The Douglas County Republican Party traces its roots back nearly 170 years. Abolitionists outraged by passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and its potential for expansion of slavery founded the Republican Party as a new anti-slavery party in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin on March 20, 1854.

Ironically, it was a Democrat, Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, who championed the legislation that created the furor leading to formation of the Republican Party. In addition to being namesake for Douglas County, he is the candidate who lost in 1860 to the Republican Party’s second presidential nominee, Abraham Lincoln. We are proud to be the party of Lincoln.

Omaha was settled in 1854 and incorporated in 1857. Nebraska statehood came in 1867 and a state capital in the city of Lancaster replaced the territorial capital of Omaha. Lancaster was renamed Lincoln in honor of the recently assassinated president.

The first Republican Mayor of Omaha was elected in 1860. The modern-day Douglas County Republican Party was established in the 1950s. Through the years, many of its members have served with distinction in Congress, in Nebraska’s unique Unicameral Legislature, and the many crucial local government posts. Some of the party’s events have been happening annually for decades, like the July 4^th Pancake Feed and the Elephant Remembers banquet.

The Douglas County Republican Party believes the best government is one where decision-making is closest to the people, not in a far-off federal bureaucracy. It’s why our core mission is to identify and develop those with the potential to win elections then serve with the competence and integrity voters expect and deserve.