2018 Nebraska gubernatorial election

See also: 2018 United States gubernatorial elections

The 2018 Nebraska gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the governor of Nebraska, concurrently with the election of Nebraska's Class I U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various Nebraska and local elections. Incumbent Republican governor Pete Ricketts won re-election to a second term.^[2]

2018 Nebraska gubernatorial election

← 2014 November 6, 2018 2022 →
Turnout	57.95%[1]
Nominee Pete Ricketts Bob Krist Party Republican Democratic Running mate Mike Foley Lynne Walz Popular vote 411,812 286,169 Percentage 59.00% 41.00%
County results Congressional district results Precinct results Ricketts:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Krist:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Tie:      50%      No votes
Governor before election Pete Ricketts Republican Elected Governor Pete Ricketts Republican

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Krystal Gabel, writer, candidate for Metropolitan Utilities District in 2016 and candidate for Omaha City Council in 2017^[3][4]
• Pete Ricketts, incumbent governor^[2][5]

• Running mate: Mike Foley, incumbent lieutenant governor^[5]

Declined

• Mike Flood, former speaker of the Nebraska Legislature^[6]
• Bob Krist, state senator (running as a Democrat)^[7][8]

Endorsements

Pete Ricketts

Organizations

• Nebraska Farm Bureau^[9]
• NRA Political Victory Fund^[10]

Results

Results by county:

  Ricketts—>90%

  Ricketts—80–90%

  Ricketts—70–80%

  Ricketts—60–70%

Republican primary results^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Pete Ricketts (inc.)	138,292	81.42%
	Republican	Krystal Gabel	31,568	18.58%
Total votes			169,860	100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Tyler Davis, University of Nebraska, Omaha instructor^[12]
• Bob Krist, state senator^[13]

• Running mate: Lynne Walz, state senator^[14]

• Vanessa Gayle Ward, activist^[13]

Declined

• Chuck Hassebrook, former regent of the University of Nebraska and nominee for governor in 2014 (running for the legislature)^[15][16]
• Steve Lathrop, former state senator (running for the legislature)^[15][17]

Endorsements

Bob Krist

State legislators

• Burke Harr, Nebraska Legislature 8th District^[18]

Mayors

• Chris Beutler, Lincoln^[18]

Federal-level politicians

• Brad Ashford, former congressman

Results

Results by county:

  Krist—70–80%

  Krist—60–70%

  Krist—50–60%

  Krist—40–50%

  Krist—<40%

  Tie

  Ward—40–50%

  Ward—50–60%

Democratic primary results^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bob Krist	54,992	59.81%
	Democratic	Vanessa Gayle Ward	26,478	28.80%
	Democratic	Tyler A. Davis	10,472	11.39%
Total votes			91,942	100.00%

Independents

State Senator Bob Krist announced in September 2017 that he had left the Republican Party in order to mount a third party challenge against Governor Ricketts.^[8] Krist planned to create a new party in order to run, which would require submitting 5,000 signatures to qualify the party for the ballot.^[8] However, in February 2018 he abandoned his independent candidacy and became a Democrat.

Candidates

Withdrawn

• Bob Krist, state senator (running as a Democrat)^[8]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[19]	Safe R	October 26, 2018
The Washington Post[20]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
FiveThirtyEight[21]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
Rothenberg Political Report[22]	Safe R	November 1, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball[23]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
RealClearPolitics[24]	Safe R	November 4, 2018
Daily Kos[25]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
Fox News[26][a]	Likely R	November 5, 2018
Politico[27]	Safe R	November 5, 2018
Governing[28]	Safe R	November 5, 2018

Notes

1. The Fox News Midterm Power Rankings uniquely does not contain a category for Safe/Solid races

Debates

Host network/sponsors	Date	Link(s)	Participants
			Bob Krist (D)	Pete Ricketts (R)
KMTV-TV	August 30, 2018 3:00 pm MDT	[29]	Invited	Invited

Results

2018 Nebraska gubernatorial election^[30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Pete Ricketts (inc.)	411,812	59.00%	+1.85%
	Democratic	Bob Krist	286,169	41.00%	+1.77%
Majority			125,643	18.00%	+0.08%
Total votes			697,981	100.0%
	Republican hold

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Burt (largest village: Tekamah)
• Saline (largest city: Crete)
• Thurston (largest village: Pender)

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Douglas (largest city: Omaha)

By congressional district

Rickets won two of three congressional districts, with Krist winning the remaining one, which elected a Republican.^[31]

District	Ricketts	Krist	Representative
1st	56%	44%	Jeff Fortenberry
2nd	49%	51%	Don Bacon
3rd	74%	26%	Adrian Smith

See also

• Nebraska elections, 2018