GOP eye on 3rd District House race
In the surest sign the 3rd District congressional seat is up for grabs, the National Republican Congressional Committee may be poised to commit resources to the race.
An NRCC spokesman declined Friday to confirm the committee has decided to air TV ads in what had been considered a safe Republican district.
“There is nothing listed on the Federal Election Commission Web site now as expenditures,” NRCC spokesman Alex Burgos said by telephone from Washington.
“Until that goes up, I can’t confirm anything.”
If the GOP congressional committee enters the race in the final 10 days of the campaign, it would be confirmation that poll numbers have uncovered a tight struggle between Republican nominee Adrian Smith and Democratic nominee Scott Kleeb.
The 69-county 3rd District seat had been considered safely Republican at the beginning of the campaign.
Western and central Nebraska hasn’t elected a Democrat to the House since 1958, when Don McGinley won a single term.
Kleeb, 31, a Dunning ranch hand with two post-graduate degrees from Yale, has raised more than $700,000, far more than any previous Democratic candidate in the district.
Smith, 35, a real estate agent and two-term state senator from Gering, has raised more than $1.1 million.
Republican Rep. Tom Osborne is leaving Congress in January after serving three terms.
Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.
An NRCC spokesman declined Friday to confirm the committee has decided to air TV ads in what had been considered a safe Republican district.
“There is nothing listed on the Federal Election Commission Web site now as expenditures,” NRCC spokesman Alex Burgos said by telephone from Washington.
“Until that goes up, I can’t confirm anything.”
If the GOP congressional committee enters the race in the final 10 days of the campaign, it would be confirmation that poll numbers have uncovered a tight struggle between Republican nominee Adrian Smith and Democratic nominee Scott Kleeb.
The 69-county 3rd District seat had been considered safely Republican at the beginning of the campaign.
Western and central Nebraska hasn’t elected a Democrat to the House since 1958, when Don McGinley won a single term.
Kleeb, 31, a Dunning ranch hand with two post-graduate degrees from Yale, has raised more than $700,000, far more than any previous Democratic candidate in the district.
Smith, 35, a real estate agent and two-term state senator from Gering, has raised more than $1.1 million.
Republican Rep. Tom Osborne is leaving Congress in January after serving three terms.
Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.
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