OMAHA – Republican Rep. Don Bacon stood in his campaign office tucked behind a busy commercial stretch on the city’s outskirts and pondered his place on the political spectrum.

Democrats say he’s a committed member of former President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, while some of his fellow Republicans dismiss him as “a commie Democrat RINO,” he said on Wednesday, using a derisive acronym for Republican in Name Only.

The retired Air Force brigadier general seeking his fifth term said he’s tried to chart his own course. “That’s the personality of our district,” Bacon said.

Voter registration in the 2nd District is fairly evenly divided, with Republicans leading, followed closely by Democrats and a slightly smaller pool of unaffiliated voters. “If you want to be a hardcore Republican here, you only get a third of the vote,’’ he said.

So it’s not surprising that Bacon, in a fight for his political future against Democratic state Sen. Tony Vargas, has emphasized bipartisanship. Among his latest commercials is an ad featuring Democrat Ann Ashford, who once ran for the seat and is the widow of former Rep. Brad Ashford, whom Bacon defeated in 2016.

But it’s not just the district’s close political divide that has imperiled Bacon’s reelection hopes. A growing Latino population, two abortion-related ballot questions and an influx of spending by national Democrats battling to win the district’s single Electoral College vote also play a role.

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