LINCOLN — Nebraska Rep. Mike Flood and his Democratic challenger Chris Backemeyer squabbled Wednesday in the only debate for the 1st Congressional District.
The Nebraska Public Media debate covered a range of topics, including the Iran war, tariffs, trade, housing and AI. Throughout the debate, Backemeyer attacked Flood over the Iran war and his votes during the secondTrump administration, as Flood tried to paint Backemeyer as an outsider while making his own case that he is an effective congressman.
One of the biggest spats was on the topic of the Iran war. Backemeyer pointed to his experience as a diplomat; he served as a senior State Department negotiator for then-President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal in 2015. He said the deal would have prevented the current war but was torn up for “partisan political purposes,” adding that the war has contributed to higher prices for gas, fertilizer and groceries.
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“I will fight to bring an end to the war in Iran, so we can use that billion dollars a day to invest here at home and put towards our national debt,” Backemeyer said during his opening remarks.
Flood defended his votes on the Iran war while acknowledging the economic woes that the war has caused, saying he is open to diesel export bans and changes to gas taxes. Flood also attacked Backemeyer over the 2015 Iran deal, calling it a “failed” deal.
“We are in a situation where we have a country that vows death to America; it is painful. We need to bring prices down, but we can’t do what Joe Biden did, and that is cut and run, like he did in Afghanistan,” Flood said.
The two are fighting over who will represent the 1st District, which comprises 12 counties, including Lancaster County, home to heavily Democratic Lincoln, whose blue voters are often outvoted by the region’s more conservative smaller cities and rural areas.
Despite a midterm environment that is becoming extremely favorable to Democrats, election analysts still view the 1st District as safely Republican — though national Democrats see the race as competitive.
Flood has won his past two U.S. House elections by 20 and 16 percentage points.
On trade, Flood said the Trump administration has made progress in trade relationships with countries across the globe, but “it takes time to dig out of the hole,” referring to earlier trade deals.
“We saw in the first Trump administration, great progress was made. Under Joe Biden, no progress was made,” Flood said. “Mexico said, ‘We’re not going to accept Nebraska’s white corn.” Nobody did a thing about it. President Trump is rewriting our trade relationships.”
Backemeyer said he would end the “tax and tariff regime” and emphasized that Congress should decide whether to impose tariffs.
Tariffs have been a key tool for the Trump administration, which has used them as a bargaining chip with other countries. Trump’s tariffs have affected Nebraska — much like the rest of the country— especially farmers. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a major blow to Trump’s trade agenda, ruling that the tariffs he had issued under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act are illegal, but Trump still has some tariffs in place.
Flood defended his vote for Trump’s tax and spending bill, pointing to the tax cut from the bill. Backmeyer criticized his vote, saying the tax cuts benefited the wealthy — using Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos’ families as examples.
The tax and spending law made most tax cuts from the first Trump administration permanent, cementing most of its benefits for higher earners. Its new work requirements for Medicaid and other social safety net programs are meant to offset the costs of the tax cuts and other funding for Trump’s domestic agenda.
In addition to Flood and Backemeyer, the race includes America First Party candidate Dan Hartong and Libertarian Nik Sandman. The two others were not involved in the debate.
After the debate, both campaigns quickly declared victory.
The general election is Nov. 3.
This story is provided by States Newsroom, a nonprofit state news network and Blox Digital content partner.
