LINCOLN- Although Republicans maintained all of Nebraska's congressional seats, two Democratic candidates raised more than their GOP opponents in the lead up to the election.

Since the special election was held this summer, 1st District candidate Patty Pansing Brooks raised $842,000, compared to opponent Mike Flood's $642,000. Similarly, Tony Vargas, a candidate for Nebraska's 2nd District seat, raised $1.8 million as opposed to Bacon's $860,000.

However, despite this late surge in contributions, both Flood and Bacon outraised their opponents overall, with Flood raising a total of $1.9 million and Bacon raising $3.9 million since last year.

This last-minute funding surge was not enough to change the outcomes of either race, and Flood defeated Pansing Brooks by around 16 percentage points. However, the 2nd District race was a lot tighter, with Bacon only leading by 3 percentage points.

These funding surges aren't a new occurrence. In 2020, Democrat Kate Bolz outraised then-Rep. Fortenberry in the final quarter of the 1st District races. That same year, candidate Kara Eastman, a progressive Democrat, raised more than Don Bacon, who says he is typically outraised by his opponents.

"Money doesn't always equal votes," said Bacon.

ActBlue, a Democrat-run fundraising software, is likely the reason why contributions to Democratic candidates were so high. On the other side of the aisle, WinRed, a similar, Republican-leaning software, helped Bacon raise around $550,000 this year.

Helpful also to Democrat campaigns were national, left-leaning organizations. Meg Mandy, Vargas' campaign manager, stated that the level of national support Nebraska Democrats received this year is like nothing seen in Nebraska thus far.

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