Democrat · Nebraska's 2nd District · 2026
Denise Powell
Powell worked in communications for PepsiCo and Hilton before turning toward Nebraska's schools and local politics.
Biography
Denise Powell's first event for Women Who Run Nebraska was in her living room: she recalls inviting 10 women running for office and having 200 people show up.1 The daughter of Cuban and Chilean immigrants, she grew up in southern Florida as one of five daughters.1 She and her husband, Hobson, have two children.1
After studying communications and political science at the University of Miami, Powell worked in corporate communications and marketing, including jobs with PepsiCo and Hilton Hotels.1 She moved to Omaha with her husband in 2009 and became communications director for Nebraska Loves Public Schools.1
She cofounded Women Who Run Nebraska in 2017 to support women seeking political office and owns She's Electable, a business supporting that candidate work.1 Powell links her reproductive rights advocacy to surviving a ruptured ectopic pregnancy in 2012.1 Her platform supports national abortion rights legislation, contraception protections and expanded insurance coverage for fertility treatments.2
Powell faces Republican Brinker Harding and Libertarian Eric Michael Foreman for the seat Republican Don Bacon is leaving.31 She proposes broader Medicare drug price negotiations, an insulin cost cap for everyone, investment in childcare and more affordable housing.2 She favors citizenship pathways for longtime immigrants and needed workers, alongside investment in border personnel and technology.2
Record and controversies
Consulting work and funding allegations
In October 2026, Harding questioned Powell's consulting work for two funds in a network linked to Nebraska litigation over ballot measure financing.4 WOWT reported that those funds and her groups were not defendants.4 Her campaign said she handled organizing and communications, had no fundraising role and knew nothing about funding sources several layers removed from her clients.4