Nebraskans voted Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in primary races that will help shape a state with outsized political weight in November. In the biggest fight on the ballot, state Sen. John Cavanaugh and political organizer Denise Powell were leading a crowded Democratic primary for Republican Rep. Don Bacon’s Omaha-area seat.
On the Republican side, Brinker Harding ran unopposed for the Nebraska 2nd Congressional District seat Bacon is giving up when he retires in January. That district has voted for Democrats in three of the last five presidential elections, and Donald Trump lost it in his last two presidential elections, making the contest one of the few competitive House races in a state that mostly favors Republicans.
The district matters even more in Nebraska than it would in many other states because Nebraska awards most of its electoral college votes by congressional district. That gives the Omaha-area seat national significance every four years, especially in a year when Trump won Nebraska by over 20 points in 2024.
Bacon’s retirement opens the seat for the first time in years, and Democrats have spent much of the cycle trying to turn that into an opening of their own. Cavanaugh, if he wins the primary and then the general election, would have to leave the state legislature, which would allow GOP Gov. Jim Pillen to appoint an interim replacement.
The same election day also settled the state’s Senate race. GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts defeated four primary challengers and moved a step closer to his first full term after first being nominated in 2023 to finish the rest of former GOP Sen. Ben Sasse’s term and then winning a special election in 2024. Cindy Burbank won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, according to CBS News projections, after a spring fight that had already put her ballot access in doubt.
Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen sought in March to remove Burbank from the ballot, arguing she did not meet a “good-faith” requirement. The Nebraska Supreme Court later reinstated her candidacy, leaving Democrats with a nominee in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2006.
Dan Osborn, who took on Republican incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer in 2024 and came up less than 7 points shy of her, is again part of the November picture. The Nebraska Democratic Party has endorsed Osborn for the general election even though he is running as an independent, a sign of how much attention the party is giving to a race it hopes can break a long losing streak.
Ricketts enters the fall with the advantage of a state that has leaned strongly Republican in recent statewide races. He won his 2024 race by more than 25 points against a Democratic challenger, and his victory on Tuesday showed no sign of weakness. For Democrats, the better question is whether the Omaha-area House race, the Senate contest and Osborn’s independent bid can together make Nebraska more competitive than it has been in years.
