Don Bacon (politician)

In the 2016 elections, Bacon won the Republican primary for the U.S. House of Representatives in Nebraska's 2nd congressional district,[8] a primarily urban and suburban district in metro Omaha,[9] covering parts of Douglas and Sarpy counties.[10]

The general election race was considered a tossup, with Democratic incumbent Brad Ashford seen as having a slight edge.[11] After a 2005 videotape showing Donald Trump making lewd remarks to Billy Bush surfaced in October 2016, Bacon said that Trump could not win the presidency and should withdraw from the race in favor of "a strong conservative candidate, like Mike Pence." But Bacon did not say that he would not vote for Donald Trump, since he did not "believe Hillary is the right person. I'm in a quandary."[12]

Bacon narrowly defeated Ashford in the general election on November 8, 2016,[13][14] with 48.9% of the vote to Ashford's 47.7%.[15][16] He was the only Republican to defeat an incumbent Democrat in the 2016 House elections.[17]

Bacon was reelected in 2018, narrowly defeating progressive Democrat Kara Eastman with 51.0% of the vote to her 49.0%.[18]

Bacon (right) campaigning with Senator Ben Sasse on Election Day 2020

Bacon and Eastman faced off again in the 2020 general election. Despite polling projections and progressive enthusiasm, Bacon was reelected with 51.0% of the vote to Eastman's 46.2%, even as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden won the district by 6.5 points.[19][20] He was endorsed by his predecessor, Democrat Brad Ashford, whom he defeated in 2016.[21]

During his freshman term in the 115th Congress Bacon was assigned to the House Agriculture Committee,[9] the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Armed Services Committee.[22]

During the 115th Congress, Bacon voted with his party in 96.9% of votes and with President Trump's position in 94% of votes.[23][24]

According to the Lugar Center, Bacon ranked 89th of the 435 House members in bipartisanship in the 115th Congress.[25]

In the 116th Congress Bacon sat on the House Armed Services Committee and House Agriculture Committee.[26]

Bacon voted with his party in 87.5% of votes and with Trump in 88.6% of votes in the 116th Congress.[24][23] He ranked 36th of the 435 House members in voting against his party.

In 2019, Bacon ranked 31st out of 435 for bipartisanship according to the Lugar Center.[27]

On December 18, 2019, Bacon voted against both articles of impeachment against Donald Trump. All 195 Republicans in attendance voted against both articles.[28]

In a December 2020 Washington Post survey of the 249 Republican members of Congress, Bacon was one of 25 who acknowledged Joe Biden as the legitimate President-elect.[29]

Bacon was seated in the 117th United States Congress on January 3, 2021.[19]

• Committee on Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations
• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats, and Capabilities
  • Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces

• Autism Caucus[30]
• Baltic Caucus[31]
• Career and Technical Education Caucus[32]
• Caucus on Hellenic Issues[33]
• Caucus on U.S.-Turkey Relations[34]
• Civility and Respect Caucus[35]
• Climate Solutions Caucus[36]
• Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, co-chair[37]
• For Country Caucus, co-chair[38]
• GPS Caucus, founder[39][40]
• Law Enforcement Caucus
• Postal Preservation Caucus[41]
• Problem Solvers Caucus[42]
• Republican Main Street Partnership[43]
• Soccer Caucus, co-chair[44]
• Uzbekistan Caucus[45]
• Western Caucus[46]

Brigadier General Donald Bacon, 55th Wing Commander, salutes the men and women attending his fini flight at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska

Bacon with President Barack Obama in 2009

Bacon has been a member of the Armed Services Committee since taking office in 2017.

In a 2016 questionnaire, Bacon called for ISIS to be defeated "with assertive leadership, our superior air power, and special forces."[47] He supported airstrikes in Syria in retaliation for the Assad government's use of chemical weapons.[48] In 2019, Bacon voted for a resolution opposing Trump's move to withdraw U.S. support for the Kurds in Syria, which exposed Kurdish militias to attacks from Turkey.[49]

At a Brookings Institution event in October 2017, Bacon stressed the importance of military readiness and called for U.S. Air Force crews to increase flight hours to enhance readiness. He also said the "gravest threat" to military readiness was the "partisan divide" in government, which had prevented necessary increases in spending.[50]

Bacon supports a stronger U.S. presence in the Balkans to counter Russia, which he has called a key adversary of the United States.[17] He has expressed alarm regarding Russia's activity in Ukraine and the Balkans, as well as Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and attempted Russian interference in other nations' elections.[17] Bacon does not consider China a U.S. adversary, but has criticized it for its regional power ambitions and its trade with North Korea, and supports strong U.S. alliances with Japan and Taiwan to counter China.[17]

In July 2017, Bacon voted in favor of legislation to impose additional sanctions against Russia, North Korea, and Iran.[24]

In November 2017, Bacon told an electronic warfare (EW) conference that the U.S. military needed "to elevate the electromagnetic spectrum to an official domain of warfare—alongside land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace–and appoint general officers as EW advocates in all four services and to the joint staff." He said the U.S. should reintensify its EW capabilities, which he said had atrophied after the collapse of the Soviet Union.[51]

In 2019, Bacon voted against a resolution to terminate U.S. military support to Saudi Arabia for the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen,[24] and against legislation to block U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.[24]

Bacon is a steadfast backer of Israel, and supports recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.[52]

Bacon is a consistent supporter of Taiwan. In 2019 he spent time with Representative Salud Carbajal (D-CA) and former Speaker Paul Ryan in Taiwan to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act and open a new de facto Embassy. Bacon said, “we owe it to be clear that Taiwan is a success story and we have to support their democracy.”[53]

Bacon has been a member of the House Agriculture Committee since 2017. In 2019 he urged the United States Army Corps of Engineers to streamline its response to the 2019 Midwestern U.S. floods and pushed to fund levies to shore up flooded farmland and Offut Air Force Base.[54]

Bacon supported the 2018 Republican led omnibus Farm Bill.[55]

In 2019, Bacon cosponsored the Student Agriculture Protection Act to create tax credits on proceeds of crops and livestock grown or raised by students.[56][57]

Bacon is firmly anti-abortion,[7] except to save the life of the mother.[58] In 2017, he voted for legislation to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy[24] and to repeal a rule requiring state and local governments to distribute federal funds to Federally Qualified Health Centers even if they perform abortions,[24] a measure aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood.[59] Bacon said he supported redirecting funds to community health care centers that do not provide abortion services.[59]

Bacon with Charlie Kirk at a pro-Trump event in Omaha in 2020

In 2018, Bacon said that he supported marijuana decriminalization at the federal level.[58] He said he opposed marijuana legalization as a personal matter, but believed that states should be permitted to make the decision.[58][48] Bacon supported the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized industrial hemp production.[55]

In 2017, Bacon voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.[24][60] In 2019, he voted against legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.[24] Bacon has expressed support for raising the full retirement age for eligibility for Social Security for Americans now under age 40.[58]

Bacon has said, "I don't think we know for certain how much of climate change is being caused by normal cyclical changes in weather vs. human causes. I support legislation that allows for continued incremental improvement in our environment, but oppose extreme measures that create significant economic and job disruption."[61] He is a member of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus.[36]

In February 2019, Bacon voted against legislation to require universal background checks for firearm sales and legislation to give additional time to law enforcement agencies to conduct background checks for firearm sales.[24] In 2017, he voted for legislation that would have made concealed-carry permits valid across state lines.[24] In 2018, Bacon indicated that he would support a ban on bump stocks.[48]

Bacon favors repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare,[62] and opposes proposals for Medicare for All or single-payer healthcare.[48] In May 2017, he voted for the American Health Care Act of 2017, Republican health-care legislation that would have repealed large portions of the ACA.[24][63][64]

In August 2017, Bacon and five of his House colleagues urged Trump to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for undocumented youth brought to the United States as children (also known as "Dreamers"), "until we can pass a permanent legislative solution."[65][17] In 2019, he voted for legislation to create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented youth.[66]

Bacon has expressed support for construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall supported by Trump.[67] Bacon voted against legislation to end the December 2018–January 2019 government shutdown by appropriating funds without money for a border wall.[24] He said that Trump's attempt to circumvent Congress by declaring a national emergency to redirect money from military construction to building a border wall was not "the right way to go" because it infringed on congressional powers,[67] but voted against a House resolution to overturn the emergency declaration and against overriding Trump's veto of legislation that would have overturned the declaration.[24]

In April 2017, Bacon reintroduced the Kerrie Orozco Act, which would "allow the spouses of first responders, killed in the line of duty, access to a quicker process of becoming an American citizen."[68]

In March 2017, Bacon voted to repeal an FCC rule that barred Internet service providers from sharing data on their customers' activities.[24]

Bacon opposed the continuation of net neutrality in the United States in support of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's repeal of Title II classification of ISPs.

In 2019, Bacon and Representative Seth Moulton introduced The Justice for Victims of Lynching Act of 2019. The bill specified lynching as a unique deprivation of civil rights, and would for the first time make it a federal crime. The bill's language was incorporated into the 2020 Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which subsequently passed the House but was blocked by Rand Paul in the Senate.[69]

Bacon expressed support for "most of" the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020. He supported mandatory wearing of body cameras by police officers while on duty and a national registry for police misconduct, but opposed ending qualified immunity provisions for officers.[70] He also criticized provisions ending the Department of Defense 1033 program, which allows the transfer of surplus military equipment to law enforcement agencies, saying, "if our police are encountering a serious threat, I don’t want an equal fight for them."[70] He ultimately voted against the legislation.[71]

Amid the national conversation on racism following the death of George Floyd, Bacon and House Armed Services Committee Vice Chair Representative Anthony G. Brown introduced a bill to rename military bases that are named for Confederate soldiers.[72] The bill would form the National Commission on Modernizing Military Installation Designations, which would make recommendations for renaming installations deemed out of line with American values or the mission of the military.[72]

After President Trump said he would "not even consider” any legislation to rename military bases, Bacon said, "you’re wrong—you need to change" and "we’re not the party of Jim Crow.”[73][72] The bill became law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021.[74]