Candidates for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District have taken the debate stage three times this week, giving voters ample opportunity to contrast their positions on a number of topics before hitting the polls on Nov. 3.
It amounted to a big week for the race’s front runners: Democrat Denise Powell and Republican Brinker Harding. They stood opposite one another on Sunday in their first debate hosted by KETV, a second time with Nebraska Public Media on Wednesday, and finally with WOWT on Thursday, Oct. 15.
Powell, a political consultant and PAC co-founder, and Harding, the vice-chair of the Omaha City Council, addressed dozens of questions over their three collective hours of rhetorical sparring.
Here are three key themes from the NE-02 debate circuit.
Foreign conflict
During their KETV debate, both candidates were asked if Congress should continue funding the costly US-Israel war in Iran, as well as the war effort in Ukraine, and what they’d tell Nebraska taxpayers who’d prefer that money be spent at home.
Powell said she’s been opposed to the Iran war “since the beginning” and while agreeing with the president on Iranian denuclearization, she criticized the effort for having “no exit plan.”
“The [Trump] administration has kicked a hornet’s nest in the region,” Powell said. “We have pushed away every traditional ally that we’ve had. The United States needs to start rebuilding those relationships … This conflict in Iran, not only is it making us less safe, it’s spiking prices for gas, diesel, and fertilizer. It’s making life even harder for people here at home.”
On Ukraine, Powell criticized how the Trump administration is “handling our relationships” and said the president is “cozying up to Putin right now.”
On Russia, Harding agreed.
“Putin’s a thug,” he said. “As it relates to Iran, look, I feel the pain every day when I’m at the gas pump … We need to end that conflict quickly. But the bottom line is we cannot have Iran with a nuclear weapon.”
“I would argue that we’re no closer to getting to that place than we were eight months ago,” Powell responded directly, adding “I believe we need to get out of this conflict as soon as humanly possible.”
“What I did not hear in that answer was that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon,” Harding shot back. “That’s the bottom line.”
Powell, in their next debate, would clarify her position: “While I absolutely agree that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon, nothing about this conflict, or the way this administration is handling it, is making America any safer. On the contrary, I think it is putting us at great risk.”
Private school tax incentives
During their Nebraska Public Media debate, candidates were asked about the Trump administration’s efforts to provide tax incentives for private school scholarships and if they agree.
Harding’s answer to the question was short: “Yes.”
Powell, who worked on past signature collection efforts to repeal state laws providing tax credits for private school scholarships, said she was “proud” to “protect public school funding.”
“I believe in school choice,” she clarified. “Whether that’s private school, parochial school, homeschool. But I also know that 90% of the children in this state attend our public schools … I will always always fight to make sure that our public schools are not being de-resourced and defunded for any reason.”
In a pivot to divisive subject matter, Harding said: “Yeah, my opponent supports sex education for kids in kindergarten. She supports transgender surgeries for minors … That’s not who Nebraska is, that’s not who the second district is, and I’m not gonna let that happen when I go to DC.”
“That is not true,” Powell rebutted. “I do support comprehensive health education that’s age-appropriate for kids in schools … And while, of course, I don’t support children having risky surgeries, I do believe that parents, their children, and their physicians deserve to have the right to access information while they’re navigating very difficult conversations.”
Powell added that this subject is “not why I’m running,” but rather “because there are kids in this state that can’t go to a doctor anymore because their parents lost their health insurance, kids going hungry because we cut SNAP, and because there’s efforts to take resources away from our public schools.”
Data centers & The One Big Beautiful Bill
During their WOWT debate, which also featured Libertarian NE-02 candidate Eric Foreman, candidates were asked about the future of data centers in the state. In the exchange, federal incentives for data center projects—outlined in Trump’s landmark tax and spending package “One Big Beautiful Bill”—created the most tense back and forth of the debate circuit.
Powell said more research ought to be done on the environmental impacts of data centers and local municipalities should have the final say. She said this was one of her key disagreements with Trump’s bill.
Harding, who has said he supports the One Big Beautiful Bill, agreed with Powell’s stance on incentives and local control.
But in her rebuttal, Powell criticized Harding’s support for the overall measure, calling it “another example of Brinker talking out of both sides of his mouth.”
To this, Harding said Powell was flip-flopping on her support for the overall package, as she said she supported certain provisions like eliminating taxes on tip-wages and overtime during their debate on Nebraska Public Media the night before.
“The reason that I am supportive of those elements is because they’re good ideas,” Powell shot back. “But those were window dressing. They expire in three years.”
“Are you against our farmers and ranchers?” Harding asked Powell, breaking the debate format.
A spat broke out with both Harding and Powell comparing their support from the state’s agriculture community.
“Kids, we’ve all found the problems,” Foreman broke through. “The problems are in Congress. We’re running to change that. Let’s come up with solutions and not bicker back and forth about semantics … The Big Beautiful Bill, I wouldn’t have voted for it either. I agree with [Powell] on that. There are great things in that bill that I would totally support, if it wasn’t for the other bloat in it.”
The race
NE-02—which encompasses all of Douglas and Saunders counties, as well as parts of Sarpy County—was moved to “Likely Democrat” by the Cook Political Report in early October, giving Powell an estimated advantage of three percentage points this midterm.
The “Blue Dot” district has been represented by Republican Rep. Don Bacon since 2017. His decision to retire from the House opened up the seat for the first time since 1998.
The general election is Nov. 3.
