OMAHA — Frustration over streets, a streetcar and seeing the same mayor for three terms showed at the ballot box Tuesday as politically divided Omaha voters sent Republican Mayor Jean Stothert into retirement in lieu of a fourth term.

They elected Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing Jr., the Democrat in charge of the offices where people pay their local car taxes who pledged a City Hall focused on providing better basic city services.

Ewing campaigned hard on the idea that Omaha could build better streets, hire more police officers to fight more types of crimes, work with neighborhood groups, nonprofits and others to fight root causes of crime and help all parts of the city grow.

“Tonight, we embark on a new chapter,” Ewing said to a cheering crowd. “Together we will build an Omaha that offers opportunity for the ‘good life’ — to everyone.”

Moments before, as he launched his victory talk, he pointed out a pastor in the crowd who, along with another minister, told him about 13 years ago that he was going to be Omaha’s first Black mayor.

“I didn’t know if I truly embraced it at that moment,” he said. “But they said that to me with such conviction, it stuck with me.”

Ewing said he couldn’t have done it without his wife, Viv. He introduced his family, including his brother, daughters and parents seated in the front. “Mom and Dad, I hope you’re proud.”

To his supporters, he said a few times throughout the night: “I promised you guys we weren’t going to be outworked.”

Went Ewing’s Way Early

Election night was going Ewing’s way from the start. After the first wave of results were announced, he told the crowd that this was the best he’s felt in weeks, noting the exhaustion of the last laps of campaigning. After the second round of votes was announced, Ewing punched a fist in the air and Viv threw both arms up. His margin grew to nearly 11,000 votes by 10:15 p.m.

Democratic leaders past and present packed the downtown Omaha Hilton for the Ewing celebration, including former Gov. Ben Nelson, former Mayor Jim Suttle and former State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha.

Ewing, a former high-ranking police officer, is the first Democrat to serve as Omaha mayor since Suttle engineered a victory in 2009 and revived the city’s finances before losing to Stothert after raising a new restaurant tax. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the City of Omaha by about 18,900 voters, according to the Douglas County Election Commission.

History Made

Ewing also will become the first elected Black mayor of Omaha, having cleared the final hurdle that narrowly eluded former Democratic State Sen. Brenda Council of Omaha in 1997. She lost a close race to former Omaha Mayor and U.S. Rep. Hal Daub, R-Neb. As the Omaha World-Herald reported, City Councilman Fred Conley briefly became acting mayor in 1988.

Ewing told the Examiner that since he became treasurer — and then became the first person of color in Nebraska to win a countywide election — he’d go into classrooms and say: “There’s nothing special about me.

 What it means is that your dreams are possible, as well.”

“And that’s what I want them to see,” he said.

Daub’s name was mentioned by many in the west Omaha crowd that gathered for Republicans on Tuesday night. Some had wondered whether Stothert, like Daub, might have overstayed her welcome despite having governed with significant popular support.

Voter Fatigue?

Local political observers had predicted that Stothert’s biggest challenges were likely voter fatigue, unrest about the economy under President Donald Trump and the lack of a clearly articulated plan for a fourth term.

Stothert struck a proud and defiant tone in her concession speech, saying she leaves a city in much better shape than she found it. She has argued it has more money to repair roads, property tax rates that are lower and it is reviving the urban core with private donor partnerships.

“Tonight, I’m very proud, grateful and hopeful. Proud of 12 years of success. I’m grateful for your support, your friendship and your trust. And I’m hopeful that the momentum we have created will continue,” Stothert said in a brief speech around 9:15 p.m.

She said she called Ewing and “congratulated him,” saying he is “inheriting tonight a great city.”

GOP Soul-Searching

Her supporters at Tuesday’s gathering at west Omaha’s A View on State included Gov. Jim Pillen and former Gov. Dave Heineman, along with former gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster.

Heineman, a longtime political activist before he ran, said Tuesday’s results show a changing Omaha, one that is increasingly Democratic-leaning in a ruby red Republican state.

“It’s been moving that way for some period of time,” he said. “The demographics of Omaha are changing.”

Pillen, who endorsed Stothert, said he was sad to lose conservative leadership in the state’s largest city. He said she had done a great job making the city one of the safest large cities in the country.

“That comes from leadership focused on what really matters,” Pillen said. “You know, as governor, I’m going to support the new mayor. That’s what we do in Nebraska. But yes, I’m disappointed. … I’m selfish. I wanted her for four more years.”

Race Turned Ugly Late

Tuesday’s reflections were a marked change from the aggressive tone of the end of the race, which included attack ads on Ewing from the right about Democratic Party support for young people who are transgender and attack ads on Stothert from the left for the mayor backing Trump, whom she supported.

In an interview, Ewing said he thought Stothert’s attacks and “making things up” were desperate moves that hurt her. He said “people in this community … know me.” Stothert took no questions after her concession speech. But she has defended the attacks.

“This is not a national race where you can make up things and then people have to wonder if it’s true,” Ewing said. “They’ve seen what I’ve done in this city.”

This spring both candidates also lobbed back-and-forth attacks about each of their records. Stothert’s team criticized Ewing’s office for using a decades-old calculation for paying local school districts and governments that a state audit corrected.

Ewing’s team blamed Stothert for the city’s potholes, streets and inability to fill budgeted positions at the Omaha Police Department that Stothert added but sometimes struggled to fill with enough applicants to outpace retirements and departures.

Early Voting Mattered

Ewing’s campaign pressed its edge with early voting and door-to-door campaigning that showed up in Tuesday’s results when Ewing built an early 3,572-vote lead that the traditional GOP Election Day edge could not overcome. In fact, the gap widened in the second batch of results that included the first wave of Election Day votes, as well as the third.

On Tuesday night, Ewing repeated many of his goals, including improving public safety and adding to the city’s stock of affordable housing.

“To ensure that every Omahan has a place to call home,” he said.

At the end of Tuesday night, Ewing was already talking about next steps.

A former mayor will help him plan for staffing. He said he has talked to Tom Warren, chief of staff for Mayor Jean Stothert. He said the men have been friends since they were about 6 years old.

“And he’s going to stay on as chief of staff,” said Ewing.

Ewing said he would try to make the streetcar project as successful as possible, and he will explore other useful routes and links.

“If this thing is bringing billions of dollars of economic activity, I want to bring some links into North and South Omaha to bring billions of dollars of economic opportunity to two communities that have been left out.”

Some Stothert supporters had wondered privately whether the mayor might suffer from people assuming she would win and not bothering to vote. With so-so turnout for an off-year city general election, enthusiasm proved a problem. County officials expect turnout to hit about 32%.

Ewing’s winning margin in the mayor’s race is likely to grow on Friday, when Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse’s office still has to count about 7,000 early voting ballots returned on Election Day. Those tend to come in as the early results do on Tuesday, which leaned toward Ewing.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/05/13/ewing-sends-stothert-packing-giv.../