Omaha House race: Tea Partier readies launch and more

Joe Jordan | Nebraska Watchdog

Two major moves are apparently underway in the Omaha House race, according to several sources.

Political insiders tell Nebraska Watchdog that Tea Partier Chip Maxwell is expected to begin his bid for GOP Congressman Lee Terry’s seat as early as tomorrow, a blockbuster development Omaha Democrats are salivating over.

At the same time Team Terry is said to be going through a key campaign shake-up as it looks for a new campaign manager.

First Maxwell.

From the moment Terry escaped the May 13 GOP primary election with a lackluster six-point win over upstart Dan Frei, speculation has been growing that Maxwell—who considered running against Terry last year— would soon wage a write-in campaign to get his name on the November ballot.

The conventional political wisdom—one of those few times Democrats and Republicans see eye-to-eye— says Maxwell will split the GOP vote and all but guarantee an Election Day victory for Democrat Brad Ashford.

Brad Ashford

Maxwell, a former state senator and Douglas County Commissioner who holds down a Saturday morning talk show on KFAB radio, is not commenting on the speculation.

KFAB’s Gary Sadlemyer tells Nebraska Watchdog that should Maxwell run he’d have to leave the air—the station is prepared to fill Maxwell’s shoes.

Now for the speculation that Terry is looking for a new campaign honcho.

The most talked about possibility is Omaha ad-man Ryan Horn. It was just a year ago when Horn was running Jean Stothert’s successful bid for Omaha mayor.

Nebraska Watchdog has made repeated attempts to reach Team Terry or Horn but they have not been available for comment.

Contact Joe Jordan at joe@nebraskawatchdog.org

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