Nebraskans will face a long list of choices at the ballot box on Nov. 3.
Voters will elect (or reelect) officeholders in four congressional races, six statewide constitutional offices, 25 state legislative seats, 41 college and education board positions, 25 public utility leadership seats, 182 natural resources district leaders, and one public service commissioner’s seat. Altogether, that adds up to 284 elected offices.
And if that weren’t enough, 12 ballot petition campaigns are currently collecting signatures to go before voters this fall.
Following the May 12 primary election, the candidates in many of these races are set. Below is a rundown of five key races to watch ahead of Election Day.
The “Blue Dot” — Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District
Denise Powell vs. Brinker Harding
The race to represent the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District in the US House has long captured the attention of national observers, due in part to the district’s unique political makeup.
NE-02 encompasses all of Douglas County and the vast majority of Omaha, the state’s largest city. The district also stretches into Saunders and western Sarpy counties. According to May 2026 voter registration data, of the district’s more than 421,000 registered voters, Republicans make up about 38%, Democrats 34%, nonpartisans 26%, Libertarians 1.5% and Legal Marijuana NOW voters 1.1%.
Since 2017, NE-02 has been represented by Rep. Don Bacon, a retired US Air Force brigadier general and Republican. Bacon is considered by some to be a yardstick of the GOP’s moderate wing in Congress. He announced last year he would not seek reelection in 2026.
Following a competitive and expensive primary election cycle for state Democrats, Denise Powell, a political strategist and small business owner, narrowly advanced to the general election over runner-up incumbent state Sen. John Cavanaugh and three other candidates. Powell, 47, co-founded the Women Who Run political action committee (PAC), which is focused on electing women.
On the other side of the aisle, the NE-02 Republican primary was anything but competitive. What began as a head-to-head between former state Sen. Brett Lindstrom and Omaha city councilman Brinker Harding for the nomination quickly turned into an uncontested race when Lindstrom dropped out in January, decrying the political polarization.
Harding, 65, has occupied the Omaha City Council’s District 6 seat since 2017, stretching from central to west Omaha. He works as a commercial real estate broker with the real estate firm Colliers. He also served as chief of staff to former Mayor Hal Daub from 1995 to 2000.
The Omaha-area House race is also noted as a potential indicator for the district’s mood in presidential elections, as Nebraska (alongside Maine) follows the Congressional District Method in allocating one electoral vote to each congressional district and the remaining votes to the statewide winner, totaling the state’s congressional delegation. NE-02 has been dubbed the “Blue Dot” by supporters, as the district delivered electoral college votes to Democratic candidates in 2008, 2020 and 2024.
Governor: The state’s chief executive officer
Jim Pillen vs. Lynne Walz
After successfully transitioning from University of Nebraska Regent to the state’s highest elected position four years ago, Republican Gov. Jim Pillen now seeks a second term in 2026. The incumbent aims to fend off Democratic challenger Lynne Walz, a former state senator from Fremont.
Pillen, a veterinarian who served as NU Regent for District 3 from 2013 to 2023, is one of the nation’s wealthiest hog farmers. His family’s company, Pillen Family Farms, is one of the largest pork producers in the US and markets over 2 million pigs annually.
Pillen’s first term in office has been largely defined by continued efforts to reduce property taxes, a state budget which cratered from a $1.9 billion surplus in 2023 to three consecutive years of projected deficits, and a flurry of controversial, so-called culture war issues including legislation limiting social liberties for transgender Nebraskans and several failed attempts to eliminate the “Blue Dot” by adopting a “winner-take-all” electoral system.
He has been endorsed for reelection by President Donald Trump.
Walz, a former educator with Fremont Public Schools, represented District 15 in the Nebraska Legislature from 2017 to 2025. She currently works as a realtor at Don Peterson and Associates. Prior to joining the legislature, she served on the Archbishop Bergan School Board in Fremont and as the president of Fremont Board of Realtors. She is a distant relative of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee (cousin, once removed, through her husband).
A centrist/moderate Democrat in the state’s one-house, technically nonpartisan legislature, Walz’s legislative record features support for a mix of progressive and conservative pieces of legislation.
For example, in 2023, Walz voted against legislation to prohibit gender-affirming care for LGBTQ+ Nebraskans under the age of 19, abstained from voting on legislation to provide tax-credit-funded scholarships for private schooling, and voted for Pillen’s signature tax reform bill that reduced top-end individual and corporate income taxes.
To call a Walz win an “upset” would be an understatement.
Nebraska Republicans have handily controlled the state’s executive branch for the last 27 years, since Mike Johanns was elected in 1999. His predecessor, Ben Nelson, was the last Democrat to take the office in 1991 and served two terms. This is the longest one party has remained in the governor’s office since the state was admitted to the Union, when Republicans held the position for 23 years (1867 to 1891).
US Senate
Pete Ricketts vs. Dan Osborn
In January 2023, Ben Sasse resigned as US Senator for Nebraska to become president of the University of Florida. Per Nebraska law, when a Senate seat is made vacant, the governor appoints someone to fill in. They must then win a special election to serve the remainder of the term. Sasse’s term expired in 2026.
In a controversial NE-GOP round of musical chairs, Pillen took office that year on Jan. 5, Sasse resigned on Jan. 8, and Pillen appointed his predecessor, former Gov. Pete Ricketts, to fill Sasse’s seat on Jan. 12.
Ricketts, the eldest son of TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, served as governor from 2015 to 2023. He is the ninth-richest member of Congress with an estimated net worth of $205 million. During the competitive 2022 Republican primary for governor, Ricketts spent over $1.3 million boosting Pillen, leading to a narrow win of the party’s nomination and subsequent general election. Seven days after Pillen took office, he appointed Ricketts to fill Sasse’s seat.
Ricketts won the special election to serve the remainder of Sasse’s term in 2024, defeating North Omaha community advocate Preston Love Jr.
Meanwhile, Nebraska-US Senator Deb Fischer faced her own 2024 challenger in the form of Dan Osborn, an independent candidate from Omaha with a blue-collar background in union organizing. While falling short of a win, Osborn’s working-class message overcame expectations, out-performing Democratic candidate for President Kamala Harris by more than 6 points.
Now, Ricketts, 61, is seeking reelection after serving the remainder of Sasse’s term. Unlike Sasse, who was known at times for bucking his party (at least rhetorically), Ricketts has largely aligned with President Donald Trump’s agenda. He could be said to have been a critical vote in the narrow passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (H.R. 1).
In summer 2025, Osborn announced he would make another run for Senate against Ricketts. The matchup drew immediate comparisons of class and social stratum, characterized by Osborn as: “a billionaire vs. a mechanic.”
While Osborn’s relationship with the state Democratic party had an antagonistic start in 2024, tensions eased and their political interests converged in 2026. Nebraska Democrats even backed a US Senate candidate, Cindy Burbank, in the 2026 primary, who vowed to drop from the race and give Osborn a one-on-one race with Ricketts come November.
Without the backing of a political party, Osborn has until Aug. 3 to gather enough signatures to get on the November ballot. That day is also the deadline for Burbank to withdraw/decline the nomination.
Osborn has been steadfast on avoiding alignment with either Republicans or Democrats. He’s often called the race “top vs. bottom” as opposed to “left vs. right.”
Secretary of State: The state’s top election official
Bob Evnen Out — Scott Petersen vs. Sarah Slattery
Incumbent Secretary of State Bob Evnen was soundly defeated in the Republican primary by Scott Petersen, an Omaha businessman who previously served as chairman of the Douglas County Republican Party and worked on Rep. Don Bacon’s 2016 election campaign. It was easily the biggest surprise of the May 12 statewide primary.
The Secretary of State (SOS) operates and oversees the state’s election system and handles several state business and international relations functions. Election duties include tracking candidate filings, supervising the state voter registration system, and managing statewide initiative and referendum petitions.
To win the primary, Petersen appeared to capitalize on a latent anti-incumbent bias and conspiracy of widespread election fraud in the 2020 general election. Evnen was the establishment pick, receiving endorsements from Pillen, Ricketts, Fischer, and others. The incumbent was also emphatic that Nebraska’s election system is the “gold standard.”
The GOP upset boosted the profile of Nebraska Democrats’ secretary of state nominee, Sarah Slattery, a school nutrition director and “on-and-off” lunch lady for the last 10 years. She previously ran for legislature in 2022, and now sits on the Plattsmouth Library Board and the Plattsmouth Bridge Commission.
Petersen’s coup d’etat could point toward a further-right takeover in the NEGOP. For Democrats, running against a more conservative Republican nominee could create a possible opening in a race they otherwise would have been unlikely to target.
State Legislature: District 4 – West Omaha
Brad von Gillern vs. Cindy Maxwell-Ostdiek
Lastly, returning to Nebraska’s quirky unicameral legislature, the onset of term limits has forced a culture of rapid and widespread turnover for lawmakers. Senators generally are limited to serve two consecutive four year terms—eight years total—before being ejected from the body. They can run for election again after a four year “timeout.”
In effect, half of the Nebraska Legislature is elected every two years. Because the Unicameral has 49 seats, either 24 or 25 senators go up for election in any given election cycle.
Because state Republicans maintain an exact supermajority (33 votes) in the body, the loss of even one seat could put their grip in jeopardy.
Incumbent Sen. Brad von Gillern might be one of those Republican seats that is less than safe in 2026.
Von Gillern, 65, was elected in 2022 to represent District 4, which encompasses parts of west Omaha and the Elkhorn area. He works in construction management and most recently in leadership roles at Lueder Construction until 2021. During his tenure in the Legislature, von Gillern has served as chairman on the Revenue Committee and as a member on the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee.
In the May 12 primary election, von Gillern trailed his challenger, registered nonpartisan Cindy Maxwell-Ostdiek, by 6 points. While both will advance through the jungle primary to the November general election, Maxwell-Ostdiek’s strong showing could spell a competitive race this fall.
Maxwell-Ostdiek, 58, had previously run against Von Gillern for the seat in 2022—making 2026 a rematch. She works as a small business owner in insurance and financial services with a background in HR. Maxwell-Ostdiek also serves as the president of Better Ballots Nebraska—a nonpartisan volunteer group focused on bringing open primaries and ranked-choice voting to the state.
Von Gillern has proven to be a solid conservative vote during his time in office. The median household income of District 4 is $110,500, among the highest in the state, according to a 2023 study from Open Sky Policy Institute. Trump won the district by nearly 6 points in 2024. Maxwell-Ostdiek will need to appeal to those suburban voters to pull off a win this year.
Ready to vote this fall? Good. Learn everything you need to know before casting a ballot in Nebraska’s 2026 general election here.
