- Five candidates are sharing their policy ideas to benefit the North Omaha community ahead of the May 12 primary election.
- While the candidates generally align on the need to improve the economy and healthcare, they offer different approaches, such as capping childcare costs, investing in infrastructure, and addressing healthcare deserts.
- The candidates are highlighting their unique experiences to stand out to voters, pointing to backgrounds in military service, the state legislature, nonprofit advocacy, and working-class roots.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
As the May 12 primary election approaches, five candidates are sharing their policy ideas and backgrounds to benefit the North Omaha community, focusing on healthcare, the economy, and infrastructure.
Kishla Askins, a Navy veteran who has served in extensive medical roles, calls her economic plan "SHIELD," with a large portion dealing with healthcare.
"In North Omaha, there are a lot of healthcare deserts, and there are a lot of people without insurance, and struggling. This is a pathway to affordable, accessible and reliable healthcare," Askins said.
John Cavanaugh, a father of four, wants to cap childcare expenses for middle-class families.
"Find ways to make it a little bit easier for people to buy a house, find ways to make it a little bit easier for people to save for the future, get access to health care, and do all of those things that everybody hopes to accomplish in life," Cavanaugh said.
Denise Powell's positions include addressing maternal healthcare deserts.
"I've been out advocating for reproductive rights, and for just healthcare in general, for public education, um, all of those things are gonna impact a community like North Omaha, more than anyone else," Powell said.
Crystal Rhoades plans to tackle affordability by having the federal government invest in infrastructure.
"When we look across the board, particularly in North Omaha, at our streets, at our bridges, at our schools, at the rail lines, all of the different pieces of infrastructure, telecommunications, what we find is that they're in desperate need of investment," Rhoades said.
Melanie Williams, a Democratic socialist, would push for more bus routes and transportation to help neighbors.
"For people who watch how our money is being spent, that's a ridiculous question because there, there's the money, it's just not the priorities," Williams said.
While the candidates align on several issues, they bring different qualities and experiences to the role.
Cavanaugh has served as a public defender and a state senator.
"Fighting against the extremism of the legislature, fighting against the extreme governor, uh, and stopping some of the worst things that they've tried to pass in the state, and then also delivering on meaningful reforms that actually improve people's lives," Cavanaugh said.
Askins points to her work as a congressional liaison to the Surgeon General of the Navy and a deputy assistant secretary in the VA during the Biden administration.
"Nebraskans deserve somebody who truly, when you say, I have experience, I have experience to be ready, to be effective on day one," Askins said.
Powell says she sees issues through a different lens.
"I'm the daughter of immigrants. I see what it feels like to be part of communities that are under attack right now by this administration. Um, and I think it's time for a different kind of a candidate and a different kind of a congress member to push back," Powell said.
Williams founded the Family Advocacy Movement nonprofit, which helps children and families in need of mental health care navigate the system.
"Truth, honesty, courage. Um, and when I say that, I'm not just being glib. And I don't think that a business as usual candidate, which is all of the other candidates, can beat the Republican in November," Williams said.
Rhoades has spent 20 years serving in different levels of government and has worked with campaigns for Democratic leaders in Omaha, like Mayor Ewing. She says she is the only working-class candidate.
"There are too many people who do not have any idea what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck or have to work for a living. And as a result of that, their priorities are not the same," Rhoades said.
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