In 1995, Ashford and his wife supported Chuck Hagel in the Senate election and sponsored his fundraisers as he supported a ban on the sale of assault weapon and opposed abortion except in the cases of rape, incest, or threat to the mother's life. However, they withdrew their support after Hagel changed his positions to repealing assault weapon bans and being against abortion in all cases except for a threat to the mother's life. During the 1996 Republican presidential primaries he supported Steve Forbes and ran as one of his delegates from the 2nd Congressional district. In 1997, he became a lobbyist to the Nebraska Unicameral and earned $500.