CQPolitics

Formerly the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad, Omaha is the heart of the 2nd District. Omaha grew up as a blue-collar city: a railroad junction, a Missouri River port and a place where cattle became steaks. To outsiders, this broad-shouldered, gritty image remains. But the city has become mainly a place of downtown office buildings and white-collar jobs in agriculture and insurance businesses. It also is known as the nation’s 1-800 capital, thanks to a glut of call centers for telemarketing, customer service and credit processing operations.

Omaha’s economy has grown at nearly the same rate as the national economy since 2002, and residents of Omaha enjoy a relatively low cost of living. Local officials are continuing economic diversification efforts, and the city is home to five Fortune 500 companies. Offutt Air Force Base, the district’s largest employer, contributes billions of dollars into the local economy annually. Building on the success of an earlier downtown redevelopment plan, the city has implemented a new plan to guide revitalization of the northern section of downtown. Omaha continues to expand outward, and officials from the city and surrounding Douglas County have considered merging into a single municipality.

The 2nd is a reliably Republican district, although Omaha’s dwindling blue-collar base still supports some Democrats. Douglas County, home to more than 80 percent of district residents, has voted for the GOP presidential candidate every time but once since Harry S Truman. George W. Bush took 61 percent of the 2nd’s vote in the 2004 presidential election, his lowest tally in the Republican state.

Major Industry

Phone service centers, military, agriculture, insurance

Military Bases

Offutt Air Force Base, 8,427 military, 2,055 civilian (2005)

Cities

Omaha, 390,007; Bellevue, 44,382; Papillion, 16,363

Notable

Omaha’s Florence neighborhood was the site of the first white settlement in Nebraska, founded in 1846 by a group of Mormons led by Brigham Young fleeing religious persecution in Iowa; Billionaire investor Warren Buffett lives in Omaha — his father, Republican Howard Buffett, represented Omaha in the House from 1943-49 and 1951-53.