Powell Poised to Win CD-2 Primary With Early Ballots Still Being Counted
by Matt Johnson and John Gage
OMAHA — Denise Powell appears positioned to win the second congressional Democratic primary in a race that has gone down to the wire. Last night, several national outlets, like Decision Desk HQ, called the race, while others, like CNN and AP, have yet to make a call, with some early vote ballots still left to be counted.
Powell currently leads State Sen. John Cavanaugh by just over 1,000 votes. Cavanaugh had been up in the votes early in the night before Powell took the lead at 10:45 pm on Tuesday night. She waited until 11:45 pm before taking the stage to celebrate with her supporters.
Cavanaugh Not Ready to Concede Yet
It was a late night at the Underwood Bar in Dundee, where supporters of John Cavanaugh for Congress, including several family members, watched as election results came in.
Cavanaugh chose the location specifically because of its participation in a boycott of beers distributed by Premier Midwest Beer and Beverage, which is in an ongoing strike with Teamsters Local 554.
(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
“The Underwood has stood in solidarity with the Teamsters,” Cavanaugh said. “So spend some money buying some non-scab beer.”
Among the family members was fellow state legislator Machaela Cavanaugh, who arrived shortly after the polls closed and stayed throughout the night, anxiously watching smartphones with other family members in a corner of the bar as election returns came in through the Secretary of State’s website.
The bar continued to fill with guests up until ten o’clock, when John Cavanaugh made a sudden and unannounced appearance at the front door. Media scrambled to gather around Cavanaugh as he spoke to guests, his wife Kakie at his side.
“There’s still votes to be counted, and we’re going to keep counting them, but we’re in the lead,” Cavanaugh said “And we’re in the lead because of the hard work of the people in this room. We’re in the lead because we work for every single vote.”
The atmosphere in the room was celebratory, and as Cavanaugh gave a few interviews with local media, some guests began leaving early for the night. Poll results had shown Cavanaugh with a consistent two-point lead throughout the night that remained unchanged with every update.
“The gap is a little smaller than we’d like it to be,” one campaign staffer commented at the bar.
And after ten o’clock, the gap closed. Denise Powell was soon tied and then surpassed Cavanaugh within the hour.
Neither candidate offered a concession at the end of the night, though at Powell’s election night event, she and her guests were similarly jubilant shortly before midnight.
“I still can’t even believe what has just happened,” Powell said. “Listen, there are still some votes outstanding. We want this whole democratic process to work its way through, but we feel so good.”
Powell’s likely primary win stands as something of an upset against a family with a political dynasty, which includes Cavanaugh’s father, John J. Cavanaugh III, who held District 2’s seat in Congress from CD2 from 1977 to 1981. Campaign staffers at the event wore T-shirts highlighting the Cavanaugh family’s tenure with the words, “80 years of service.”
Commonsense vs Commonsense
Powell, in her speech Tuesday night, pitched herself to the general electorate, saying she was “rooting for courage and common sense” to prevail in November.
The comments struck a similar chord to her Republican opponent, city councilman Brinker Harding, who ran unopposed Tuesday night. Harding told a crowd at the NEGOP victory party that the election was a “battle between normal versus crazy.”
Both candidates also pitched supporters that they would build bipartisan support heading into the general election.
“We will build a coalition of Republicans, of Democrats, and Independents alike,” he added. Earlier on Tuesday, Powell told The Plains Sentinel that she was running a campaign that promoted policies that “spoke to voters of all stripes.”
If Powell’s lead holds, she will face off against Harding in the general election on November 3, 2026.
— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.
— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.