Bitter Blue Dot Primary Battle Nears End As Cavanaugh Accuses Powell of Receiving More GOP Support
by John Gage
(Photo credit Matt Johnson)
OMAHA – The Democratic primary for the second congressional seat is coming to a bitter end with State Sen. John Cavanaugh accusing his leading opponent, Denise Powell, of receiving additional support from Republicans.
“A newly formed dark money Republican super PAC, Lead Left, is running $200,000 worth of misleading TV ads in the final five days of the NE-02 primary race,” a press release Thursday from Cavanaugh’s campaign said.
“With these ads, Republicans are supporting Denise Powell, the millionaire political consultant at the center of an active investigation into foreign money being funneled into local elections,” the release added.
The ad, from the group named “Lean Left,” claims “Cavanaugh fought to exactly mirror Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill” before urging viewers to “keep MAGA John Cavanaugh” out of Congress.
The message mirrors similar ads put out by the American Action Network earlier this cycle, telling voters to “thank [Cavanaugh] for standing with President Trump and championing the MAGA Tax Agenda in Nebraska.”
Cavanaugh’s campaign said the Lean Left group is tied to Republicans, pointing to Lead Left’s website links to WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform. They said Republican attempts to suppress Democratic voters from supporting him were “another clear sign” he was the strongest Democrat to advance to the general election.
“The millions of dollars in dark money from Trump donors, MAGA-affiliated special interest groups, and out-of-state billionaires being spent to boost her candidacy raise serious questions about why Republicans are so desperate to defeat Cavanaugh and run against Powell instead,” the campaign added.
Cavanaugh and his supporters have attacked Powell, calling her “Dark Money Denise” over the support she has gotten from Super PACs. Powell’s campaign has been backed by millions in outside PAC money — a move she has not discouraged with regular memos being posted on her website to signal to PACs how to spend their money.
In her latest PAC memo from last week, Powell said, messaging should center on telling Democrats, “Don’t believe the lies.” On Wednesday, Powell fought back against Cavanaugh’s criticism that she was being boosted by dark money.
“I have been fighting for great candidates, fighting to stop abortion bans, fighting for our public schools,” Powell told WOWT. “And I am hoping that is what voters are going to remember, not these sort of desperate lies that are really just a distraction from the real issues that are keeping people up at night.”
— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.