Ewing winning was a surprise. Ewing winning by 13 points was a shock.
But, it's not really a repudiation of MAGA and it is definitely not a sign that the Democratic Party is getting their shit together.
Stothert wasn't MAGA. She was vocal about not voting for Trump in 2016. As far as I know, she never bent the knee. Her loss may be an indication that it is getting harder for non-MAGA Republicans to survive. (She did have other issues, like spending enough time in St. Louis, where her boyfriend lived, that there was accusations that she didn't really live in Omaha.)
As far as the Dems go, the State Party showed their incompetence by coordinating with another Republican candidate during the primaries on some anti-Stothert attack ads. The backstory is that McDonnell was Dem State Senator, who voted for the abortion bill, got enough blowback that he switched to Republican, but was the deciding vote against switching to winner-take-all for the 2024 Presidential election. The mayoral race is a non-partisan, top two advance, primary. So, there was a decent chance that two Republicans - McDonnell and Stothert - would have been the only general election candidates, and the Nebraska State Democratic Party was coordinating with one of them. That is soooo fucked up.
But the good guy won. And John Ewing is the good guy. I've liked him since he was the county treasurer and he overhauled the car registration process to make it easier. Just simple, non-partisan, efforts to make your life better. Granted, I may be giving him credit for something technology enabled, but I still like him. And it may demonstrate a changing of the guard in Omaha. It's not that unusual for Omaha to have a Democratic mayor, but they are all that old Irish-mob-political-machine type. I think a lot of that base has eroded with reshifting with MAGA. Being the first black mayor should not be underestimated.