A Democrat, John Ewing Jr., appeared on track to win Omaha’s mayoral race on Tuesday, unofficial county results showed, a victory that would end a long period of Republican leadership in a politically divided city that has outsize importance in presidential elections.
Mr. Ewing, the longtime Douglas County treasurer, was leading Mayor Jean Stothert, a Republican who had been seeking a fourth term leading Omaha, which has nearly half a million residents and is Nebraska’s largest city. Though the race was officially nonpartisan, the political affiliations of both candidates were well known to voters.
Ms. Stothert conceded to Mr. Ewing in a speech on Tuesday evening, saying that “we leave a strong foundation for the city that we all love.”
Mr. Ewing was leading by about 10,900 votes on Tuesday night with roughly 87,000 ballots tabulated. Brian W. Kruse, the county election commissioner, said in an email that approximately 7,000 early ballots that were turned in on Tuesday would be counted later, plus perhaps a few hundred provisional ballots.
Every four years, Omaha picks a mayor just after a presidential term begins, bringing more national attention to the race than is typical for a city of its size. With relatively few off-year elections scheduled, the race provided an opportunity for strategists from both parties to gauge voters’ moods — even if much of the campaign focused on municipal nuts-and-bolts issues like street paving, crime and a planned streetcar.
State and national Democrats wasted no time in celebrating Mr. Ewing’s apparent victory, which they described as a sign of energy for their party ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Ken Martin, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said the result showed that voters “want true leaders who will govern on behalf of working families.” Jane Kleeb, the chairwoman of the Nebraska Democratic Party, said in a statement that “we made historic progress tonight, and tomorrow the hard work continues on as we look to 2026.”
Eight years ago, at the beginning of President Trump’s first term, Democrats invested heavily in an unsuccessful effort to unseat Ms. Stothert, a former nurse who has generally governed as a moderate. Ms. Stothert also kept her seat four years later, in the early months of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidency.
Nebraska is dominated by Republicans, but Omaha is politically mixed, with more registered Democrats than Republicans. The city is home to several major businesses, including Union Pacific Railroad and Berkshire Hathaway, and is geographically quite large, with many suburban-feeling subdivisions inside city limits. Among the 40 most populous American cities, Omaha is one of only six with a Republican mayor, according to Ballotpedia.
The Omaha area is represented in Congress by a moderate Republican, Representative Don Bacon, who has survived several Democratic attempts to unseat him, including last November by just under 2 points. In that same election, Kamala Harris won the electoral vote in Mr. Bacon’s district by just under 5 points. That congressional district includes suburban and rural areas in addition to Omaha.
Nebraska is one of two states, along with Maine, that award an electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district. Mr. Trump won the Omaha-based district in 2016, but lost to the Democratic nominee there in 2020 and 2024.
As she campaigned for a fourth term, Ms. Stothert, who is the first woman to lead Omaha, emphasized her record on development and public safety. But she also waded into cultural issues by trying to make bathroom use and sports participation by transgender people a campaign issue. Mr. Ewing’s campaign has told local reporters that Ms. Stothert made baseless claims about his stance on transgender issues.
Ms. Stothert has told local reporters that she voted for Mr. Trump, though she has sometimes tried to distance herself from the president.
“Donald Trump does not call me and ask for advice,” she recently told KETV, a news station in Omaha.
Mr. Ewing, a former deputy police chief, talked about public safety and the importance of convincing young people to stay in the city. He also promised to address what he described in one debate as a shortage of affordable housing and “a shortage of decent housing.”
He was on track to become the city’s first elected Black mayor. Another Black official, Fred Conley, served as Omaha’s acting mayor for several days in 1988 after his predecessor died in office.
“Tonight, we embark on a new chapter,” Mr. Ewing said in his acceptance speech on Tuesday.
Mitch Smith is a Chicago-based national correspondent for The Times, covering the Midwest and Great Plains.
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