Democrats retain 6-1 majority on Lincoln City Council

Democrats appear likely to retain a 6-1 majority on the City Council after Tuesday’s general election, with former police officer Tom Duden replacing Richard Meginnis in southeast Lincoln’s District 2 as the only Republican.

The closest race — as in the primary — was for northeast Lincoln’s District 1, where incumbent James Michael Bowers was leading by 820 votes against his two-time opponent Taylor Wyatt in unofficial final results Tuesday night. Bowers, who would be elected to serve a second term, had 8,472 votes to Wyatt's 7,652. 

In the primary, Bowers led with 410 votes. Wyatt, a Republican who runs a small real estate business with his wife, Brooke, ran against Bowers, a Democrat and social worker, in 2019.

Election Commissioner Todd Wiltgen said there are still about 3,000 early votes to be counted on Wednesday, as well as nearly 700 provisional ballots. 

"I am feeling honored that Lincoln is giving me the privilege to represent and fight for them for another four years," Bowers said. "I'm proud of my record. I delivered for northeast Lincoln and I'm excited to fight and deliver for another four years for northeast Lincoln and the city as a whole."

Although council and mayoral races are officially nonpartisan and no party labels appear on the ballot, the parties recruit and support candidates.

And Lincoln just re-elected Leirion Gaylor Baird, who will continue a quarter-century run of Democrats leading the city.

Tom Duden, a Republican who spent 26 years as a Lincoln police officer, beat Bailey Feit, a Democrat and newcomer to politics, to replace Meginnis. Feit is an educator who runs a STEM focus program at Northeast High School.

In the primary, Duden and Feit advanced from a four-candidate slate, with Duden capturing 30% of the vote to Feit’s 29%. Duden won the seat comfortably in the general election, with 15,106 votes to Feit's 12,351.

In Northwest Lincoln’s District 4, Brodey Weber, 25, a Democrat and vice president of client relations at Mid American Casing Supply, beat Wayne Reinwald, 64, who is retired from a career in the food and beverage industry.

Weber received 6,365 votes to Reinwald's 4,421.  

In the primary, Reinwald, the lone Republican running in the four-candidate primary, beat Weber, but by a slim 319-vote margin. Weber will replace Tammy Ward, who did not run for re-election.

Justin Carlson, a Democrat, handily beat Elina Newman, a registered nonpartisan, for southwest Lincoln’s District 3 seat held by former Lincoln Public Schools Principal Michelle Suarez.

Carlson tallied 10,957 votes to Newman's 6,979.

Suarez, appointed as interim council member for District 3 after Jane Raybould was elected to the Legislature, did not run for election.

Carlson and Newman both advanced from the primary, where Carlson led Newman 55% to 33%.

Carlson, a development director for the University of Nebraska Foundation, has been an active volunteer and involved in Democratic politics as former chairman of the Lancaster County Democrats and as part of the group that fought against recall efforts of several City Council members and the mayor over the mask mandate and other pandemic health directives.

Newman, an immigrant from Azerbaijan, is a pharmacy technician and small-business owner. She also ran for an at-large seat on the City Council in 2021.

The three at-large council members not up for election this cycle – Tom Beckius, Sändra Washington and Bennie Shobe – are all Democrats.