Trump Doubles Down on Call for Candidate to Run Against Republican Rep. Don Bacon – Who Won in a District Trump Lost in 2020

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Former President Donald Trump doubled down on Monday in his attempt to recruit a candidate to run against Republican Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE) – who represents a Nebraska swing district that Trump lost by a wide margin in 2020.

“Anyone want to run for Congress against Don Bacon in Nebraska?” Trump asked in a widely distributed statement. Trump has tried to recruit loyalists to run against Bacon before, but so far no one has taken the bait.

Bacon is one of 13 Republican members of Congress Trump is targeting for defeat after they voted to help pass President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure package.

Trump himself championed an infrastructure bill, with an even larger price tag than the one Biden signed into law, but has expressed anger with Republicans for giving Democrats a win.

Bacon, who represents Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, won reelection by a solid 4.6 points in 2020. Trump by contrast, lost the district and subsequently an electoral vote, by 6.6 points.

Nebraska allocates its electoral vote based on congressional district, which means while Trump carried the state, Biden still picked up one electoral vote from the second district.

Bacon is one of nine Republicans running in districts won by Biden in 2020 and is certain to face stiff competition for reelection in 2022. However, a Trump-backed candidate is likely to fare far worse in a general election in a district where many Republicans in 2020 were willing to split their ballot and vote Biden.