Voters in Omaha will decide Tuesday which mayoral and City Council candidates will advance to the May 13 general election.
In each race, the top two candidates will move on.
Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse said he is expecting a slightly above-average turnout.
“We had 28% [in the last Omaha city primary] and I’m thinking about 30, so I would say it’s definitely been trending up,” Kruse said.
He added 12 polling place locations have changed, and voters should double check to make sure they are going to the correct polling place. Voters can either call the Douglas County Election Commission office or visit its website to find their polling place.
Mayoral Candidates
There are five candidates running to be Omaha’s mayor – incumbent Mayor Jean Stothert, former state Sen. Mike McDonnell, community activist Jasmine Harris, Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing, and T. L. Brewer.
Stothert, a Republican, is seeking her fourth term. In the last mayoral election, she received 64% of the vote. She has said that her priority is public safety, lowering property taxes, investing in Omaha’s streets and improving the taxpayer experience. One of the larger talking points in this election has been the Omaha streetcar project, something that Stothert supports.
McDonnell, also a Republican, has said he will focus on what he sees as Omaha’s misplaced priorities. These include underinvestment in fire and police staff, street repairs and core infrastructure. McDonnell has been quite outspoken in his opposition to the Omaha streetcar project, saying if he were elected, he would try to halt the project.
Harris, a Democrat, is the director of public policy and advocacy at nonprofit RISE. She said she will focus on public safety, particularly in prevention and community-based programs that work on the root causes of crime, as well as “providing economic opportunity and inclusive developments” for all of Omaha. If elected, she said she would work to increase funding to mental health co-responders to ensure that they can handle the increased workload.
Ewing, a Democrat and former member of the Omaha Police Department, has been Douglas County Treasurer for 17 years. Ewing has said his focus will be making city services effective and efficient. He said that the largest issue is a discrepancy between people’s wages and the cost of housing. He said job creation and investment into city infrastructure and public amenities are top priorities for him.
Brewer, registered non-partisan, is the pastor and founder of New Covenant Church of God in Christ located in North Omaha. He said that his top priority is mental health. He said he will work to make mental health services more accessible. He also said that he will work to have the Omaha Police Department work with health professionals, to allow for people experiencing mental health crises to receive proper help instead of being arrested.
Omaha City Council
All seven seats are up for election, but only two of them have more than two candidates and will be on Tuesday’s ballot as a result.
District 2 has nine candidates, including incumbent Juanita Johnson, Tyrone Eure, LaVonya Goodwin, Ben Gray, Maurice Jones, William King, Michael A. Lee Jr., Anthony Rogers-Wright and Cheryl Weston.
District 4 has four candidates, including incumbent Ron Hug, Andrew Adams, Gilbert Ayala and Jonathan Renteria.
Candidates who will automatically advance to the general election in contested races include Pete Festersen and Mark Brannen for the District 1 seat, Danny Begley and Michael Pilypaitis for the District 3 seat, Aimee Melton and Tim Carter for the District 7 seat.
District 5 representative Don Rowe and District 6 representative Brinker Harding are both running unopposed.
The city council works as a governing body adjacent to the mayor and is responsible for adopting and amending local laws and developing and adopting the city budget.
The main talking points for the city council candidates have been housing affordability, the council’s role in relation to decisions the mayor makes – and the use of tax-increment funding.