An active voice on foreign policy, Bacon is one of a slate of U.S. representatives sanctioned by the Russian government, and was the first member of Congress to be hacked by the Chinese government.
The general election race was considered a tossup, with Democratic incumbent Brad Ashford seen as having a slight edge.[13] 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."[14]
Bacon narrowly defeated Ashford in the general election on November 8, 2016,[15][16] with 48.9% of the vote to Ashford's 47.7%.[17][18] He was the only Republican to defeat an incumbent Democrat in the 2016 House elections.[19]
Bacon (right) campaigning with then-Senator Ben Sasse on Election Day 2020
Bacon and Eastman faced off again in the 2020 general election. Bacon was reelected by a larger margin than in 2018, winning 51.0% of the vote to Eastman's 46.2%, even as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden won the district by 6.5 points.[22][23] He was endorsed by his predecessor, Democrat Brad Ashford, whom he defeated in 2016.[24]
Bacon claimed yet another narrow win in the November 2024 general election in a rematch against Democratic challenger Tony Vargas. Bacon prevailed without the support of the top of the Republican ticket, former President Trump, who had sought a primary challenger against Bacon, as well as the state's Republican Party, which backed conservative populist Dan Frei for the nomination, losing by 24 points.[25][26][27]
Tenure
After his election, Bacon was sworn in to the 115th Congress in January 2017. During Donald Trump's presidency, Bacon voted in line with Trump's position 89.4% of the time.[28]
Bacon was reelected in 2018 and in 2021. During the first year of Joe Biden's presidency, Bacon voted in line with Biden's position 29.5% of the time.[29]
Following the 2022 midterm elections and announcements by Freedom Caucus members that they would oppose or demand concessions of presumptive House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Bacon announced he was willing to work with Democrats to elect a moderate Republican.[31]
In August 2023, the FBI revealed that Bacon was the first US lawmaker to be targeted in a cyberespionage intrusion by Chinese government hackers.[32] When asked about the intrusion, which Bacon said largely compromised campaign and personal email data, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC called the incident a "smear" and part of a "groundless narrative."[33] The embassy denial included a complaint that the U.S. government had undercut China's sovereignty with recent arms sales to Taiwan, an effort which Bacon had vocally supported.[33][34] A spokeswoman for Bacon's office said it was likely a reason for the attack.[34]
Following failed House votes on bills to avoid a government shutdown beginning on October 1, 2023, Bacon said of Republicans in the Freedom Caucus who sought major concessions or pushed for a shutdown "some of these folks would vote against the Bible because there's not enough Jesus in it."[35]
Bacon voted against the October 2023 removal of Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House, calling it a vote "for chaos", and "a good day for Russia and China."[36] He supported Steve Scalise in his initial bid for the October 2023 House Speaker election, but voted against the subsequent unsuccessful bid by Freedom Caucus founder Jim Jordan, former President Donald Trump's preferred candidate.[37] Following the first round of voting on Jordan's nomination, Bacon revealed that his wife and staff were being harassed and threatened by phone and in public to push him to support Jordan, saying "there's been a bullying campaign...they're being told on certain cable channels that the world's falling apart...and they feel like approved to cross these boundaries and to be wrong."[38][39] He ultimately supported Mike Johnson's successful bid for the role.
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.[64]
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 re-intensify its EW capabilities, which he said had atrophied after the collapse of the Soviet Union.[65]
"Today starts a new and dark chapter in national security that is Hobbesian in nature where bullies will dominate weaker countries. Where might makes right, and dictators prey on their neighbors unless free nations band together and deter this threat.…We have entered a new cold war"[67]
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 Offutt Air Force Base.[70]
Bacon supported the 2018 Republican-led omnibus Farm Bill which legalized the commercialization of Hemp products.[71]
Abortion
Bacon is firmly against abortion.[9] He is a co-sponsor of the Life at Conception Act, which would guarantee "equal protection for the right to life of each born and preborn human person" under the 14th Amendment.[72]
In 2017, he voted for legislation to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy[28] and to repeal a rule requiring state and local governments to distribute federal funds to Federally Qualified Health Centers even if they perform abortions,[28] a measure aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood.[73] Bacon said he supported redirecting funds to community health care centers that do not provide abortion services.[73]
Bacon supports a federal ban on abortion. He supported a constitutional amendment to ban abortion nationwide several times since 2017. In 2024, Bacon still signaled support for a national ban on abortion but with exceptions for the life of the mother.[74] Bacon opposes the 2024 Nebraska Right to Abortion Initiative that would amend the state's constitution to establish a right to abortion until fetal viability but supports the opposing ballot measure (Protect Women and Children) which would criminalize most abortions after the first trimester and may allow lawmakers to restrict or ban abortion in the future.[74]
Civil rights
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 passed the House but was blocked by Rand Paul in the Senate.[75] A later version became law in 2022.
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.[76] 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."[76] He ultimately voted against the legislation in a mostly party-line vote.[77]
After the murder of George Floyd, Bacon and Anthony Brown introduced legislation to rename Department of Defense assets that valorized Southern confederate leaders or values. Alongside companion legislation introduced in the Senate by Elizabeth Warren, the bill resulted in the creation of The Naming Commission through incorporation into the omnibusNational Defense Authorization Act. When asked about the bill, President Trump insisted that he would "not even consider" the proposal, to which Bacon replied in The New York Times, "you're wrong—you need to change... we're not the party of Jim Crow."[78][79][80] Trump vetoed the NDAA for reasons he said included funding for the commission, after which Congress delivered the only veto override of his presidency.[80]
LGBT rights
On July 19, 2022, Bacon and 46 other Republican representatives voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, codified the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.[81] He said he does not believe "the government should dictate who can marry each other based on gender, race, or ethnicity."[82]
Drug policy
In 2018, Bacon said that he opposed marijuana legalization as a personal matter, but that he supported decriminalization at the federal level and believed that states should be permitted to make the decision.[62][83] Bacon supported the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized industrial hemp production.[71]
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."[85]
Gun policy
In 2018, Bacon said he would support a ban on bump stocks.[62] In 2021, he introduced legislation to enhance penalties for engaging in illicit straw purchases of firearms.[86]
Bacon has expressed support for construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall supported by Trump.[92] Bacon voted against legislation to end the December 2018–January 2019 government shutdown by appropriating funds without money for a border wall.[28] 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,[92] 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.[28]
In 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."[93]
In 2023 Bacon voted for the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, but said he was skeptical of the efforts to impeach, stating that he thinks Biden did engage in corruption, but that impeachments are bad for the nation and generally hurt the election successes of the party bringing the proceedings.[96]
Infrastructure
Bacon initially said he would support President Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and criticized Republicans for opposing it, but during negotiations he said he could not commit to voting for the bill.[97] Ultimately, Bacon was one of 13 House Republicans to break with their party and vote with a majority of Democrats in favor of the legislation.[98]
On May 19, 2021, Bacon was one of 35 Republicans who joined Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the January 6 commission meant to investigate the January 6 United States Capitol attack.[103] Before the vote, he was one of only a few Republican lawmakers who openly expressed their support for the commission.[104]
On September 13, 2024, Bacon and Representative Josh Gottheimer released a bipartisan letter spearheaded by centrist House Representatives in which they pledged to respect the results of the 2024 presidential election. Five other Republicans signed the letter alongside Bacon.[105]
On September 18, 2024, the entire Nebraska delegation, including Bacon, signed a letter to Governor Pillen supporting changing Nebraska's presidential election system to a winner-takes-all method, effectively eliminating the allocation of electoral votes by congressional district.[106][107]
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