Nebraska US Senate 2026
Election day is November 3, 2026. A statewide contest in Nebraska.
Who is favoured in Nebraska US Senate?
Run the forecaster to pull current reporting on this race, score it issue by issue, and see who it favours.
What the Nebraska US Senate election decides
The Senate confirms federal judges and cabinet officers, ratifies treaties, and can stop legislation the House passes. With a six-year term and a hundred-member chamber, a single seat is a larger share of the institution than any House district, which is why Senate races draw national money into state contests.
Each state sends two senators regardless of population, so this seat carries the same weight as California's or Wyoming's. Nebraska voters fill it alongside all 3 of the state's House seats and the governorship, and a Senate term runs six years, spanning two future Congresses and, in this case, the next presidential election.
How Nebraska votes
Nebraska is a strongly Republican farm and rail state that allocates electoral votes by congressional district, which keeps the Omaha-based district nationally relevant. Its unicameral, officially nonpartisan legislature is unique in the country. That backdrop is the ground any Nebraska campaign fights on, and it is what the Electorate HQ simulation reads first when it weighs a ticket's platform against this contest.
About this race
The 2026 United States Senate election in Nebraska was held on November 3, 2026, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Nebraska. Republican incumbent Pete Ricketts won his first full term, defeating independent former union leader Dan Osborn.
Primary elections were held on May 12. Ricketts, who was appointed in 2023 and elected to a shortened term in a special race the following year, won the Republican nomination with 81.8% of the vote against minimal opposition. Following his competitive 2024 campaign, Osborn was endorsed by the Nebraska Democratic Party, but pastor William Forbes sought the nomination amid spoiler accusations. In response, former pharmacy technician Cindy Burbank launched a primary candidacy supported by the party and defeated Forbes with 89.2% of the vote before dropping out to support Osborn.
Background
Latest coverage of the Nebraska US Senate race
Live Results: Pete Ricketts wins Nebraska Senate electionElection Night 2026: Nebraska voters send Ricketts back to WashingtonNebraska races to watch for the 2026 midtermsDemocrats eye Nebraska as an opportunity to take a Senate seat away from RepublicansNebraska 2026 U.S. Senate Race Candidates📈 Nebraska tests if an independent can win in a deep-red stateThe rest of the Nebraska ballot
Every Nebraska House district, the counties inside each one, and an address lookup that resolves your exact districts are on the Nebraska state page.
Other 2026 races in Nebraska
Analysis covering Nebraska
Nebraska's 3rd district contains 79 counties. Forty-four states contain fewer.
A portrait of the most county-dense district in the country, and what a 79-county constituency does to the arithmetic of campaigning.
One seat covers 34 square kilometres. One seat covers 1,713,379.
New York's 12th and Alaska's at-large seat each elect one member of the House. On the ground, one is fifty thousand times the size of the other.