Rep. Don Bacon wins re-election in a swing seat in Nebraska and moves Republicans closer to a majority

Republican Rep. Don Bacon, a retired military general known for his moderate stances in the lower House, was projected the winner in a tight race for re-election in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, one of the most evenly matched districts in the entire state and country.

Bacon, with 95% of the precincts counted, appears to be pulling ahead of his opponent, Democratic state lawmaker Tony Vargas, by about seven thousand votes, which equates to 2.2 percentage points (51.2%-48.8%).

Associated Press was the first national media outlet to predict Bacon's victory Friday. It was later joined by The New York Times and more big-name forecasters.

The Bacon-Vargas race was one of the most closely watched of the 2024 election cycle because the district is one of the most evenly matched in the entire union, as it includes all of Omaha, the state's largest city, as well as the Democratic-leaning city of Papillion.

In the 2022 midterms, Rep. Bacon was one of 16 lower house Republicans to win seats in areas that had voted for President Joe Biden in 2020, making it one of the most competitive races early on.

Previously, Bacon won the seat in 2016 by defeating Democratic Rep. Brad Ashford by just 1%. His three subsequent elections saw him hold on to Congress by a narrow margin of about 2% or less.

This one in particular is a pivotal victory for GOP leaders in the House, where the GOP needs just six more victories to reach the magic number of 218 seats in order to control the majority again.

At the moment, 24 more races remain in contention. Democrats, for now, have only picked up 199 seats and have already lost two House seats.