UPDATE (9:49 PM CDT): 191 of 191 Precincts Counted

          LINCOLN CITY MAYOR
          VOTE FOR  1
           Ken Svoboda.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     9,664   34.78
           Chris Beutler .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    13,213   47.55
           Roger Yant Sr..  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     3,961   14.26
           Mike Deal  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       830    2.99
           WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       117     .42
                   Total .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    27,785

Results here.

This is a good result. The fact that Yant got 14% of the vote despite spending under $5,000 on his campaign suggests that people really don’t like Svoboda. The Svoboda camp can try and spin this as much as they want, but the fact is they only got 35% in a low turnout primary election. Even Dave Friend managed to beat that.

The other story here is that Beutler managed to connect with the people of Lincoln. Despite Svoboda and the Republicans’ attempts to fight this race on partisan grounds (Wesely and Seng were Democrats, so is Beutler), the voters of Lincoln knew better. They know Chris Beutler. They’ve known him a lot longer than they’ve known Ken Svoboda. Svoboda has been part of the problem in Lincoln’s government, and Beutler focused on that. We still have a month to go and a lot more work to do, but this is a great sign that the people of Lincoln want Chris Beutler as mayor. Now it’s time to close the deal.

We spent a few hours last month helping out the campaign - and we’ll likely spend a bit more time in Lincoln before it’s all over. This race is important to all of us - not simply because it’s important that Democrats win in Nebraska, but because Beutler is the best choice for Lincoln, and a strong Lincoln will help the entire state, including Omaha.