Mike Flood secured another term in the Lincoln-area district after his challenger conceded. Voters also rejected online sports betting and backed a school sports constitutional amendment.
By Hola Nebraska
Unofficial vote totals as of November 4, 2026, at 5:58 a.m. CT. Subsequent race calls are identified separately.
Democrat Denise Powell won Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in the November 3, 2026, election, flipping the Omaha-area U.S. House seat held by Republican Don Bacon. The Associated Press also called the governor’s race for Republican incumbent Jim Pillen and the U.S. Senate race for Republican incumbent Pete Ricketts. The vote counts remain unofficial pending certification.
The Nebraska Secretary of State’s results, last updated at 5:58 a.m. Central Time on November 4, showed 99.02% of precincts fully reporting. The figures below use that common snapshot; a later concession established the outcome of the Lincoln-area congressional race.
Denise Powell flips Omaha’s House seat with 56.4% of the vote
Powell received 138,733 votes (56.4%), compared with 100,895 (41.0%) for Republican Brinker Harding and 6,310 (2.6%) for Libertarian Eric Michael Foreman. All 334 precincts in the 2nd District were fully reporting, giving Powell a lead of 37,838 votes in the official preliminary congressional tally. Harding conceded Tuesday night.
Powell will become the first woman to represent Nebraska’s 2nd District and the first Latina elected to Congress from Nebraska, according to KETV’s election reporting. Bacon, a Republican who has represented the district since 2017, did not seek reelection. The district’s last Democratic representative was Brad Ashford, who served until January 2017.
Powell campaigned on rising household costs, health care and immigration policy. She previously worked on Nebraska campaigns to raise the minimum wage and establish paid sick leave. Her election changes the district’s representation in Washington; any changes to federal policy would require legislative action.
Jim Pillen wins governor’s race; Pete Ricketts takes full Senate term
Republican Gov. Jim Pillen won reelection against Democratic challenger Lynne Walz. The unofficial tally recorded 373,465 votes (50.7%) for Pillen and Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly, compared with 311,363 (42.3%) for Walz and running mate Ben Steffen. America First candidate Brett Lindstrom received 32,362 votes, while Legal Marijuana NOW candidate Rick Beard received 19,532.
Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts defeated independent Dan Osborn in a race called by the Associated Press. Ricketts led with 370,411 votes (50.4%), compared with 321,218 (43.7%) for Osborn, who qualified for the ballot by petition. Three additional candidates received the remaining votes.
Ricketts was appointed to the Senate in 2023 and won a special election in 2024. This election gives him his first full six-year term. Osborn, a former union leader, also ran for the Senate against Deb Fischer in 2024.
Mike Flood retains Lincoln-area seat; Adrian Smith wins District 3
Republican Mike Flood won reelection in the 1st Congressional District after Democratic challenger Chris Backemeyer conceded on Wednesday morning, November 4, according to KLIN’s reporting from the Nebraska Republican Party event. Flood had 122,874 votes (50.1%) to Backemeyer’s 113,806 (46.4%), a lead of 9,068 votes in the state’s morning tally. Nine of the district’s 438 precincts were still listed as partially reporting at that cutoff.
The 1st District includes Lincoln and other communities in eastern Nebraska. In the 3rd District, which includes Grand Island and much of central and western Nebraska, Republican incumbent Adrian Smith won reelection. He recorded 172,321 votes, compared with 48,495 for Democratic challenger Becky Kelly Stille, with three other candidates on the ballot.
Two sports betting initiatives fail; school sports amendment passes
Nebraska voters decided four statewide ballot questions. The Secretary of State’s preliminary ballot measure returns showed:
- Initiative 440 — online sports wagering authorization: 398,412 votes against (54.9%) and 327,203 in favor (45.1%). It would have amended the Nebraska Constitution to permit legislation authorizing online sports wagering.
- Initiative 441 — online sports wagering regulation: 395,330 against (54.5%) and 330,231 in favor (45.5%). The companion proposal would have established authority to regulate online sports betting. The two measures’ defeat leaves that proposed expansion unapproved.
- Initiative 442 — school and college sports: 488,432 in favor (68.0%) and 229,868 against (32.0%). The amendment would require teams to be classified by biological sex or as coed and bar students classified as male from female-designated teams, including at public schools and qualifying private institutions.
- Constitutional Amendment 1 — legislative term limits: 576,504 against (81.4%) and 131,396 in favor (18.6%). The rejected proposal would have allowed Nebraska state senators to serve three consecutive four-year terms instead of two.
The school sports amendment would place sex-based participation restrictions in the state Constitution. Nebraska already enacted related rules through the 2025 Stand With Women Act (LB89). The restrictions exclude transgender girls and women from female-designated teams under the law’s sex-based criteria. The proposed constitutional language would be harder to change through ordinary legislation.
Nebraska already permits in-person sports betting at authorized racetrack casinos. The rejected Initiatives 440 and 441 concerned online wagering, not the existing in-person system.
Nearly 748,000 ballots cast; more votes scheduled in Lancaster County
The state reported 747,555 ballots cast, or 59.09% of 1,265,162 registered voters, in its November 4 morning update. Of 1,322 precincts statewide, 1,309 had fully reported and 12 had partially reported. Those figures do not represent certified final turnout.
In Lincoln’s Lancaster County, election officials scheduled approximately 6,000 remaining early ballots for counting on Friday, November 6, followed by about 3,000 provisional ballots on Friday, November 13. The county election results schedule lists both planned counts. Official certification will establish final results and margins.
Related: Nebraska Election Day 2026: Where to Vote, Hours and Photo ID.
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