Brad Ashford

John Bradley Ashford (November 10, 1949 – April 19, 2022) was an American politician who served in the Nebraska Legislature and the United States House of Representatives from Nebraska's 2nd congressional district.

John Bradley Ashford was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on November 10, 1949, to Don Ashford and Ellen Swanson.

Don Ashford had served as a bomber during World War II and received a Distinguished Flying Cross.

Ellen Swanson and her family had immigrated from Sweden and her father Otto Swanson had been a businessman in Omaha, Nebraska, who had helped with the formation of the National Conference of Christians and Jews due to local boycotts of Jewish businesses.

Ashford attended Westside High School in Omaha and graduated in 1967.

From 1968 to 1971, he attended and graduated from Colgate University with a bachelor of Arts.

During his attendance at Colgate University he served as an intern for Senator Roman Hruska and attended an anti-Vietnam War rally.

He later criticized Forrest Gump for its depiction of Abbie Hoffman, but stated that he still enjoyed the movie as "it was a travelogue of my early life".

From 1971 to 1974, he attended and graduated from Creighton University with a Juris Doctor.

From 1974 to 1975, he served as a staff attorney for the Federal Highway Administration.

Brad married Ann Ferlic, with whom he had three children.

In 1986, Ashford considered running for the Democratic nomination in Nebraska's 2nd congressional district against incumbent Republican Hal Daub.

After serving in the state legislature from 1987 to 1995, Ashford ran for the Republican nomination in Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, but was defeated.

On January 7, 1987, Ashford was sworn into the state legislature and was appointed to serve on the Judiciary and Transportation committees for the 1987–1989 session.

On July 31, 1987, Douglas County Commissioner Steve McCollister said that he and Ashford discussed Ashford switching to the Republican Party and running to succeed Hal Daub as the representative from Nebraska's 2nd congressional district.

On August 3, Ashford admitted that he had discussed switching parties, but said that the discussion was theoretical and that he wouldn't run to succeed Daub if Cece Zorinsky ran for the Democratic nomination as polling showed her with 43% against Ashford's 2%.

On January 28, 1988, Ashford announced that he had changed his party affiliation to Republican with Governor Kay A. Orr at his side.

He stated that he would support the Republican nominee in the Senate election, but the next day he was appointed onto the finance committee of Bob Kerrey's Democratic senatorial campaign.

During the 1988 Republican presidential primaries Ashford, eighteen other Republican state legislators, and Lieutenant Governor William E. Nichol endorsed Senator Bob Dole.

He was appointed to serve on the Appropriations and executive board committees during the 1989–1991 session.

On February 22, 1990, he announced that he would seek reelection and no other candidates filed to run against him.

He was appointed to serve on the Appropriations committee and serve as the chairman of the Intergovernmental Cooperation committee during the 1993–1995 session.

On August 14, 1993, Ashford announced that he would not seek reelection to the state legislature and that he was interested in running for the Republican nomination in Nebraska's 2nd congressional district.

In 1995, Ashford and his wife supported Chuck Hagel in the Senate election and sponsored his fundraisers as he supported a ban on the sale of assault weapons and opposed abortion except in the cases of rape, incest, or threat to the mother's life.

However, they withdrew their support after Hagel changed his positions to repealing assault weapon bans and being against abortion in all cases except for a threat to the mother's life.

During the 1996 Republican presidential primaries he supported Steve Forbes and ran as one of his delegates from the 2nd Congressional district.

In 1997, he became a lobbyist to the Nebraska Unicameral and earned $500.

In 2005, he stated that he was considering to run for another term in the state legislature.

He later announced that he would run in the 20th state district.

In the general election he defeated Carol Casey.

He returned to the state legislature in 2007 and served until 2015 when he successfully ran for the House of Representatives against incumbent representative Lee Terry.

He was appointed to serve on the Education committee and as chairman of the Judicial committee during the 100th legislative session from 2007 to 2009.

He was reappointed to serve on the Education committee and as chairman of the Judiciary committee during the 101st legislative session from 2009 to 2011.

In 2014, it was speculated that he would either run for the Democratic nomination in the Senate election or for attorney general, but he did not run.

During the 2014 Nebraska gubernatorial election he endorsed Democratic nominee Chuck Hassebrook.

However, on January 15, he announced that he would run in the 6th district in the state legislature as more important decisions occurred at the state level and it would cost less than a congressional campaign.

On February 3, he formally announced his campaign.

In the general election he received the support of the Democratic Party and defeated Republican-backed nominee Robert G. Cunningham.

After serving in the House of Representatives for two years he was defeated by Don Bacon and was later defeated in the Democratic primary in 2018 when he ran to reclaim his House seat.

He is the most recent Democrat to represent Nebraska in Congress.