Rep. Don Bacon announces retirement, opening up purple Nebraska district

Daniela Altimari, CQ-Roll Call on Jun 30, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican with a military background and a willingness to occasionally buck President Donald Trump, announced Monday that he won’t seek a sixth term, boosting Democrats’ hopes of winning his purple district in the ruby-red state.

In a statement, Bacon said he was looking forward to spending more time with his family, though he left the door open to public service in the future.

“My service to our great nation started in the Air Force, where I served 16 assignments, five commands and four deployments and will continue in Congress until the end of the 119th Congress,” the retired brigadier general said. “I’d like to find new ways to serve our great country.”

Bacon is a strong conservative who reveres Ronald Reagan and usually votes with his party. Yet his occasional criticisms of Trump, his support for Ukraine and his condemnation of Russia have made him an outlier in the modern GOP.

“I have a love for national security, and I’ll always be a proponent for old-fashioned Ronald Reagan Conservative values,” his statement read. “It has been an honor to serve the 2nd District of Nebraska and the nation, and I thank our constituents for trusting me to represent them. I am proud of the work we have done and will continue to do until the lights in the office are turned off for the last time.”

Bacon was first elected to his Omaha-area district in 2016, when he unseated Democratic incumbent Brad Ashford. He’s been a top Democratic target since but has repeatedly beaten back a string of well-funded challengers despite the district’s increasingly Democratic tilt. Republican critics have dismissed him as a RINO, or Republican in Name Only, while Democrats have sought to portray him as too conservative for the district, which Kamala Harris won by 5 points in 2024, according to calculations by The Downballot.

Bacon, who is one of just three Republicans to hold seats that Harris carried, secured a fifth term last fall by defeating Democratic state Sen. Tony Vargas by less than 2 points. It was his narrowest margin since his first election in 2016. Ashford’s widow, Ann Ashford, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for the 2nd District in 2020, appeared in an ad endorsing Bacon.

Last month, Bacon featured on CQ Roll Call’s initial list of the most vulnerable House members of the 2026 cycle.

The main super PAC backing House Democrats cheered Bacon’s impending departure.

“After voting to gut health care and jack up costs for working families, Don Bacon is headed for the hills because he knows he can’t win re-election,” Katarina Flicker, a spokesperson for House Majority PAC, said in a statement. “With momentum on our side, House Majority PAC is ready to flip NE-02 blue and take back the House in 2026.”

Several Democrats had already jumped into the race before Monday, including Nebraska state Sen. John Cavanaugh, whose father held the seat for two terms beginning in 1977, and political consultant Denise Powell, who has been endorsed by former state Sen. Tony Vargas, the losing Democratic nominee in 2022 and 2024.

For Republicans, Bacon’s departure could hamper the party’s efforts to retain control of the House, where they hold a narrow majority.

“Don Bacon has served our country with honor after nearly 30 years in uniform and nearly a decade in Congress,” Zach Bannon, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement. “As we look ahead, Republicans are confident in keeping Nebraska’s 2nd District red as we maintain and expand our majority in the House.”

In his retirement announcement, Bacon cited his securing of $1.5 billion for a new runway and other improvements at Offutt Air Force Base, one of the largest employers in the region, as one of his top achievements in Congress. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, he also championed efforts to modernize the nation’s strategic nuclear deterrence.

In Congress, Bacon helped revive the center-right Main Street Caucus and routinely ranks high on lists of the most bipartisan House members. He called on Trump’s defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, to step down following revelations that Hegseth had participated in a group chat on the messaging app Signal that discussed U.S. military plans in Yemen.

In 2023, Bacon’s refusal to back Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan for speaker brought on a wave of negative reaction, including threatening phone calls to Bacon’s wife, from angry conservatives who live outside the district. It also prompted a primary challenge from the right, which Bacon handily dispatched.

But on other matters, despite some early vocal dissent, Bacon largely voted with his party during recent funding battles, including on cuts to global anti-AIDS efforts that the congressman supported.