For years, with few exceptions, Republicans running for Congress in the Omaha area have had some built-in protection.

[View our full video report above]

While Douglas County would lean Democrat, Sarpy County, a Republican stronghold, was seen as the GOP's firewall to victory.

But this year there's a new player in the Second District and it arguably makes the Democrats case even harder.

That new player is heavily Republican Saunders County, added during the latest redistricting by the Nebraska Legislature.

TRANSCRIPT:

As voters in Saunders County, at least a 45-minute drive from downtown Omaha, are casting their November ballots, they find themselves, for the very first time, helping decide who will win the 2nd Congressional District race, as GOP Congressman Don Bacon battles Democrat State Sen. Tony Vargas.

Joe Jordan, News Channel Nebraska: Do they have a lot in common with the majority of the people in the traditional 2^ndCongressional District, North Omaha, South Omaha, the inner city?

Rep. Don Bacon: We have ag in Sarpy County, Western Douglas, and Northern Douglas.

Saunders County is made-up of one small town after another, the largest being Wahoo with 4,600 people. Saunders was added to the 2nd District during a controversial redistricting vote by the Legislature last year.

One of those no votes, Tony Vargas.

Joe Jordan: Sounds like you didn’t want that change to occur.

State Sen. Tony Vargas: Well, I didn’t think that change in particular was representative of what we normally see Nebraska’s 2^nd District represent.

According to the Census Bureau, Saunders with 23,000 people is 97% white (96.7%), 3

% Hispanic (2.7%), and less than 1% (0.7%) Black.

Compare that to the longtime linchpin of the district, Douglas County, with nearly 600,000 people (584,526), 80 percent White (79.7%), 14 percent Hispanic (13.5%), and 11 percent Black (11.4%).

So, again.

Jordan: Is it right for the voters in Wahoo to be part of the 2^nd Congressional District?

Bacon: Well, I love having them. I do.

Jordan: Well, they’re all Republicans.

OK, not all Republicans. Look around and you’ll spot an occasional Vargas sign, like this one in Mead.

But by and large it’s one Bacon sign after another, and another.

To get a better idea of just how the Saunders County vote looms over the Bacon-Vargas race, you actually have to start here in Douglas County where in 2020, Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by 11 points.

Then in Sarpy County, Trump beat Biden by 11 points.

But in Saunders County it was a whole new story.

Donald Trump beating Joe Biden in Saunders County by 45 points.

Vargas: I’m going to make sure I’m representing every single person in the Second District, including Saunders County, Sarpy, and Douglas.

Of course, first Vargas has to win with many expecting a close race even those few votes in Saunders County matter big.

In Ashland Joe Jordan NCN.