Warren Buffett’s front yard could matter in a close presidential election

The signs, a grassroots effort started recently in the Berkshire Hathaway chairman’s neighborhood, have no words. Just dots. They ooze Midwestern understatement and have emerged as a symbol of solidarity for Democrats living amid a sea of Nebraska’s Republican red.

Buffett’s past backing of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have made his Democratic neighbors hopeful, even a bit zealous. One went so far as to send Buffett a handwritten letter to ask him to display one of the signs. His more politically active daughter, Omaha philanthropist Susan Buffett, had two put in her yard last weekend.

Jason Brown, who lives mere blocks from Buffett, is the mastermind behind the blue-dot signs. He said watching the Democratic National Convention on television sparked the idea. What started out as a single sign has proliferated into thousands across Omaha and beyond.

The blue dots are heavily concentrated in Buffett’s neighborhood, an upscale area west of downtown filled with older homes. Initially, some residents were perplexed, thinking the signs were baby boy birth announcements or something more mundane.

“I thought it had to do with the pipes," said Sherry Mead, who at first took them for some kind of utility marking, perhaps related to a lead-pipe replacement project. The retired healthcare professional now has a blue dot in her yard. “It’s a way to talk to your neighbors," she added. “This is an important event—this election—and we need to get people to unite and do it in a nonaggressive way."

Brown, who owns rental properties and runs a workplace-consulting business with his wife, said he wanted to educate neighbors on their vote’s potential power in a close presidential election. Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that award electoral votes by congressional district, rather than statewide winner-take-all.

While Nebraska hasn’t backed a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964, the 2nd District has proven more competitive, largely due to Omaha’s independent streak. Democrats optimistically call the area “the blue dot."

Connecting the dots

This single electoral vote could potentially clinch the presidency for Harris, if she triumphs in the battlegrounds of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, while holding all reliable Democratic states. Democrats won the district’s vote in 2008 and 2020, while Republicans did in 2012 and 2016.More than 5,000 blue-dot signs have been distributed so far, Brown and his wife, Ruth Huebner-Brown, said during an interview at their dining room table. They were surrounded by blue-dot stickers, blue balls and other related items.

They ask for a contribution of $10 to cover expenses and have vowed to donate any profits. Brown has hand painted the signs, along with two neighbors down the block and others who watched videos on how to make them. Overwhelmed by demand, they recently commissioned a commercial printer to produce 5,000 more signs.

Karen Conn, a retired real-estate agent and longtime neighborhood resident, was among the first sign-making volunteers. She wrote to Buffett: “I told him we would be honored if he would consider putting a sign in his yard."

Huebner-Brown concedes that is likely a “pie in the sky wish." Yet given Buffett’s past criticism of former President Donald Trump, and the potential significance of his congressional district, the activists remain hopeful.

Neighborhood Republicans and independents seem to be mostly taking the blue-dot invasion in stride.

‘She told me not to be an A-hole’

“I told my wife I might put a red dot out to see what kind of reception I’d get, but she told me not to be an A-hole," said Stan Corbin, a retired Air Force translator and military contractor who considers himself an independent. 

Whitney Taylor, a Republican who lives near Buffett, displays a Trump sign and a photo of the former president’s head in her yard. While she considers her famous neighbor “very liberal," she suspects he won’t place a blue-dot sign in his yard because he won’t want to offend his financial followers. Through an assistant, Buffett declined to comment.

Buffett, 94, hasn’t donated to any federal candidate or committee since 2019, records show. Neighbors occasionally see Buffett, whose Republican father represented the area in Congress, coming and going. His presence goes mostly unnoticed, except during the annual Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting when thousands descend on Omaha, and some fans stop by to snap photos of the Wall Street wizard’s home. Republicans have sought to change Nebraska law and implement statewide winner-take-all rules, but those efforts have failed and seem less likely the closer the election gets. Trump benefited in 2016 and 2020 from having Maine, a blue state, distribute its electoral votes by congressional district.

Huebner-Brown said the sign’s minimalist design is helping lower the political temperature. “You can’t be too angry at a happy little dot," she said.

Write to John McCormick at mccormick.john@wsj.com