House Speaker Mike Johnson visits Omaha to back congressional candidate Brinker Harding

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - House Speaker Mike Johnson traveled to Omaha Saturday as part of a Midwest swing, rallying support for Republican congressional candidate Brinker Harding in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.

Supporters gathered at Wheatfields Eatery for a campaign breakfast with Johnson, who framed his visit around keeping and expanding the Republican majority in the U.S. House.

“He is a key part of Republicans holding and growing the majority in the House of Representatives in the fall election,” Johnson said of Harding.

‘No tax on tips’ in focus

The event also highlighted the recently enacted “no tax on tips” law, which eliminates federal income tax on tip earnings. Johnson pointed to the law as evidence of legislative results.

“This is a big thing. It’s not just campaign rhetoric. We’ve delivered for the people,” Johnson said. “The no tax on tips helps servers and waitstaff, like millions and millions of people across the country, keep more of their hard-earned dollars and not send it to Washington.”

The law applies only to federal income tax. Tipped workers in Nebraska remain subject to state and local income tax, as well as payroll tax.

Both candidates drawing high-profile support

Harding is not the only District 2 candidate receiving backing from nationally known figures. Democratic candidate Denise Powell held her own campaign event last week alongside former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Johnson described the November race in direct terms.

“Nebraska is an important state for the whole country. It’s by numbers — a small delegation — but they punch way above their weight limit and they represent the interest of America,” Johnson said. “It’s a contrast election between common sense and crazy, and this is your common sense candidate.”

Harding cites city council record

Harding said his experience on the Omaha City Council would carry over to a congressional seat in Washington.

“We have safe streets. We have historical record low crime rates here in Nebraska — in Omaha — and that helps with economic development, and we need to make sure that we are producing an economy that grows wages,” Harding said. “I will take those same values, how I’ve worked on the city council, balance the budget again, support the blue, make sure we have those record crime rates to be low, and unleash the American spirit so that they can flourish and really prosper.”

The November election is four months away.

First Alert 6 asked Powell’s campaign if it had anything to say about the weekend campaign stop. We received a response Monday morning, which read, “It’s not surprising that Brinker would bend over backwards to welcome Mike Johnson to Nebraska -- he’s spent the last year jumping at every opportunity to show his loyalty to Donald Trump and Republican party leaders. And while Brinker bends over backwards to suck up to Donald Trump and his MAGA cronies, we are losing service members in a senseless war, family farms are going under, children are going hungry, people can’t afford gas, groceries, to go to the doctor or get their prescriptions -- all so billionaires and oil tycoons can get richer. Nebraskans have made it very clear that they are tired of this kind of political nonsense and that come November, they’re ready to send Denise Powell, a hardworking, fired up mom with a track record of bringing people together to deliver change that actually makes people’s lives better, to represent them in Congress.”