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 from 2015 to 2017. He is the most recent Democrat to represent Nebraska in Congress.
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. 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. 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.
Early life
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.
Career Nebraska Legislature 1987–1995
In 1986, Ashford considered running for the Democratic nomination in Nebraska's 2nd congressional district against incumbent Republican Hal Daub. 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.
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. He was appointed to serve on the Appropriations and executive board committees during the 1989–1991 session. 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 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.
On February 22, 1990, he announced that he would seek reelection and no other candidates filed to run against him.
Interlude
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.
2007–2015
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 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.
U.S. House of Representatives 1994
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. On October 2, he formally announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination in the district and stated that his priorities would be to ban military-style assault weapons and focus on jobs and welfare reform. In the Republican primary he lost to Jon Lynn Christensen, who received over fifty percent of the popular vote, and narrowly came ahead of Ronald L. Staskiewicz. During the primary campaign he raised $145,715.00 and spent $146,002.00.
After losing the congressional primary Ashford stated on May 11, 1994, that he was interested in running in the Omaha special mayoral election. On June 1, he announced that he would not run in the election. He later joined Brenda Council's mayoral campaign.
2014
On February 12, 2014, Ashford announced that he would run for the Democratic nomination in Nebraska's 2nd congressional district. He selected Kieran McCarney, the former communications director and AFL–CIO Nebraska affiliate, to serve as his campaign manager. He won the Democratic primary against Mark Aupperle.
On October 17, 2014, the National Republican Congressional Committee released an advertisement tying Ashford to Nikko Jenkins as Ashford had supported legislation in the state legislature giving early prison release for good conduct. Ashley Lewis, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman, stated that the ad had "no place in America", Ashford stated that it was a desperate attack from Lee Terry's failing campaign, and former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele called the ad racist. After the release of the NRCC ad he raised over $20,500.
In the general election Ashford narrowly defeated Terry, who with Steve Southerland was one of only two incumbent Republicans to lose reelection to a Democratic opponent during the 2014 House of Representatives elections. During the campaign he raised $1,246,958.11 and spent $1,231,468.32 while Terry's better funded campaign raised $3,106,288.30 and spent $3,084,768.22.
2016
On December 16, 2015, Ashford endorsed former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. He faced no opposition in the Democratic primary. Although The Cook Political Report had predicted that Nebraska's 2nd congressional district would lean Democratic and Ashford had received more funding than his opponent. Ashford narrowly lost to Republican nominee Don Bacon. Ashford was the first incumbent representative in the 2nd congressional district to lose reelection after one term in office since Eugene D. O'Sullivan in the 1950 election. During his victory speech Bacon praised Ashford as "an honorable man" and stated that he cried during Ashford's concession speech.
In 2018, Ashford accused Russian agents of hacking his emails during the 2016 election, after twelve indictments were announced by Robert Mueller. He stated that all of his email correspondence with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was obtained by Russian hackers, but he did not believe that any information was given to Bacon or his campaign.
2018
Ashford considered running against Bacon again after he voted for the American Health Care Act of 2017 which would have partially repealed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In June 2017, Ashford announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination to run against Bacon for another term. On September 20, Ashford formally announced his campaign at the Old Mattress Factory in Omaha, Nebraska, and filed to run in the election on January 30, 2018. During the campaign he received organizational and fundraising support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as a member of the Red to Blue program. Ashford was also endorsed by Giffords, a gun control advocacy organization that was founded by former representative Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly.
However, in the Democratic primary he was narrowly defeated by Kara Eastman, who criticized him for having been a member of the Republican Party in the past, despite having outraised her with $571,000 to her $356,000. In the general election Eastman was narrowly defeated by Bacon.
Committee assignments Committee on Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities
Later life and death
In February 2017, Ashford was selected to serve as the head of Midtown 2050, an Omaha development group, but resigned in April as he felt that he wasn't fit for the position.
On February 1, 2019, Ashford's wife Ann Ferlic announced that she would run for the Democratic nomination in Nebraska's 2nd congressional district. During the primary campaign Ferlic was endorsed by former senators Ben Nelson and Bob Kerrey and former lieutenant governor Kim Robak. Ferlic also claimed that she was the only electable candidate citing Kara Eastman's loss to Don Bacon in 2018. In the Democratic primary, Eastman easily defeated Ferlic with over sixty percent of the popular vote. After Ferlic's defeat in the Democratic primary the Ashfords declined to endorse Eastman. In October, Ashford endorsed his former rival Bacon over Eastman.
On August 1, 2018, Douglas County District Judge Mark Ashford, his brother, died from a stroke. In May 2019, Ashford was hospitalized after a fluid backup happened in his lungs due to blood clots. In February 2022, Ashford announced he had been diagnosed with brain cancer. He died on April 19, 2022, aged 72. He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Omaha.
Political positions
In 1988, Ashford, Jerry Chizek, and Bernice Labedz sponsored legislation that would require all video-cassettes marketed to minors to be given a rating label. The bill was created in response to complaints that Faces of Death and other graphic movies lacked warning labels.
In 1990, Ashford introduced an amendment that would allow the state legislature to confirm members of the appellate court, but it failed with twenty-one to eight voting against it.