fire department was McDonnell when all of the pension spiking occurred that led to the restaurant tax? Wasn't he the union president at the time that allowed it to happen. I think Fahey was the mayor at the time that led to that disaster.

If this is the case, why doesn't Stothert go after these points - unless she's trying to steer clear of making the restaurant tax a topic since she did say she was going to abolish it at one time. I'm not a fan that it's ended up sticking around because we were told it was temporary. Regardless of what it's used for, people remember things you don't want them to remember.

All that being said, I'd rather have her in there than McDonnell.

I could see it coming up if they face off head2head.

[WBR_Tom]

Yeah, McDonnell was president of the union and negotiated the contract that allowed pension spiking. Fahey was mayor at the time. When Suttle took over as mayor, he instituted the restaurant tax to pay for it.

https://www.omahadailyrecord.com/conten ... m-memories

Stothert didn't get rid of the tax as she initially promised, but did renegotiate that contract -- and fought bitterly with McDonnell before he retired in 2013. This battle is an old one.

https://www.ketv.com/article/mayor-form ... nt/7641922

[Renovator2559]

When it comes to Omaha’s restaurant tax, Mayor Jean Stothert has been able to have her cake and eat it too.

Stothert benefited from the restaurant tax politically in the 2013 election, when she campaigned on her opposition to the tax and ousted Mayor Jim Suttle in part because of his tax hikes.

But since then, through four city budgets, Stothert has benefited from the revenue the tax generates.

And for all her opposition, she’s made no move to reduce or get rid of the tax.

https://omaha.com/news/local/despite-he ... b9420.html

I was expecting more substance coming from a random OWH editor, all I saw was an opinion piece.

Your comment posting patterns indicate that you are mostly in the Sports section, followed by the Suburban subforum and rarely do you have anything to say on the Urban development subforum. I think it's important to put into context where your opinion comes from.

I am not a bit surprised if you are from the anti-street car crowd and someone from this crowd would say a similar variation of this:

Screw the Urban core, we don't need to make Omaha an attractive city; we should just let downtown Omaha decay because I live in my isolated gated cul de sac far away and I don't live or visit the urban core, why should I care if there is crime in the urban core? Just build in the suburbs and overtake large quantities of farm land, if downtown decays and has empty lots; it's not my problem.

People in this camp would probably be ok with cutting 42 million out of the police and fire department budgets, even though police and fire make up 2/3 of the city's budget, just so they could have no restaurant tax. Mayor Jean Stothert may not have relinquished the restaurant tax, but upon review of the neglected Omaha infrastructure and the police/fire department budget. Removing the restaurant tax would affect crime control, which by the way Omaha has substantially reduced its crime and is now a model city for tackling crime. Let's not forget that the Mayor has decreased property taxes 3 times and is up to bring property tax a 4th time. Her accomplishments far outweigh the restaurant tax point, she has delivered more than we expected and we have great momentum.

People in this camp would probably be ok with cities like Des Moines, Tulsa and Albuquerque to surpass Omaha and for Omaha to be seen less desirable than these cities to live, just so you can have no restaurant tax; while these individuals complain about potholes. Having industries and prospective businesses see these other cities as more desirable than to Omaha to establish operations, wouldn't be a problem for people in this camp to see.

Often the anti-street crowd are the same people that would like Omaha to be a suburban dominant concrete jungle, like many of the undesirable suburban dominant Florida cities. For decades Omaha was losing population because the urban strategy of that time was to neglect and allow Downtown to decay.

Our careless use of sprawl in West Omaha, has zapped a lot of resources from the city, due to the sprawling infrastructure. It's no secret that sprawling West Omaha low density, underpay their fare share of expensive infrastructure due to their sprawling nature and the inner City of Omaha districts have to foot the debt; plus single-family homes receive subsidies, so that you believe that you are paying your fare share.

Meanwhile the high population density downtown lots are able to financially cover for its infrastructure while at the same time cover for the sprawling suburbs that are heavily gov subsidized and don't pay their fair share.
You should be grateful that you have a higher density downtown that is generating ever increasing tax revenue as the urban core becomes stronger and attractive to prospects from abroad as well as residents. Neutering the urban core's attractiveness would have negative ramifications for the entire city, including a west Omaha suburbs.

The American suburbs are a giant Ponzi scheme:
https://grist.org/sprawl/2011-06-22-the ... zi-scheme/

I was hoping that the union president Mike McDonnell (who is backed by unions) would at least attempt at promoting a vision and passion for Omaha, all I saw was a cold calculated individual with hesitant leadership and his delay tactics of the streetcar, which by the way has already been delayed for more than a decade. Do we really want KC to leave us far behind, as they enjoy the benefits of their streetcar, which is spurring a huge dose of development along their streetcar routes and sprouting additional streetcar extensions?

I may sound repetitive to some because they understand urban development pretty well but these points are aimed at those that mostly venture in the Politics and Sports subforums and hardly if ever venture into the Urban Development subforum.

[Garrett]

It amazes me how one can speed run being the least liked forum member. Diving into someone’s post history to try to score points in an argument? Pathetic.

[Renovator2559]

Point taken, Garrett I’ll skip the detective work next time. I’m just trying to get at why the restaurant tax and urban core stuff matters for Omaha. Been here in the forum for 2 years, and I’ve seen how much you all know about Omaha. What’s your read on Stothert keeping the tax despite campaigning against it?

[Garrett]

Happy Primary Day, Omaha voters!

[swinquest]

Happy Primary Day, Omaha voters!

May the best candidates move forward to the May elections!!!

[Stan]

I was the first person from my precinct in West O just after 8 this morning. Absolutely no line so probably not great voter turnout today.

[swinquest]

I was the first person from my precinct in West O just after 8 this morning. Absolutely no line so probably not great voter turnout today.

Very sad....I think they are estimating only 33ish% turnout.

What are your thoughts about the move to have the city elections with the Federal level elections? Guess that is being considered again.

[Stan]

I was the first person from my precinct in West O just after 8 this morning. Absolutely no line so probably not great voter turnout today.

Very sad....I think they are estimating only 33ish% turnout.

What are your thoughts about the move to have the city elections with the Federal level elections? Guess that is being considered again.

I'm probably in the minority that elections need to be made as simple and accessible as possible. I was against the voter ID law they passed because that makes it harder for some people to vote. Was it possible for someone to come in and claim they're someone else and vote previously? Yes. Was it happening en masse causing changes in elections? Absolutely not. I do believe that it was a small form of voter suppression by forcing through the voter ID law so quickly.

People are so disenfranchised to vote as is - whether they feel they don't have a voice with the candidates, their vote doesn't matter, or the process is too time consuming when they need to work to pay their bills.

Not exactly what you asked, but I do agree that elections should coincide with federal elections. I would be willing to bet there are people registered to vote today that have no idea there is a primary going on. It needs to be more consistent and pushed. I'd even be down for mandatory voting similar to Australia. Nearly 90% voting rate there with this being enforced.

[nebugeater]

I was the first person from my precinct in West O just after 8 this morning. Absolutely no line so probably not great voter turnout today.

Very sad....I think they are estimating only 33ish% turnout.

What are your thoughts about the move to have the city elections with the Federal level elections? Guess that is being considered again.

That is 33% or registered, correct?

[swinquest]

I was the first person from my precinct in West O just after 8 this morning. Absolutely no line so probably not great voter turnout today.

Very sad....I think they are estimating only 33ish% turnout.

What are your thoughts about the move to have the city elections with the Federal level elections? Guess that is being considered again.

That is 33% or registered, correct?

33% of registered votes voting in today's election.

[swinquest]

I was the first person from my precinct in West O just after 8 this morning. Absolutely no line so probably not great voter turnout today.

Very sad....I think they are estimating only 33ish% turnout.

What are your thoughts about the move to have the city elections with the Federal level elections? Guess that is being considered again.

I'm probably in the minority that elections need to be made as simple and accessible as possible. I was against the voter ID law they passed because that makes it harder for some people to vote. Was it possible for someone to come in and claim they're someone else and vote previously? Yes. Was it happening en masse causing changes in elections? Absolutely not. I do believe that it was a small form of voter suppression by forcing through the voter ID law so quickly.

People are so disenfranchised to vote as is - whether they feel they don't have a voice with the candidates, their vote doesn't matter, or the process is too time consuming when they need to work to pay their bills.

Not exactly what you asked, but I do agree that elections should coincide with federal elections. I would be willing to bet there are people registered to vote today that have no idea there is a primary going on. It needs to be more consistent and pushed. I'd even be down for mandatory voting similar to Australia. Nearly 90% voting rate there with this being enforced.

Was not too keen on the voter ID thing either.

Having the city elections align with the federal ones make sense to me. It seems like we just voted in the big ones and here we are again voting twice in six weeks.....voter burnout if there is such a thing?

Saw on KETV a story and surprised at the cost to have this election. Makes more sense to me to just roll it in to the bigger election.

[Brad]

Makes more sense to me to just roll it in to the bigger election.

I thought the same thing, but was told the argument was, the local elections would just get covered by by the national elections and their message would get lost. Local elections could afford to advertise when competing with the national elections.

[swinquest]

It makes sense to make it stand apart (heck, Nebraska is known for having odd things anyway); but seeing the voter turnout numbers makes it hard to continue with that argument.

I hope May will have a larger turnout if the projected numbers for today hold true. Elections are just becoming too important lately.

[Garrett]

Los Angeles switched from an off year election to a midterm election for mayor, and it more than doubled their turnout. I think lining up city elections with the midterms is a reasonable ask.

[ita]

I haven't voted during the primary in the past, but did my part and voted today.

[Cermak]

I haven't voted during the primary in the past, but did my part and voted today.

Same with me, I can’t remember the last time I voted in a mayoral primary.

[Garrett]

First votes coming in, Stothert and Ewing in first and second at almost 40% and 31% respectively. McDonnell currently in third at 20%.

[Mr.Nuke]

For all the McDonnell bluster this was fairly predictable.

[WorldStreet]

I'm not sure if I'm more pleased to see that Stothert finished first or that McDonell didn't finish in the top two.

[Garrett]

Yeah, I think Stothert has got this in the bag against Ewing. McDonnell ran to her right and still only managed to get 21%. Really shows that just being against things isn’t going to win a race like this

[Mr.Nuke]

Yeah, I think Stothert has got this in the bag against Ewing. McDonnell ran to her right and still only managed to get 21%. Really shows that just being against things isn’t going to win a race like this

I think she probably wins by a far margin too but this scenario is a bit more interesting than the one that a lot of people assumed that it would be for multiple reasons. I think the McDonnell voters are likely to break more unpredictability than say a Ewing voter; and for that matter Ewing didn't run any ads as far as I know.

[almighty_tuna]

Well, at least the McDonnell ridiculousness is over with.

[iamjacobm]

I am fine with either Stothert or Ewing so a good night.

Feels like Stothert will win, I am sure some McDonnell supporters will just stay home but winning the primary with that aggressive of a candidate on your side of the aisle means something.

Will be interesting to see how the general campaign plays out.

[skinzfan23]

Well, at least the McDonnell ridiculousness is over with.

That’s what I am most glad about

[HskrFanMike]

Well, I thought McDonnell would do exponentially better than he did. I figured the anti-McDonnell mailers I got indicated he was in the lead, but clearly that was not the case. (Or they were far more effective than anyone could have imagined.)

That being said, Stothert not cracking the 40% mark as a three-time incumbent has to be a red flag. I don't agree that McDonnell voters are going to break more unpredictably; they clearly were voting against the Mayor. Stothert's best hope is that thousands of her supporters stayed home, presuming that Stothert would cruise into the general election. She might need to triple her vote turnout in the general election.

In 2021, Stothert received 47,946 votes in the primary...so she was down 25k as her support dropped by more than half. Another factor in her favor was that Aimee Melton was assured of advancing to the general election while Republicans Brinker Harding and Don Rowe are running unopposed. So it would not be surprising to see lower turnout in GOP-friendly areas tonight.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

That was unexpected. With all the publicity on McDonell I figured he would have advanced.

[Garrett]

Well, I thought McDonnell would do exponentially better than he did. I figured the anti-McDonnell mailers I got indicated he was in the lead, but clearly that was not the case. (Or they were far more effective than anyone could have imagined.)

That being said, Stothert not cracking the 40% mark as a three-time incumbent has to be a red flag. I don't agree that McDonnell voters are going to break more unpredictably; they clearly were voting against the Mayor. Stothert's best hope is that thousands of her supporters stayed home, presuming that Stothert would cruise into the general election. She might need to triple her vote turnout in the general election.

In 2021, Stothert received 47,946 votes in the primary...so she was down 25k as her support dropped by more than half. Another factor in her favor was that Aimee Melton was assured of advancing to the general election while Republicans Brinker Harding and Don Rowe are running unopposed. So it would not be surprising to see lower turnout in GOP-friendly areas tonight.

I don’t see an huge reason for Stothert to be worried. First, 2021 was an absolute blowout of an election for her. This election is better compared to 2017, her toughest reelection that attracted national attention. she won 43% of the vote to Heath Mello’s 41% of the vote. Taylor Royal, another Republican candidate, got 10%. She’d go on to receive 53% of the vote in the general election.

As for this election, only solid blue District 2, and light blue/swingish district 4 had competitive primaries. I would be shocked if there were anti-Stothert people that didn’t vote because of their city council choices. Stothert is looking like she’ll get around 37% of the vote to Ewing’s 32%. Compared to 2017, she had a much stronger candidate running to her right in McDonnell, and it looks like the 2 Democratic candidates are still only going to hit around 42% of the votes combined. Ewing hasn’t really differentiated himself from Stothert in any particular way to either drive a base or be some leader of an anti-Stothert that McDonnell was trying to ride since he doesn’t have different opinions on either the restaurant tax or streetcar. It’ll be closer than 2021’s blowout, but I still think she gets around 55%.

[bbinks]

I wasn't expecting McDonnell to progress. Several people were concerned about him signing off on pension deals similar to the one he fineagled. For someone who talked alot about financial responsibility, insolvent pension liability escaped him. Then there's his DUI and McFly's.