Around 1,600 blue-clad Omahans organized a rally on Oct. 20 to create a human “blue dot” in support of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. Participants met Douglas County Democratic candidates, received slate cards and learned about the voting process and elections.
Many Central students attended the rally to make their voices heard. Among them were sophomore Norah Wessel and freshman Isabella Grace. Both heard about the event from Student Progressives club.
“I was looking for different ways that I could be involved in the community and show up in support,” Wessel said.
Attendees arrived at Memorial Park at 12 p.m. and assembled to form the dot beginning around 1 p.m. The massive human formation was captured from above by a licensed drone operator.
The dot disassembled around 1:30 p.m., and the event ended at 2 p.m. Entrance was free, and there were multiple family-friendly activities, including balloon art, face painting, food trucks and 1,000 free (blue) cookies. Additionally, there was live music by Omaha’s own DJ Hurricane Cole.
“It was very energetic and hopeful. And it was Kamala Harris’s birthday, so it was celebratory,” Grace said about the atmosphere.
“Everyone there was very nice, and everyone honestly seemed like they were having a lot of fun. Everyone there had a common goal,” Wessel said.
The rally was organized by an Omaha Facebook group called Blue Dot Energy in conjunction with the Douglas County Democratic Party. Blue Dot Energy is a group dedicated to winning Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses the course of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area, and electoral vote for Harris. The group takes its name from the blue dot yard signs popping up in Omaha.
In mid-August, Dundee couple Jason Brown and Ruth Huebner-Brown spray-painted a blue dot on a white sign and put in on their lawn. This was a sly reference to the electoral map, where Omaha shows up as a “blue dot” in an “ocean of red”.
Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that split their electoral votes. Nebraska allocates two electoral votes to the state popular vote winner, but the other three are awarded to the winner inside the boundaries of each congressional district. If enough voters inside the 2nd Congressional District back Harris for president, Omaha will turn up as the Democratic “blue dot” in Republican red Nebraska.
The blue dot’s meaning was unique to each student.
“For me personally, the blue dot symbolizes voting blue, or at least supporting, specifically turning, Omaha into the blue dot in all of Nebraska being red,” Wessel said.
“It symbolizes being able to have another option within a red state. It’s a way to have a different vote for Nebraska and keep it separate,” Grace said.
Republican neighbors have responded with their own “red dot” signs, some of which are topped with the hairstyle of former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and red state signs showing Nebraska as going fully red.
The 2nd Congressional District leans conservative, turning blue only twice since 1992—once in 2008 for Barack Obama, and again in 2020 for Joe Biden. Blue Dot Energy and other groups hope the district will turn blue again in 2024.
Wessel and Grace think the rally sends a message of community. It was a moment of pride seeing everyone show up for a cause they believed in.
“It says that we are strong. We are still a community, even if we are different. There are still different ways that the state can have different votes and still work,” Grace said.
