Election 2026 by the numbers in Nebraska: a 93-county breakdown

LINCOLN — As a blue wave washed over much of the nation, Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District held firm and saw a smaller splash than the state’s eastern, more urban areas.

In two statewide races this year — U.S. Senate and governor — the Republican candidates lost two of Nebraska’s three congressional districts. The sprawling 3rd District, one of the country’s most conservative districts, which is sometimes referred to as a “firewall, carried Republicans to victory.

Trump carried Nebraska by 20.6 percentage points in 2024 and 19.2 percentage points in 2020. Still, other states Trump won by larger margins saw more wins for Democrats on Election Day 2026 than in Nebraska.

A blue wave?

Nebraska did ride part of the national wave with wins for Democratic candidates for sheriff and county attorney in Douglas and Lancaster counties and the breaking of a GOP supermajority in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature.

Statewide, one of the clearest indicators of the blue wave was the race for Nebraska governor, where Republican Gov. Jim Pillen of Columbus won by a smaller margin in 89 of 93 counties than four years ago but still safely won a second and final four-year term.

It was the closest Nebraska gubernatorial race since 1990. Pillen won by 8 percentage points this year, or about 60,000 votes as of Friday.

In all but six of Nebraska’s 93 counties, former Democratic state Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont earned a greater share of votes than then-Democratic state Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue when she faced Pillen in 2022. At the time, Pillen was an elected regent for the University of Nebraska. 

Walz’s improvement was greatest in northeast Nebraska, in Dakota and Thurston counties (where the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and Winnebago Tribe are located) and her home of Dodge County. Walz slightly underperformed Blood in Brown, Greeley, Harlan, Hooker, McPherson and Wheeler counties. Pillen expanded his winning margin in Hooker, Keya Paha, McPherson and Wheeler counties.

The overperformance meant Walz won two of three congressional districts, likely a first for any Democrat, even symbolically, since 2006. Pillen narrowly won the Omaha-area district in 2022, in part because Blood did not campaign as much in 2022 as Walz did this year. 

Walz raised more than $6 million by late October, the most for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in state history. She had support from the Democratic Governors Association, too.

In 1990, Republican Gov. Kay Orr lost reelection by about 0.6%, or 4,030 votes to Democrat Ben Nelson. Nelson would go on to safely win reelection in 1994, and he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000.

The red ‘firewall’

Nebraska had already experienced a splash, of sorts, in 2024 when registered nonpartisan Dan Osborn outperformed in his bid to unseat Republican Sen. Deb Fischer, who won by 6.7 points. Osborn returned to challenge Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., but did worse in 91 of 93 counties, and Ricketts won by more than 6 points, just slightly less than Fischer did.

In the two counties where Osborn improved his performance, Boyd and Red Willow counties, Democrat Preston Love, who faced Ricketts in 2024, did better compared to either of Osborn’s runs for office. Osborn made up some ground this time in those two counties.

Ricketts performed worse in every county than his landslide victory in 2024 over Love. Yet in 39 counties, he still earned a greater share of votes than Fischer when she faced Osborn. Two of those include Hall County, home to Grand Island, and Lincoln County, home to North Platte, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance, respectively, stumped for Ricketts and Pillen.

Nebraska has not elected a Democrat, or non-Republican, to any statewide post since 2006. At that time, Nelson won reelection over Ricketts. Ricketts would go on to win the governorship in 2014 and 2018, and Pillen appointed Ricketts to the U.S. Senate in 2023. He won a two-year term in 2024 and won a six-year term this time.

Ricketts handily won all three of Nebraska’s congressional districts in his 2024 race.

U.S. House races

For Nebraska’s three U.S. House seats, results indicate a leftward shift of nearly 17 percentage points for the 1st Congressional District and almost 18 percentage points in the 2nd Congressional District. The shift in the 3rd District was about 9.7 percentage points.

Republican Rep. Mike Flood, who won by 20.2 points in 2024 for Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, won this time by about 3.5 points against Democrat Chris Backemeyer. 

In the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District, outgoing Rep. Don Bacon, who won by 1.9 points in 2024, will be succeeded by Democrat Denise Powell. She won by nearly 16 points over Republican Brinker Harding. She’s the first Democrat to win the seat since 2014.

Out west, Republican Rep. Adrian Smith won reelection by 51.1 percentage points, a shift of 9.7 points compared to 2024. His margin shrank in every county, but some by as few as 3 or 4 percentage points.

County-by-county breakdown

Ballot measures from the past three election cycles are also included in the county-by-county breakdown below. The measures and the years they went before voters are as follows:

• Initiative Measure 432, in 2022, to require voter ID (approved).
• Initiative Measure 433, in 2022, to raise the minimum wage to $15 and provide for annual increases after (approved).
• Initiative Measure 434, in 2024, to prohibit most abortions after the first trimester (approved).
• Initiative Measure 439, in 2024, to create a right to abortion up to fetal viability (rejected).
• Referendum Measure 435, in 2024, to repeal a state law using taxpayer dollars to offset some costs of attendance at private K-12 schools (approved, law repealed).
• Initiative Measure 436, in 2024, to require most employers to offer paid sick leave for workers (approved).
• Initiative Measure 437, in 2024, to legalize medical cannabis (approved).
• Initiative Measure 438, in 2024, to create the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to regulate medical cannabis (approved).
• Initiative Measure 440, in 2026, to legalize online sports betting (rejected).
• Initiative Measure 441, in 2026, to regulate online sports betting (rejected).
• Initiative Measure 442, in 2026, to require sex-separate K-12 and collegiate sports according to students’ sex at birth (approved).
• Proposed Amendment 1, in 2026, to allow state lawmakers to serve up to three consecutive four-year terms, instead of two (rejected).