Five days until Nebraska’s primary

By

Mercedes Yanora

Welcome to the Thursday, May 9, Brew. 

By: Mercedes Yanora

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. Five days until Nebraska’s primary 
  2. Democratic state legislative incumbents lose primaries in Indiana – decade first
  3. Uncontested elections: rural Wisconsin as a case study – our latest episode of On the Ballot

Five days until Nebraska’s primary 

Continuing our preview of May’s busy primary season, today we look at Nebraska, which is holding primaries for congressional, state legislative, state executive, and local offices on Tuesday, May 14. 

Voters will decide two Senate primaries (one being a special election to fill the remainder of former Sen. Ben Sasse’s (R) term) and three U.S. House primaries. Currently, Republicans hold both U.S. Senate seats and all three U.S. House districts. Let’s dig deeper into these congressional primaries. 

U.S. Senate

Two Republicans are seeking the Republican nomination and two candidates are running for the Legal Marijuana Now Party nomination. There is no Democratic primary. 

In the special primary, three Republicans are vying for the nomination, while one Democrat is running in the Democratic primary. 

Incumbents are running in both primaries: Sen. Deb Fischer (R) in the regular and Pete Ricketts (R) (Sasse’s appointed replacement) in the special. In the 2018 election, Fischer defeated Jane Raybould (D) 57.7%-38.6%.  

U.S. House 

Eleven candidates are running for Nebraska’s three U.S. House districts, including four Democrats and seven Republicans. That’s an average of 3.7 candidates per district. There was an average of five candidates per district in 2022 and 4.7 in 2020

Here are some other highlights from this year’s filings:

  • Incumbents are running in every district.
  • Five candidates — two Democrats and three Republicans — are running for the 3rd Congressional District, the most candidates running for a district this year.
  • Four primaries — one Democratic and three Republican — are contested this year. Six primaries were contested in 2022, four primaries were contested in 2020, and three were in 2018.
  • All incumbents have primary challengers this year. The last time this happened was in 2014.
  • Candidates are running in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all three districts, meaning no seats are guaranteed to either party.

Now, let’s move on to state-level primaries, beginning with Nebraska’s unicameral legislature. 

Nebraska state Senate 

Currently, Republicans hold 33 of 49 state Senate districts, while Democrats hold 15 and one nonpartisan legislator holds the other.

Nebraska’s legislative elections are officially nonpartisan, and the candidates do not run with party labels. However, almost all legislators are affiliated with either the Democratic or the Republican Party. Both parties explicitly endorse candidates for legislative seats. Ballotpedia collects information from numerous sources and cross-matches the information for candidates to determine their political affiliation. 

Nebraska legislators are limited to two four-year terms. There are 25 legislative seats up for election this year. Fifteen incumbents (five Democrats and 10 Republicans) are not running for re-election. Thirteen of the 15 retiring incumbents are term-limited. Two other retiring incumbents, Carol Blood (D-3) and Tony Vargas (D-7), are running for Congress.

The 15 retirees this year are the most since 2014, when 17 incumbents (eight Democrats, eight Republicans, and one independent) retired. 

State executive 

Ten state executive offices are up for election this year:

Local primaries

  • Municipal: We are covering elections in the city of Omaha, Douglas County, and Lancaster County.
    • Omaha – Public power district.
    • Douglas County – County clerk, county public defender, county commissioner, community college board, educational service unit board, learning community coordinating council board, metropolitan utilities district board, natural resources district board, regional transportation board, county court judges, county district court judges, Nebraska workers’ compensation court judge, and separate juvenile court judges.
    • Lancaster County – County commissioners, community college board, educational service unit board, natural resources district boards, county court judges, county district court judges, Nebraska workers’ compensation court judge, and separate juvenile court judges.
  • School board:

Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming are also holding elections on May 14. To view more upcoming election dates, see our elections calendar.  

Keep reading

Democratic state legislative incumbents lose primaries in Indiana – decade first 

Note: Vote percentages below may change as more votes are counted.

Indiana held primaries for congressional, state, and local offices on Tuesday. Below are some notable results. 

U.S. Senate

Valerie McCray (D) defeated Marc Carmichael (D) in the Democratic primary 67.9%-32.1%. The Republican primary was uncontested, therefore, the general election will be between U.S. Rep. Jim Banks (R) and McCray.

U.S. House

Voters decided primaries for all nine of the state’s U.S. House districts. Going into the primary, Indiana’s House delegation had seven Republicans and two Democrats. 

We covered the Republican primaries in House Districts 3, 5, and 8 as battlegrounds. 

  • District 3:
    • Marlin A. Stutzman (R) defeated seven other candidates with 24.2% of the vote. Incumbent Jim Banks (R) is running for the U.S. Senate. This is the first open race in the district since 2016. Stutzman and Kiley Adolph (D) will be on the ballot in November.
  • District 5:
    • Incumbent Victoria Spartz (R) defeated eight other candidates with 39.1% of the vote. Chuck Goodrich (R), the second-place finisher, secured 33.2% of the vote. Spartz had initially announced her retirement before rejoining the race on Feb. 5, 2024. Spartz and Deborah A. Pickett (D) will be on the ballot in November. 
  • District 8:
    • Mark Messmer (R) defeated seven other candidates with 38.3% of the vote. Incumbent Larry Bucshon (R) is retiring from public office. This is the first open race in the district since 2016. Messmer and Erik Hurt (D) will be on the ballot in November.

Governor of Indiana

Incumbent Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) is term-limited.

U.S. Sen. Mike Braun (R) defeated five others in the primary with 39.5% of the vote. Suzanne Crouch (R), the second-place finisher, secured 21.9% of the vote. The Democratic primary was uncontested, therefore, the general election will be between Jennifer McCormick (D) and Braun.

Democratic and Republican nominees for the state’s lieutenant governor and attorney general races will be selected during their respective party conventions this summer.

State legislature 

All 100 seats in the Indiana House and 25 of the 50 seats in the Indiana Senate are up for election this year. Indiana has had a Republican trifecta since the party won control of the House in 2011. Heading into the election, Republicans had a 70-30 majority in the House and a 40-10 majority in the Senate. 

Twenty-two House incumbents — 19 Republicans and three Democrats — faced primary challengers. Two incumbents lost their primaries: Ragen Hatcher (D-3) and Sharon Negele (R-13). 

Seven Senate incumbents — five Republicans and two Democrats — faced primary challengers. One incumbent lost their primary: David Vinzant (D-3).

This was the first time in a decade that a Democratic incumbent lost in a primary.

Compared to the other eight states that have held legislative primaries this year, Indiana has the fourth largest number of defeated incumbents. Texas has the most with nine, while in Arkansas and California, no incumbents lost. 

The state with the most defeats, Texas, and one of the states with the least defeats, California, had the highest rates of incumbents in contested primaries. In California, 46% of incumbents faced primary challengers. That percentage was 40% in Texas. For Indiana, a quarter of incumbents faced primary challengers, while that percentage was 10% in Arkansas. 

Keep reading 

Uncontested elections: rural Wisconsin as a case study – our latest episode of On the Ballot 

On today’s episode of On the Ballot, Ballotpedia’s weekly podcast, Local Elections Project Manager Doug Kronaizl interviews The Appleton Post-Crescent’s Sophia Voight about her reporting on uncontested elections in rural Wisconsin. 

An uncontested election is one where the number of candidates running is less than or equal to the number of seats up for election. Last week, we reported uncontested election numbers from April. In Wisconsin, there were about 3,600 elections on April 2, about 2,600 of which – or 72% – were uncontested. Looking beyond Wisconsin, we’ve found that three of every four elections we’ve covered have gone uncontested across the country this year.  

Why is that? We dive deeper into this question and others on the episode. For example, Kronaizl and Voight discuss what makes uncontested rural elections unique, voter turnout in these elections, what municipalities do when not enough people run for these seats, and what, if anything, are state and local organizations doing to promote participation in local politics.  

Remember, new episodes of On the Ballot drop every Thursday morning. If you’re reading this on May 9, there’s still time to subscribe on YouTube or your preferred podcast app and catch this episode on Wisconsin’s uncontested elections!
Listen here