On August 14, 1993, Ashford announced that he would not seek reelection to the state legislature and that he was interested in running for the Republican nomination in Nebraska's 2nd congressional district. On October 2, he formally announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination in the district and stated that his priories would be to ban military-style assault weapons and focus on jobs and welfare reform. In the Republican primary he lost to Jon Lynn Christensen, who received over fifty percent of the popular vote, and narrowly came ahead of Ronald L. Staskiewicz. During the primary campaign he raised $145,715.00 and spent $146,002.00.