April 11, 2018 The Skanner Page 9
News
Democrats in GOP Country Shift Toward Gun Restrictions
AP PHOTO/NATI HARNIK
Once considered a liability, a moderate stance on gun control is becoming an asset in spring primaries
Kara Eastman, one of two Democrats vying to challenge House Republican incumbent Don Bacon, R-Neb.,
in a district centered in Omaha, Neb., speaks April 5 at rally in Omaha, Neb. Just 18 months after declaring
his opposition to banning assault weapons, Nebraska Democrat Brad Ashford has changed his mind. But
make no mistake, Ashford’s conversion comes as he’s being challenged aggressively by Eastman, an
ardent gun-control advocate who’s frustration with Congress failure to act is echoing throughout once
safe GOP territory and illustrating the fast-emerging belief among Democrats that they cannot win in this
supercharged environment without embracing gun control.
By Thomas Beaumont
Associated Press
OMAHA,
Nebraska
— Just 18 months aft er
declaring his opposi-
tion to banning assault
weapons, Nebraska Dem-
ocrat Brad Ashford has
changed his mind.
The former one-term
congressman, now try-
ing to win back an Oma-
ha-area seat he lost in
2016, used to consider it
futile to push for a ban
while Republicans held
power on Capitol Hill.
But the student activism
that has followed the
rampage at a school in
Parkland, Florida, has
changed his thinking in a
way that other high-pro-
fi le shootings, including
two in his hometown
since 2007, had not.
Ashford’s conversion
mirrors the one under-
way in his party. Not long
ago, a moderate record
on guns would have been
considered a plus for a
Democratic
candidate
in the GOP-leaning sub-
urbs and conservative
outskirts of Nebraska’s
largest city. Today, even
with Ashford’s reversal,
it’s a vulnerability that
his opponent in the May
15 Democratic primary
has been quick to exploit.
“
We need
leaders
who are
going to
stand up
and fi ght
for the
kids
That contest, along
with races in Virginia,
rural Pennsylvania and
other places where gun
control has been taboo,
shows how far the Dem-
ocratic Party has trav-
eled on this issue. The
November elections will
test whether Democrats
will make room for can-
didates who don’t back
all gun control measures.
“He should have been
stronger on this,” said
Kara
Eastman,
the
46-year-old political new-
comer running against
Ashford, a 68-year-old
former Republican, for
the Democratic nomina-
tion in the 2nd Congres-
sional District. “We need
leaders who are going to
stand up and fi ght for the
kids.”
Eastman, director of
a children’s nonprofi t
group and a community
college board member,
has focused her message
on suburban women and
young people. She and
other progressives, en-
ergized by rallies across
the country, say they the
best way to turn out vot-
ers is to off er a contrast
to pro-gun Republicans.
“Women have had it
with what’s going on,”
said Crystal Rhoades, the
Douglas County Demo-
cratic Party chairwoman
who supports Eastman.
“They’re mad that they
have to worry about
sending their kids to
school out of fear they’ll
be murdered.”
Polling shows there’s
little
disagreement
among Democrats on the
question of stricter gun
laws.
A poll last month by
The Associated Press-
NORC Center for Public
Aff airs Research found
that 69 percent of those
surveyed, including 90
percent of Democrats,
think gun laws in the U.S.
should be tightened.
There are political
risks.
The Omaha district
represented by Repub-
lican Don Bacon has a
healthy number of gun
owners, and that could
make Eastman’s call for
comprehensive gun con-
trol a problem for her
if she advances to the
general election. The
GOP-leaning district in-
cludes a portion of a ru-
ral county south of the
city where many active
duty and retired military
personnel from Off utt
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