Democrats have found new reason for hope that Nebraska, despite its traditional Republican lean, will bring their party closer to returning to power in Washington. This mini series, The New Nebraska: Democrats eye up historic shift, explores the dynamics giving rise to that hope. In Part 1, we interviewed retiring Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a Republican giving up his seat in Nebraska’s blue-trending 2nd District.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) has a simple explanation for how he survived five terms in one of the hardest-fought House districts in the country for Republicans.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, he credited his success to a “killer instinct” and the willingness to outwork his Democratic competitors.
“On a scale of 0 to 100 of wanting to win, I was at 100,” Bacon said.
Bacon, who will retire at the end of next year, has the track record to back up that explanation. He held on to his Nebraska seat, anchored to the blue city of Omaha, last year even as Vice President Kamala Harris won the district by nearly 5 points. Each cycle, he is consistently rated as one of the most endangered House Republicans.
“Every election I’ve had has been very hard. I had to give it everything I had — it’s like a 10-round boxing match, and I’ve always had the intensity to do it,” Bacon said.
In June, Bacon announced that he would hang up the towel and not pursue a sixth term in office. He had been fueling speculation on his retirement for months with statements critical of the Trump administration and, now that he’s made a decision, said his heart was not fully invested in campaigning every two years.
“I just wasn’t sure I was going to have the intensity for a sixth run,” he said.
Bacon’s retirement instantly makes his district more of a pickup opportunity for Democrats, who must net just three seats to retake control of the House next year. It could also mean one fewer centrist Republican in a chamber that continues to become more polarized.
Bacon, who is rated as one of the most bipartisan and effective members of Congress, pointed to the Constitution and the Federalist Papers as he discussed his guiding philosophy across a decade in Washington.
“By definition, you have to be bipartisan to be effective,” he said. “These things go hand in hand.”
Part of his centrist reputation comes down to his willingness to buck Trump or his GOP colleagues in the House. Bacon pushed back on Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement by introducing legislation to reassert Congress’s authority over levying the duties.
Earlier this year, he also became the first sitting GOP member to suggest Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth be fired over the Signalgate controversy. Separately, Bacon has criticized Trump’s handling of Russia and was the lone Republican to vote against renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, an idea spearheaded by the president.
“I take pride in the fact that I have been my own man and I’ve gone against the grain at times, and I took a lot of heat and I survived,” Bacon said.
Bacon said that when he decided to break with his party in Congress, the key to a compromise was to “do it early, so you can get it fixed.” The congressman pointed to negotiations on the Medicaid reforms in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” and the ultimate preservation of AIDS relief funding in the rescissions legislation earlier this year.
When reflecting on why he ran for Congress in the first place, Bacon pointed to former President Abraham Lincoln as his role model, citing his resilience. He also named former Presidents George Washington, Ronald Reagan, and Dwight Eisenhower for the same trait.
“I love the people who made this country great,” said Bacon, who served in the Air Force for nearly three decades before running for office.
As the self-proclaimed “old-school Republican” heads for retirement, Bacon said he is looking forward to a “normal family life” and called the ability to spend time with his wife, children, and grandchildren a major reason why he is stepping down.
“There’s gotta be more to life,” he added.
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The congressman may forgo his spot in the lower chamber, but he still hopes to remain involved in a political world he says has piqued his interest since he was 13 years old. Bacon expressed interest in helping someone “like Nikki Haley or Glenn Youngkin in a national race.”
“I’d like to be a voice of traditional Reagan values in our party, and I’d like to be involved in the national elections in 2028, and I hope to do some TV and make a case for what I believe in,” Bacon said.
He has separately expressed interest in executive office, including the jobs of governor or president of the United States.