Nebraska 2026 Election Results: Pillen Reelected Governor, 2nd District House Seat Flips

Nebraska voted in the 2026 midterm elections on November 3, and the results below are the collective choice of the state's voters. According to the Nebraska Secretary of State's count and Associated Press race calls, Jim Pillen was reelected governor and Pete Ricketts was reelected to the U.S. Senate. In the U.S. House, District 2 flipped from Republican to Democratic, District 3 stayed Republican, and District 1 remains uncalled. Of four statewide questions, one passed and three were rejected. The full list follows.

Governor and U.S. Senator

Governor: Jim Pillen (R, incumbent), 376,242 votes, 50.8%, reelected; the lieutenant governor, his running mate, was reelected on the same ticket. Called by the AP.

Governor, other candidates: Lynne Walz (D), 312,633 votes, 42.2%; Brett Lindstrom (America First Party), 32,592 votes, 4.4%; Rick Beard (Legal Marijuana Now Party), 19,682 votes, 2.7%.

U.S. Senator: Pete Ricketts (R, incumbent), 373,115 votes, about 50.2%, reelected to his first full six-year term. Called by the AP.

U.S. Senate, other candidates: Dan Osborn (independent), 322,625 votes, about 43.9%. Democrats fielded no candidate (their primary winner, Cindy Burbank, withdrew and backed Osborn). The state's other senator, Deb Fischer (R), was not up this year; her seat is next contested in 2030.

Other Statewide Offices

Secretary of State: Scott Petersen (R), 393,501 votes, elected, defeating Sarah Slattery (D), 293,529 votes. Called by the AP.

Attorney General: Mike Hilgers (R), elected. Called by the AP.

Treasurer: Joey Spellerberg (R), elected. Called by the AP.

Auditor: Mike Foley (R), elected — the first statewide office the AP called in Nebraska on election night. Called by the AP.

Note: except for secretary of state, individual vote totals and percentages for this section were not obtained in detail; winners only are listed, pending the official tally.

Ballot Questions

Amendment 1 (legislative term limits): would raise the limit on consecutive service in the legislature from two four-year terms (8 years) to three (12 years). Rejected: Yes 132,108 votes, 18.6%, to No 580,034. Called by the AP.

Initiative 440 (online sports betting amendment): would amend the constitution to authorize legislation allowing in-state online sports betting through licensed horseracing casino operators' internet platforms. Rejected: Yes 329,309 votes, 45.1%, to No 400,671. Called by the AP.

Initiative 441 (online sports betting regulation act): would enact the companion regulatory and tax framework for online sports betting (effective only if Initiative 440 also passed). Rejected: Yes 332,342 votes, 45.5%, to No 397,583. Called by the AP.

Initiative 442 (school sports by biological sex): would require schools to designate every team or sport expressly as male, female or coeducational (by biological sex). Passed: Yes 491,716 votes, 68.0%, to No 230,919. Called by the AP.

U.S. House

Overview: the state has 3 seats, held before the election by Republicans, 3-0.

District 1: not yet called. Leader Mike Flood (R, incumbent) has 124,881 votes, about 50.3%, to Chris Backemeyer (D) with 114,664 votes, about 46.2%. The AP status is "Too Early to Call," so only the lead is reported.

District 2: Denise Powell (D), 138,733 votes, 57.9%, elected — the first woman elected to Congress from this district. Her opponent Brinker Harding (R) took 100,895 votes. The seat was Republican before (incumbent Don Bacon retired) and flips to Democratic. Called by the AP.

District 3: Adrian Smith (R), 173,220 votes, reelected. His opponent Becky Stille (D) took 48,842 votes. Called by the AP.

Provisional makeup: one Democratic and one Republican seat called, District 1 undecided. No Chinese American or Asian American winner was found among the three districts' winners or leaders.

State Legislature

Unicameral note: Nebraska's legislature is the nation's only unicameral body, with 49 state senators and officially nonpartisan elections; this section is therefore presented in a single block rather than in two-chamber form, as the state's system requires.

Seats contested: 25 of the 49 seats were up in 2026.

Post-election status: the body is nominally nonpartisan, so control-flip concepts do not apply; unofficial partisan leanings before the election were about 33 Republican-leaning, 15 Democratic-leaning and one independent. Several districts remained too close at snapshot time, whether the Republican-leaning 33-seat filibuster-proof supermajority survives is undetermined, and exact post-election partisan numbers await certification.

Counting and Certification

Figures are from the Secretary of State's count and AP calls as of the morning of November 4 (about 92% of the expected vote in several races) and remain unofficial; county abstracts are due to the Secretary of State by November 23 and the state canvass certifies the results on November 30. Uncalled races are listed with their current leaders only, and final results are subject to official certification. GSM will update this list as the remaining races are called.

Related: 2026 midterm results: all 50 states

Source: Nebraska Secretary of State

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图片来源：内布拉斯加州议会大厦（Lincoln），摄影 Nanilluc，CC BY-SA 4.0（Wikimedia Commons）

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