Nebraska Election Results
The midterm election was held on Tuesday, November 8. Republicans won all three congressional districts and the office of Governor. GOP candidate Jim Pillen won the gubernatorial election with 59.9% of the vote, beating his Democratic opponent state senator Carol Blood. He will take office on January 5, 2023.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon won reelection for the 2nd congressional district against his Democratic challenger, State Sen. Tony Vargas. After gaining 51.9% of the vote, Bacon will be serving his fourth term in Congress.
Republicans won the other two congressional districts, 1 and 3, with incumbents Mike Flood and Adrian Smith retaining office. Republicans also dominated in other races with Republican Mike Hilgers elected to serve as Attorney General, beating his opponent Larry Bolinger running with the Legal Marijuana Now party. Mike Foley was elected as Nebraska Auditor against L. Leroy Lopez, also running with the Legal Marijuana Now party. Republican incumbent John Murante held his office of Treasurer against Libertarian Katrina Tomsen and Secretary of State Bob Evnen ran for re-election unopposed and maintained his office.
The state voted to pass two initiatives and an amendment. Initiative No. 432, requires that voters must present valid photo identification in order to vote and passed with 66% of the vote. Initiative No. 433 will raise Nebraska’s minimum wage and passed with 58% of the vote. The initiative will raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2026 by yearly $1.50 increments and will go into effect on January 1, 2023. Nebraska Amendment 1, the Authorize Local Governments to Develop Commercial Air Travel Service Amendment, passed with 79% of the vote. It amended the state constitution to authorize cities and counties that have an airport to spend taxpayer revenue on developing commercial air travel.
Twenty-four of 49 seats in the Nebraska State Senate were up for election. Nebraska has a unicameral legislature, meaning there is only one chamber, unlike most states that have a House of Representative and Senate mirroring the federal system. Formally, the Nebraska Unicameral is nonpartisan, but most members affiliate with either the Democratic or Republican party.
Before the election, Republicans held 32 seats and Democrats had 17. The political makeup of the Legislature is important because 33 votes are needed to overturn a filibuster, a technique used by Democrats to block an abortion trigger law in April.
As of Nov. 11, it is unclear if Democrats hold onto the 17 seats needed to block initiatives with filibusters. The race in Omaha’s District 20 between John Fredrickson, a Democrat and Stu Dornan, a Republican is still undeclared. Absentee ballots counted in Douglas county on Friday placed Fredrickson ahead of Dornan by 69 votes. There are still 204 provisional ballots to be counted, but these typically favor Democrats. The race in Lincoln’s District 26 between Democrat George Dungan and Republican Russ Barger also remains too close to call. Dungan currently holds a small lead of 61 votes.
By: Aubrey Benton