Posted on 11/05/2014 2:26:50 PM PST by SMGFan
LINCOLN, Neb. – Congressman Lee Terry conceded to Democrat Brad Ashford this afternoon, even as absentee ballots were still being counted in Omaha.
During a brief press conference, Terry said serving for 16 years has been an honor and a blessing that will stay with him for the rest of his life.
(Excerpt) Read more at watchdog.org ...
I think the only GOP house seats which flipped are this one and another in Florida’s panhandle. What’s the story behind these?
“Graham, who is the daughter of Democrat Bob Graham, Florida’s popular former governor and senator, had attacked Southerland as tone-deaf on issues affecting women in the last few months of the race. Her campaign railed against his all-male fundraiser, his comments on lingerie and his representation of his past votes on domestic violence. “
In the Florida Panhandle, that seat was won by Gwen Graham, the daughter of former Dem Gov and Senator Bob Graham.
She, like Michelle Nunn, took full advantage of her name and raised a lot of money.
Southerland had only held the district for two terms. In 2010, he knocked off a Dem incumbent primarily because of ObamaCare - even though he voted against it in Congress.
The district is conservative (old-school yellow-dog Democrat) but has a lot of blacks and govt workers in Tallahassee.
He screwed up too bad to be saved. We’ll get it back 2016
A few years ago Terry’s district was redrawn from a fairly red area that included most of Bellevue/Offutt AFB to a district that was much larger and included Lincoln (blue) and a larger surrounding rural area. They left district 1 as the red southern parts of Omaha and Sarpy county, a small chunk surrounded by a much larger district 2.
Simply, they gerrymandered him into a district that would almost always be predominantly blue.
I actually turned that around. District 2 is the smaller heavily blue area that was carved out and the larger, more diluted area that includes Lincoln, Bellevue, and Offutt AFB is District 1.
The result is the same; gerrymandered into a primarily blue district.
Plus when the govt shut down he came out publicly stating he should get paid because he had a family, mortgage and a kid in school. Ashford beat him up with it in TV ads.
Ms Pelosi and her Super PAC poured tons of money into the district, which is conservative but a majority are still registered Democrats. They remember her father, Bob Graham, and are not sophisticated enough to put the country’s downslide on the backs of folks like him. If they were, they wouldn’t still be Democrats.
“Whatever gets them good press. That’s all that it’s going to be,” he told the newspaper. “God bless them. But you know what? I’ve got a nice house and a kid in college, and I’ll tell you we cannot handle it. Giving our paycheck away when you still worked and earned it? That’s just not going to fly.”
Up to that point he had zero challengers.
This comment pissed off a lot of people and I believe it was his downfall.
That was a bullshit democrat lie as well. Every congressman, senator, office clerk etc including the military were paid and those “laid off” were paid for the work they didn’t do. He tried to joke about the answer but he did nothing that every other govt worker did; get paid.
I held my nose to vote for Lee Terry. He originally ran on term limits promising to only run a few terms. Got comfortable and stayed. i hate hypocrisy.
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