The congressman from the 2nd District is Lee Terry, a Republican first elected in 1998. Terry grew up in Omaha and became interested in politics at age 14 when his father, television anchor Lee Terry Sr., a conservative Republican, ran and lost a race for the House in 1976 against Democrat John Cavanaugh. Terry Sr. remained a prominent local commentator on politics, and his son went off to college and law school, practiced law, and at 29, was elected to the Omaha City Council from an affluent west-side district. Read More

The congressman from the 2nd District is Lee Terry, a Republican first elected in 1998. Terry grew up in Omaha and became interested in politics at age 14 when his father, television anchor Lee Terry Sr., a conservative Republican, ran and lost a race for the House in 1976 against Democrat John Cavanaugh. Terry Sr. remained a prominent local commentator on politics, and his son went off to college and law school, practiced law, and at 29, was elected to the Omaha City Council from an affluent west-side district.

When Republican U.S. Rep. Jon Christensen ran for governor, Terry announced his bid for the House seat. His chief opponents were Brad Kuiper, owner of a pest control business, and Steve Kupka, former chief of staff to Omaha Mayor Hal Daub and an official in President Ronald Reagan’s Office of Management and Budget. The contrast among the three was less on issues—all were for lower taxes and against abortion rights—than on style and approach. Kuiper, with less money than the other two, targeted religious conservatives and emphasized cultural issues. Kupka assembled Washington endorsements and, spending the most money, went on the attack, accusing Terry of increasing the city’s budget. Terry won 40% to 30% for Kupka and 26% for Kuiper. The general election was anticlimactic. Despite the fact that Democrats had won open seats here in 1976 and 1988, Terry won 66%-34% against Democrat Michael Scott. In April 1999, shortly after taking office, he reneged on his pledge to serve only three terms.

In Washington, Terry has a moderate-to-conservative voting record and occasionally is a consensus-seeker. “I am a policy guy,” he said in 2009. “I like to work with Democrats.” On the Energy and Commerce Committee, he worked with Democrat Rick Boucher of Virginia to provide federal funds for high-speed Internet service to low-income and rural areas. In 2007, he successfully joined Democrat Baron Hill of Indiana on a bill to increase average fuel efficiency standards to 35 miles per gallon for cars, although he opposed raising the standard to that level for light trucks, widely used by Nebraska farmers. When Democrats controlled the House, he joined a minority of Republicans in supporting the majority’s priorities, including a food safety overhaul and a substantial spending boost in federal research agencies in 2010.

But Terry stuck with his party on the two major bills to come before Energy and Commerce—the health care overhaul, which he dubbed a “trillion-dollar tragedy,” and energy legislation with a cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. When the committee approved legislation in 2010 to mandate “black boxes” in cars to improve safety, he unsuccessfully sought to amend the bill to bar the government from gathering information from those devices for vehicle safety research. After Republicans regained control of the House, he was named vice chair of Energy and Commerce’s communications and technology panel.

Terry has survived some well-funded, re-election opponents. In 2004, state Sen. Nancy Thompson ran an aggressive campaign against him, and despite polls indicating a tight contest, Terry won 61%-36%. Two years later, political newcomer Jim Esch, who worked for the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, held him to a 55%-45% win. Terry got only 53% in Douglas County, which cast 82% of the vote. He attributed the closer outcome to discontent over the war in Iraq, which was “deeper than I perceived it to be, honestly.”

In 2008, Esch decided to run again, encouraged by Barack Obama’s grassroots efforts in the 2nd District, where the presidential candidate and U.S. senator from Illinois was vying for one of three electoral votes that Nebraska awards on the basis of congressional districts. Douglas County Democrats registered a slew of new voters and outnumbered Republicans in total voters for the first time since 1994. Esch linked his candidacy to Obama’s and attacked Terry’s congressional record, questioning why he had not been elected to a leadership position during a decade in Washington.

Terry hit back by criticizing Esch for accepting $100,000 in agriculture subsidies. Terry was cognizant of Obama’s appeal in urban areas. His campaign mailed postcards to independent women urging them to split their ballot by voting Obama-Terry. Terry outraised Esch more than 2-to-1 and went door-to-door asking for support, and both national parties got involved. Two weeks before the election, both national party committees poured money into the state. Terry won with 52% of the vote. He narrowly prevailed in Douglas County, which Obama carried by 51%, but he won by big margins in Republican-leaning Sarpy County.

Two years later, Democrats put up someone they regarded as a strong candidate—Democratic state Sen. Tom White, an anti-abortion rights Catholic. White criticized Terry for not supporting parts of the Obama administration’s economic agenda that helped middle-class Nebraskans, such as the economic stimulus bill. Late in the campaign, he also aired an attack ad highlighting a New York Post article that claimed Terry flirtatiously asked a female lobbyist, “Why did you get me so drunk?” while at a Capitol Hill club. Terry denounced the charge and worked harder at raising money, eventually pulling in $1.9 million to White’s $1 million. He won the Omaha World-Herald’s endorsement and prevailed easily, 61%-39%.