Nebraska state Sen. Carol Blood, who has served in the Legislature for nearly eight years and who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2022, said Tuesday that she plans to run for Congress this year.
Blood, a Democrat from Bellevue, will challenge Republican incumbent Mike Flood for his seat representing Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District.
In a statement to the Journal Star, Blood said she is running in an attempt to restore “a strong voice in D.C. that represents all Nebraskans, not the vocal minority.â€
And she accused Flood — himself a former state senator — of forgetting his nonpartisan roots in his initial years in Congress, which she said is in “complete disarray.â€
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“I’m running because it appears that nobody is even interested in working on good policy but continues to stay in campaign mode instead of doing their jobs,†Blood said.
“This current Congress can’t even pass a long-term budget to fund our military, protect our seniors and the least among us, and continue to invest in infrastructure, families, first responders and education.â€
Blood, who has promised to protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security while supporting child tax credits and a competitive minimum wage, is set to formally launch her campaign for Flood’s seat Saturday afternoon at IBEW Local 265’s office in south Lincoln.
Born in McCook and raised in rural Adams County, Blood has for years lived in Sarpy County, serving on the Bellevue City Council from 2008 until 2016, when she was elected to the Legislature.
Her announcement was met with excitement Tuesday from Jane Kleeb, the head of Nebraska’s Democratic Party who said that changing one letter — the “F†in Flood’s name to the “B†in Blood’s — “will make all the difference.â€
“Democrats, independents and frustrated Republicans are ready to send Carol Blood to Congress to finally have someone who will represent the people and bring actual new ideas to fix big problems,†Kleeb said in a statement, naming quality child care accessibility and Social Security protection as among the causes Blood would champion in Washington, D.C.
“Rep. Flood has spent his entire career changing his stances with where the wind blows rather than standing up for what is right,†Kleeb added.
Blood’s announcement comes less than two years after she lost to Jim Pillen in the 2022 race to succeed former Gov. Pete Ricketts. Blood received 36% of votes cast statewide in the November 2022 election after handily winning a noncompetitive primary contest between her and Roy Harris.
Flood has not formally announced his reelection campaign but is expected to again seek election to the 1st Congressional seat that he initially won in a special election in June 2022.
Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District encompasses Lancaster, Madison, Cass, Seward, Butler, Dodge, Colfax, Stanton, Cuming, Platte, Stanton and the eastern parts of Sarpy and Polk counties. It includes Lincoln, as well as Bellevue, Fremont and Norfolk.
The special election followed former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry’s resignation, which came two days after he was convicted of concealing illegal campaign contributions and lying to federal agents. His conviction has since been overturned.
Flood, a Norfolk native, beat Democratic challenger Patty Pansing Brooks with 52.7% of the vote in the June 2022 election before again defeating Pansing Brooks in November 2022, winning nearly 58% of the vote in that election to win a full two-year term in Congress.
The district’s voter makeup hasn’t changed substantially in the months since.
In November 2022, there were 410,294 registered voters in the district, including 187,640 Republicans, 119,625 Democrats and 94,745 nonpartisans.
As of this month, the district has 407,685 registered voters, including 186,808 Republicans, 116,416 Democrats and 95,627 nonpartisan voters.
Neither Flood nor Blood have formally filed to run for the 1st District seat, according to Nebraska’s Secretary of State’s Office. The deadline for Flood to file is Feb. 15, while nonincumbents have until March 1 to file.
No one had filed to run for the seat as of Tuesday.