United States House of Representatives elections in Nebraska, 2014

United States House of Representatives elections in Nebraska, 2014
Nebraska
November 4, 2014 (2014-11-04)
All 3 Nebraska seats to the United States House of Representatives
  Majority party Minority party
 
Party Republican Democratic
Last election 3 0
Seats won 2 1
Seat change Decrease 1 Increase 1
Popular vote 340,816 185,234
Percentage 64.8% 35.2%

The 2014 U.S. House of Representatives elections in Nebraska were held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014 to elect 3 members of the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of Nebraska, one from each of the state's three congressional districts. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including the Governor of Nebraska and a United States Senator. Primary elections to determine candidates in the general election were held on Tuesday, May 13, 2014. The Members elected at this election will serve in the 114th Congress.

District 1

The 1st district encompasses most of the eastern quarter of the state and almost completely envelops the 2nd district. It includes the state capital, Lincoln, as well as the cities of Fremont, Columbus, Norfolk, Beatrice and South Sioux City. The incumbent is Republican Jeff Fortenberry, who has represented the district since 2005. He was re-elected with 68% of the vote in 2012 and the district has a PVI of R+10.

Fortenberry considered running for the United States Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mike Johanns, but ultimately announced that he would not do so and would instead seek re-election.[1]

He faced Dennis L. Parker and Jessica L. Turek in the Republican primary.[2]

Dennis Crawford, a Lincoln attorney and 2nd Associate Chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination.[3]

Primary results

Republican primary results[4]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Jeff Fortenberry 63,448 86.05
Republican Jessica L. Turek 5,892 7.99
Republican Dennis L. Parker 4,390 5.95
Total votes 73,730 100
Democratic primary results[4]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Dennis P. Crawford 24,031 100

General election

Results

Nebraska's 1st Congressional District, 2014[5]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Jeff Fortenberry (Incumbent) 123,219 68.82
Democratic Dennis Crawford 55,838 31.18
Total votes 179,057 100
Republican hold

District 2

The 2nd district is based in the Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area and includes all of Douglas County and the urbanized areas of Sarpy County. The incumbent was Republican Lee Terry, who had represented the district since 1999. He was re-elected in 2012 with 51% of the vote in the district that has a PVI of R+4.

Republican primary

Terry faced a competitive primary challenge from businessman Dan Frei, who ran to the right of Terry. Despite outspending Frei by around 20-to-1, Terry only beat him by 2,686 votes, just under 6%. After his defeat, Frei refused to endorse Terry and he and his supporters openly floated the idea of running an Independent or write-in campaign against Terry in the general election. Frei himself is ineligible to do so, having lost the primary election, but former State Senator Chip Maxwell was mentioned as a possible candidate.[6]

On May 21, 2014, Maxwell announced that he would run as an Independent. A former Republican State Senator, his party registration is presently nonpartisan. He has said that if he wins, he will rejoin the Republican Party and serve as a Republican in the House.[7] He dismissed as "hysterical" the idea that his candidacy could be a "spoiler" that conservatives are using to defeat Terry by "any means necessary", whether by Maxwell winning or by him and Terry splitting the Republican vote, thus allowing Democratic nominee Brad Ashford to win, meaning that there would be an open Republican primary for the seat in 2016.[8]

Despite collecting enough signatures to make the ballot, Maxwell withdrew from the race on July 24, saying that he had been "begged" by "high-profile" Republicans not to run and didn't want to create a "permanent rift" in the district's Republican Party. He did however say that he plans to run against Terry in the Republican primary in 2016 and noted that "I think this thing's a toss-up, even with me out of it."[9]

Candidates

Declared
Declined

Polling

Poll source Date(s)
administered		 Sample
size		 Margin of
error		 Lee
Terry		 Dan
Frei		 Other Undecided
Not disclosed* April 7–8, 2014 599 ± ? 47% 36% — 17%

Results

Republican primary results[4]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Lee Terry 25,025 52.84
Republican Dan Frei 22,339 47.16
Total votes 47,364 100

Democratic primary

After controversial comments made by Terry in October 2013, Omaha City Council President Pete Festersen, a Democrat, decided to run against Terry.[14] However, Festersen announced on December 9, 2013 that he was ending his campaign because of the difficulty in balancing the campaign with his family and city council responsibilities.[15] Democratic State Senator Brad Ashford announced his candidacy in February 2014.

Candidates

Declared
Withdrew
Declined

Results

Democratic primary results[4]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Brad Ashford 16,233 81.28
Democratic Mark Aupperle 3,739 18.72
Total votes 19,972 100

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Results

Libertarian primary results[4]
Party Candidate Votes %
Libertarian Steven Laird 76 60.32
Libertarian Andy Shambaugh 50 39.68
Total votes 126 100

Independents

Candidates

Withdrew

General election

Polling

Poll source Date(s)
administered		 Sample
size		 Margin of
error		 Lee
Terry (R)		 Brad
Ashford (D)		 Steven
Laird (L)		 Undecided
NFM Research October 21–25, 2014 365 ± 5.1% 41% 46% 6% 7%
DCCC August 14, 2014 432 ± 4.7% 45% 46% — 9%
Global Strategy Group* May 29–June 1, 2014 400 ± 4.9% 41% 41% 4% 14%

Results

Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, 2014[5]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Brad Ashford 83,872 49.03
Republican Lee Terry (Incumbent) 78,157 45.69
Libertarian Steven Laird 9,021 5.27
Total votes 171,050 100
Democratic gain from Republican

District 3

The 3rd district encompasses the western three-fourths of the state; it is one of the largest non-at-large Congressional districts in the country, covering nearly 65,000 square miles (170,000 km2), two time zones and 68.5 counties. It is mostly sparsely populated but includes the cities of Grand Island, Kearney, Hastings, North Platte and Scottsbluff. The incumbent is Republican Adrian Smith, who has represented the district since 2007. He was re-elected with 74% of the vote in 2012 and the district has a PVI of R+23.

Smith considered running for the United States Senate in 2014,[22] but declined to do so and is running for re-election.[23]

Smith was opposed in the Republican primary by retired Colonel Tom Brewer.[24] 2012 Democratic nominee Mark Sullivan ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination.[25]

Primary results

Republican primary results[4]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Adrian Smith 66,881 68.18
Republican Tom Brewer 31,215 31.82
Total votes 98,096 100
Democratic primary results[4]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Mark Sullivan 19,910 100

General election

Results

Nebraska's 3rd Congressional District, 2014[5]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Adrian Smith (Incumbent) 139,440 75.39
Democratic Mark Sullivan 45,524 24.61
Total votes 184,964 100
Republican hold

See also

References

  1. ↑ Trygstad, Kyle (May 29, 2013). "Fortenberry not Running for Senate". Roll Call. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Statewide Candidate List" (PDF). Nebraska SOS. March 4, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  3. ↑ Stoddard, Martha (October 14, 2013). "Democratic attorney Dennis Crawford to challenge Jeff Fortenberry for House seat". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 4, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 "Nebraska Secretary of State Election Results 2014". Nebraska Secretary of State. November 4, 2014. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Joseph Morton (May 16, 2014). "Conservatives opposed to Lee Terry mull options for getting independent candidate on ballot". Omaha.com. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Joseph Morton (May 21, 2014). "'I have a plan to save the country': Chip Maxwell to run against Lee Terry". Omaha.com. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  8. ↑ Robynn Tysver (May 22, 2014). "'Chip Maxwell, running for House against Lee Terry, calls spoiler theory 'hysterical'". Omaha.com. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  9. 1 2 "Maxwell drops out of 2nd District race". Lincoln Journal Star. July 24, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  10. ↑ Tysver, Robynn (3 November 2013). "Republican Dan Frei will take on Lee Terry in District 2". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  11. ↑ "Lee Terry files for re-election". Omaha World-Herald. January 18, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  12. 1 2 Young, JoAnne (July 23, 2013). "Omaha Sen. Krist will seek re-election in 2014". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  13. ↑ Beck, Margery (9 October 2013). "Terry faces possible tea party primary challenge". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  14. ↑ Tysver, Robynn (October 13, 2013). "Pete Festersen to vie for Lee Terry's congressional seat in 2014". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Golden, Erin (December 9, 2013). "Pete Festersen drops out of U.S. House race against Lee Terry". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
  16. ↑ Hammel, Paul (February 13, 2014). "State Sen. Brad Ashford to seek Lee Terry's U.S. House seat". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  17. ↑ Morton, Joseph (July 11, 2013). "Omaha Councilman Pete Festersen may try to oust Lee Terry from House seat". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  18. ↑ Duggan, Joe (January 19, 2014). "Omaha attorney David Domina first Democrat in Nebraska U.S. Senate race". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  19. ↑ Jordan, Joe (December 23, 2013). "Domina for Terry's House seat?". Nebraska Watchdog. Retrieved December 27, 2013.
  20. ↑ Jordan, Joe (July 10, 2013). "Ewing won't take second swing at Congressman Terry". Nebraska Watchdog. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  21. ↑ Jordan, Joe (June 20, 2013). "Video special: NE Dems still looking for Senate hopeful as Lathrop says its gov or bust". Nebraska Watchdog. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
  22. ↑ Raju, Manu; Reis, Patrick (February 18, 2013). "Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns to retire". Politico. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
  23. ↑ Giaritelli, Anna (October 16, 2013). "Democrats Continue to Fight Nebraska GOP's Grasp". Roll Call. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
  24. ↑ "Col. Tom Brewer eager to take on new mission: House race against Adrian Smith". Omaha.com. January 2, 2014. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
  25. ↑ Schulz, Sarah (March 16, 2013). "Sullivan running for Congress again in 2014". Grand Island Independent. Retrieved October 10, 2013.
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