“We need a new generation of leadership to fight for Nebraskans.”
Omaha, NE – Today, The Bench, an organization dedicated to electing leaders who are focused on solutions rather than party orthodoxy and who are investing in candidates they know can win the general election in 2026, endorsed Denise Powell in her race for Nebraska’s Second Congressional District. In response, Powell issued this statement:
“I am honored to receive the endorsement of The Bench because their mission aligns with how I will lead for Nebraskans: deliver for the people of this district without blindly following a party line or special interests. Every day, I talk to people who are exhausted by the political establishment and feel Washington, DC, has left them behind. I’m tired of it too. I’m not a career politician – I’m a mom and a small business owner who has fought for my community. I’m running to be an independent voice for our community. Nebraskans are struggling with grocery and energy costs that continue to rise, while seeing massive hikes in their healthcare premiums and living in fear for the safety of their families and their neighbors. We need a new generation of leadership with fresh experiences to fight for Nebraskans, and that’s exactly what I’ll do in Congress.”
Powell is the frontrunner in the Democratic primary for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. She is the only candidate to raise more than $1 million in 2025 and has more than 50 endorsements from local and national organizations. Recent polling shows that Powell is the Democratic candidate best positioned to flip this seat and flip the House in 2026.
About The Bench
Our Mission
The Bench is building the next generation of leaders who prioritize service and solutions above party orthodoxy. We support community-rooted candidates with real-world experience—teachers, nurses, veterans, farmers, and public servants—who understand their communities and strike the best possible general election profile. The Bench provides them with the tools, strategy, and support to run serious, solutions-focused campaigns that challenge the status quo, connect with voters, and deliver real results for the people they serve. These candidates are the future of the Democratic Party – they can help us repair our brand, they are best positioned to win general election races and hold onto seats, and they are pushing us to create the broadest coalitions possible, they aren’t interested in 50% + 1.
Who We Are
We’re a group of Democratic campaign professionals focused on helping candidates across the country overperform and win in tough states and districts. We are allied with Majority Democrats and share their overall mission of reshaping and growing the Democratic Party so that it can compete everywhere and improve the lives of the American people. We are led by Jake Hajdu, Kane Miller, Andrew Mamo, Jackie Rosa and Josh Sulier.
We’re also proud to partner with organizations such as The Next 50, VoteVets and more.
What We’ve Done
We’ve recruited and interviewed more than 50 candidates from across the country on the federal, state and local levels, focused on finding the most compelling people rooted in their communities with resonant personal stories and deep convictions in order to win seats up and down the ballot in 2026. We’ve chosen 14 candidates to work with so far and will continue to expand in the coming months. For each chosen candidate, we’ve become a core part of their team, providing general consulting, communications, finance, and digital support. We encourage candidates to be themselves, to step outside the box, and to differentiate themselves in order to overperform and to win in 2026.
About Denise
Denise Powell is a mom, former executive, small business owner, public school champion and healthcare advocate who knows that a strong work ethic and a love of family and community is the Nebraska way of life. She also knows the Good Life is getting harder to come by. It’s why after Trump’s election she left a successful career in corporate America to focus on fighting for what makes Nebraska such a special place to live and raise a family. Over the past decade, she has supported hundreds of Nebraskans running for local office, protected our public schools and the families they serve, and helped stop extremists from passing abortion bans in the state.
Every day, we see more of our friends and neighbors struggling to make ends meet while Donald Trump and MAGA extremists are focused on trade wars that are increasing our cost of living and passing massive tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk. Strong families, strong businesses, strong communities – they ALL require work and investment, but everything we’ve fought for here at home is under threat. From dismantling Medicaid and making it harder for seniors to get the benefits they’ve earned, to dismantling education, from the University of Nebraska to our public schools, to attacking our veterans and ripping away women’s rights — Denise is running to fight for the people of Nebraska. We don’t need lip service from politicians, we need action.
For more information, visit deniseforcongress.org. For a high-resolution picture of Denise, click here.
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