Tony Vargas (Nebraska)
Tony Vargas (Democratic Party) was a member of the Nebraska State Senate, representing District 7. He assumed office on January 4, 2017. He left office on January 8, 2025.
Vargas (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Tony Vargas received his bachelor's degree from the University of Rochester and a graduate degree from Pace University. His career experience includes working as a teacher.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024
Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (May 14 Republican primary)
Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (May 14 Democratic primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House Nebraska District 2
Incumbent Don Bacon defeated Tony Vargas in the general election for U.S. House Nebraska District 2 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Don Bacon (R) | 50.9 | 160,198 |
![]() | Tony Vargas (D) | 49.1 | 154,369 |
Total votes: 314,567 | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Nebraska District 2
Tony Vargas advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Nebraska District 2 on May 14, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Tony Vargas | 100.0 | 39,038 |
Total votes: 39,038 | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Nebraska District 2
Incumbent Don Bacon defeated Dan Frei in the Republican primary for U.S. House Nebraska District 2 on May 14, 2024.
Total votes: 57,694 | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Vargas in this election.
Pledges
Vargas signed the following pledges.
2022
See also: Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Nebraska District 2
Incumbent Don Bacon defeated Tony Vargas in the general election for U.S. House Nebraska District 2 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Don Bacon (R) | 51.3 | 112,663 |
![]() | Tony Vargas (D) | 48.7 | 106,807 |
Total votes: 219,470 | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Nebraska District 2
Tony Vargas defeated Alisha Shelton in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Nebraska District 2 on May 10, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Tony Vargas | 68.6 | 31,930 |
![]() | Alisha Shelton | 31.4 | 14,585 |
Total votes: 46,515 | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Nebraska District 2
Incumbent Don Bacon defeated Steve Kuehl in the Republican primary for U.S. House Nebraska District 2 on May 10, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Don Bacon | 77.1 | 53,824 |
Steve Kuehl ![]() | 22.9 | 15,945 |
Total votes: 69,769 | ||||
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2020
See also: Nebraska State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Nebraska State Senate District 7
Incumbent Tony Vargas defeated Jorge Sotolongo in the general election for Nebraska State Senate District 7 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Tony Vargas (Nonpartisan) | 77.9 | 7,386 |
Jorge Sotolongo (Nonpartisan) | 22.1 | 2,098 |
Total votes: 9,484 | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Nebraska State Senate District 7
Incumbent Tony Vargas and Jorge Sotolongo advanced from the primary for Nebraska State Senate District 7 on May 12, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Tony Vargas (Nonpartisan) | 81.8 | 3,281 |
✔ | Jorge Sotolongo (Nonpartisan) | 18.2 | 731 |
Total votes: 4,012 | ||||
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2016
- See also: Nebraska State Senate elections, 2016
Elections for the Nebraska State Senate were held in 2016. The primary election took place on May 10, 2016. The general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was February 16, 2016, for incumbents. Challengers were required to file by March 1, 2016.[2]
Tony Vargas defeated John Synowiecki in the Nebraska State Senate District 7 general election.[3][4]
Nebraska State Senate, District 7 General Election, 2016 | ||
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Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
![]() |
61.75% | 5,244 |
John Synowiecki | 38.25% | 3,248 |
Total Votes | 8,492 | |
Source: Nebraska Secretary of State |
Tony Vargas and John Synowiecki defeated incumbent Nicole Fox in the Nebraska State Senate District 7 primary.[5][6]
Nebraska State Senate, District 7 Primary, 2016 | ||
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Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
![]() |
45.35% | 1,220 |
![]() |
27.70% | 745 |
Nicole Fox Incumbent | 26.95% | 725 |
Total Votes | 2,690 |
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Tony Vargas did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign website
Vargas' campaign website stated the following:
“ |
Healthcare
REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM
ECONOMY & JOBS
PROTECTING OUR DEMOCRACY
EDUCATION
CLEAN ENERGY
VETERANS Tony believes that it is our duty to ensure that we provide for veterans during and after their service. Our men and women in uniform, together with their families, make incredible sacrifices to protect our country and way of life. It is our duty to ensure that we provide for them during and after their service. That means fully funding veterans’ programs and the VA, while expanding its mission and services provided. In particular, we must do more to help veterans transition back into civilian life with more skills training and job placement, and more timely and accessible health care. No one should have to wait months for the physical and mental health care they were promised when they signed up to serve. In the Legislature, I passed bills to fast-track teacher certifications for military spouses who are teachers moving in state, and to give veterans automatic admission to any of our in-state higher education institutions. [7] |
” |
—Tony Vargas' campaign website (2024)[8] |
2022
Tony Vargas did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign website
Shelton's campaign website stated the following:
“ |
Healthcare
REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM
ECONOMY & JOBS
PROTECTING OUR DEMOCRACY
EDUCATION
CLEAN ENERGY
VETERANS Tony believes that it is our duty to ensure that we provide for veterans during and after their service. Our men and women in uniform, together with their families, make incredible sacrifices to protect our country and way of life. It is our duty to ensure that we provide for them during and after their service. That means fully funding veterans’ programs and the VA, while expanding its mission and services provided. In particular, we must do more to help veterans transition back into civilian life with more skills training and job placement, and more timely and accessible health care. No one should have to wait months for the physical and mental health care they were promised when they signed up to serve. In the Legislature, I passed bills to fast-track teacher certifications for military spouses who are teachers moving in state, and to give veterans automatic admission to any of our in-state higher education institutions.[7] |
” |
—Tony Vargas' campaign website (2022)[9] |
2020
Tony Vargas did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2016
Vargas' website highlighted the following campaign themes:[10]
People, Jobs, and the Economy
- Excerpt: "Tony believes the best way to support community development is by supporting our greatest asset -- our people."
Education and Youth Development
- Excerpt: "Tony believes that every Nebraska child should have equitable access to dynamic, high quality education that prepares each of them for college or a career."
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Vargas was assigned to the following committees:
2021-2022
Vargas was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
Vargas was assigned to the following committees:
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
Nebraska committee assignments, 2017 |
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• Appropriations |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Nebraska scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
In 2024, the Nebraska State Legislature was in session from January 3 to April 18. A special session took place from July 25, 2024 to August 14, 2024.
- Legislators are scored on children's issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
2023
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Nebraska State Legislature was in session from January 4 to June 1.
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2022
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Nebraska State Legislature was in session from January 5 to April 20.
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2021
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Nebraska State Legislature was in session from January 6 to May 27.
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2020
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Nebraska State Legislature was in session from January 8 to August 13.
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2019
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature was in its 107th Legislature, 1st session from January 9 through May 31.
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2018
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature was in its 106th Legislature, 2nd session from January 3 to April 18.
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2017
To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature was in its 105th Legislature, 1st session from January 4 to May 23.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
Candidate U.S. House Nebraska District 2 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Tony Vargas for Congress, "About," accessed April 24, 2024
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, "Official Election Calendar," accessed December 7, 2015
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, "Statewide Candidate List for general election," accessed August 19, 2016
- ↑ Nebraska Secetary of State, "General election results, 2016," accessed December 21, 2016
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, "Statewide Candidate List," accessed May 16, 2016
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, "Primary Election May 10, 2016," accessed October 14, 2016
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Tony Vargas' campaign website, “Issues,” accessed April 24, 2024
- ↑ Vargas for Nebraska, “Issues,” accessed March 24, 2022
- ↑ vargasfornebraska.com, "Issues," accessed April 19, 2016
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by Nicole Fox |
Nebraska State Senate District 7 2017-2025 |
Succeeded by Dunixi Guereca (D) |
Preceded by - |
Omaha Public Schools Board of Education Subdistrict 9 2013-2016 |
Succeeded by - |