1978 Nebraska gubernatorial election

1978 Nebraska gubernatorial election

←  1974 November 7, 1978 1982  →

Nominee Charles Thone Gerald T. Whelan Party Republican Democratic Running mate Roland Luedtke Orval Keyes Popular vote 275,473 216,754 Percentage 55.9% 44.0%

County results Thone:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%      80–90% Whelan:     50–60%     60–70%

Governor before election J. James Exon Democratic Elected Governor Charles Thone Republican

The 1978 Nebraska gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1978, and featured U.S. Representative Charles Thone, a Republican, defeating Democratic nominee, Lieutenant Governor Gerald T. Whelan. Incumbent Governor J. James Exon, a Democrat, was barred from seeking a third term. Exon was elected to the U.S. Senate that same day.

Democratic primary

Governor

Candidates

• Robert V. Hansen
• Gerald T. Whelan, Lieutenant Governor

Results

Democratic gubernatorial primary results ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gerald T. Whelan	104,178	79.43
	Democratic	Robert V. Hansen	26,509	20.21
	Democratic	Write-in	475	0.36

Lieutenant governor

Candidates

Orval Keyes ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. ^[2] He was a member of the Nebraska Legislature in District 3 since 1969 from Springfield, Nebraska. ^[3]

Results

Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial primary results ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Orval Keyes	102,935	99.49
	Democratic	Write-in	531	0.51

Republican primary

Governor

Candidates

• Richard Hedrick
• Stan Juelfs
• Robert A. Phares, former Mayor of North Platte ^[4]
• Vance D. Rogers
• Charles Thone, U.S. Representative

Results

Republican gubernatorial primary results ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Charles Thone	89,378	45.32
	Republican	Robert A. Phares	48,402	24.55
	Republican	Stan Juelfs	43,828	22.23
	Republican	Vance D. Rogers	14,076	7.14
	Republican	Richard Hedrick	1,470	0.75
	Republican	Write-in	43	0.02

Lieutenant governor

Candidates

• Herbert J. Duis, member of the Nebraska Legislature in District 39 since 1969 and previously from 1951 to 1955 from Gothenburg, Nebraska. ^[3]
• Roland A. Luedtke, Speaker of the Nebraska Legislature since 1977 and member of the Nebraska Legislature in District 28 since 1967 from Lincoln, Nebraska. ^[3]
• Dennis L. Rasmussen, member of the Nebraska Legislature in District 41 since 1973 from Scotia, Nebraska. ^[3]
• Rosemary M. Skrupa, member of the Omaha Public Power District board from Omaha, Nebraska ^[5]
• Don Stenberg, lawyer from Lincoln, Nebraska ^[6]

Results

Republican lieutenant gubernatorial primary results ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Roland A. Luedtke	53,762	30.85
	Republican	Dennis L. Rasmussen	50,627	29.05
	Republican	Rosemary M. Skrupa	28,532	16.37
	Republican	Don Stenberg	22,592	12.96
	Republican	Herbert J. Duis	18,736	10.75
	Republican	Write-in	48	0.03

General election

Results

Nebraska gubernatorial election, 1978 ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Charles Thone	275,473	55.94%
	Democratic	Gerald T. Whelan	216,754	44.02%
	Write-in	Others	196	0.04%
Majority			58,719	11.92%
Total votes			492,423	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic

By county

Source ^{[1] [7]}

County	Charles Thone Republican		Gerald T. Whelan Democratic		Write-in		Margin		Total
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
Adams	5,179	47.42%	5,735	52.51%	8	0.07%	-556	-5.09%	10,922
Antelope	2,195	64.88%	1,188	35.12%	0	0.00%	1,007	29.77%	3,383
Arthur	180	61.43%	113	38.57%	0	0.00%	67	22.87%	293
Banner	301	69.68%	131	30.32%	0	0.00%	170	39.35%	432
Blaine	268	65.69%	140	34.31%	0	0.00%	128	31.37%	408
Boone	1,615	51.14%	1,543	48.86%	0	0.00%	72	2.28%	3,158
Box Butte	2,341	61.77%	1,449	38.23%	0	0.00%	892	23.54%	3,790
Boyd	834	60.17%	552	39.83%	0	0.00%	282	20.35%	1,386
Brown	1,184	63.15%	691	36.85%	0	0.00%	493	26.29%	1,875
Buffalo	5,598	50.57%	5,472	49.43%	0	0.00%	126	1.14%	11,070
Burt	1,958	62.36%	1,182	37.64%	0	0.00%	776	24.71%	3,140
Butler	1,712	53.57%	1,484	46.43%	0	0.00%	228	7.13%	3,196
Cass	3,010	49.43%	3,080	50.57%	0	0.00%	-70	-1.15%	6,090
Cedar	3,432	78.77%	925	21.23%	0	0.00%	2,507	57.54%	4,357
Chase	1,047	60.24%	691	39.76%	0	0.00%	356	20.48%	1,738
Cherry	1,683	67.03%	828	32.97%	0	0.00%	855	34.05%	2,511
Cheyenne	2,133	62.17%	1,298	37.83%	0	0.00%	835	24.34%	3,431
Clay	1,964	55.59%	1,569	44.41%	0	0.00%	395	11.18%	3,533
Colfax	2,395	60.15%	1,587	39.85%	0	0.00%	808	20.29%	3,982
Cuming	2,814	65.56%	1,478	34.44%	0	0.00%	1,336	31.13%	4,292
Custer	2,617	54.35%	2,198	45.65%	0	0.00%	419	8.70%	4,815
Dakota	2,501	58.28%	1,790	41.72%	0	0.00%	711	16.57%	4,291
Dawes	1,988	65.42%	1,050	34.55%	1	0.03%	938	30.87%	3,039
Dawson	3,673	58.34%	2,623	41.66%	0	0.00%	1,050	16.68%	6,296
Deuel	780	69.27%	346	30.73%	0	0.00%	434	38.54%	1,126
Dixon	2,088	72.20%	804	27.80%	0	0.00%	1,284	44.40%	2,892
Dodge	6,748	59.15%	4,661	40.85%	0	0.00%	2,087	18.29%	11,409
Douglas	57,371	49.06%	59,439	50.83%	126	0.11%	-2,068	-1.77%	116,936
Dundy	703	61.34%	443	38.66%	0	0.00%	260	22.69%	1,146
Fillmore	2,153	61.16%	1,367	38.84%	0	0.00%	786	22.33%	3,520
Franklin	1,005	51.54%	945	48.46%	0	0.00%	60	3.08%	1,950
Frontier	823	60.38%	540	39.62%	0	0.00%	283	20.76%	1,363
Furnas	1,541	58.04%	1,114	41.96%	0	0.00%	427	16.08%	2,655
Gage	4,700	58.19%	3,377	41.81%	0	0.00%	1,323	16.38%	8,077
Garden	799	65.28%	425	34.72%	0	0.00%	374	30.56%	1,224
Garfield	604	58.70%	425	41.30%	0	0.00%	179	17.40%	1,029
Gosper	443	52.36%	403	47.64%	0	0.00%	40	4.73%	846
Grant	349	74.57%	119	25.43%	0	0.00%	230	49.15%	468
Greeley	599	41.77%	835	58.23%	0	0.00%	-236	-16.46%	1,434
Hall	6,658	50.28%	6,584	49.72%	0	0.00%	74	0.56%	13,242
Hamilton	1,901	56.95%	1,437	43.05%	0	0.00%	464	13.90%	3,338
Harlan	1,028	49.12%	1,065	50.88%	0	0.00%	-37	-1.77%	2,093
Hayes	408	61.26%	258	38.74%	0	0.00%	150	22.52%	666
Hitchcock	883	60.77%	570	39.23%	0	0.00%	313	21.54%	1,453
Holt	2,741	60.40%	1,797	39.60%	0	0.00%	944	20.80%	4,538
Hooker	252	70.79%	104	29.21%	0	0.00%	148	41.57%	356
Howard	1,134	47.45%	1,256	52.55%	0	0.00%	-122	-5.10%	2,390
Jefferson	2,475	62.63%	1,477	37.37%	0	0.00%	998	25.25%	3,952
Johnson	1,473	58.18%	1,059	41.82%	0	0.00%	414	16.35%	2,532
Kearney	1,340	46.87%	1,519	53.13%	0	0.00%	-179	-6.26%	2,859
Keith	1,808	58.38%	1,289	41.62%	0	0.00%	519	16.76%	3,097
Keya Paha	414	71.26%	167	28.74%	0	0.00%	247	42.51%	581
Kimball	1,329	68.54%	610	31.46%	0	0.00%	719	37.08%	1,939
Knox	3,037	74.77%	1,025	25.23%	0	0.00%	2,012	49.53%	4,062
Lancaster	32,545	59.69%	21,979	40.31%	0	0.00%	10,566	19.38%	54,524
Lincoln	4,887	46.42%	5,635	53.53%	5	0.05%	-748	-7.11%	10,527
Logan	201	50.63%	196	49.37%	0	0.00%	5	1.26%	397
Loup	271	55.31%	219	44.69%	0	0.00%	52	10.61%	490
Madison	6,270	69.30%	2,777	30.70%	0	0.00%	3,493	38.61%	9,047
McPherson	140	56.45%	108	43.55%	0	0.00%	32	12.90%	248
Merrick	1,625	54.70%	1,346	45.30%	0	0.00%	279	9.39%	2,971
Morrill	1,136	63.57%	651	36.43%	0	0.00%	485	27.14%	1,787
Nance	970	49.31%	997	50.69%	0	0.00%	-27	-1.37%	1,967
Nemaha	2,109	63.81%	1,196	36.19%	0	0.00%	913	27.62%	3,305
Nuckolls	1,336	47.51%	1,476	52.49%	0	0.00%	-140	-4.98%	2,812
Otoe	3,311	59.74%	2,230	40.24%	1	0.02%	1,081	19.51%	5,542
Pawnee	1,140	63.62%	652	36.38%	0	0.00%	488	27.23%	1,792
Perkins	878	55.36%	708	44.64%	0	0.00%	170	10.72%	1,586
Phelps	2,291	57.84%	1,667	42.09%	3	0.08%	624	15.75%	3,961
Pierce	2,327	75.60%	748	24.30%	3	0.10%	1,579	51.30%	3,078
Platte	5,150	51.89%	4,774	48.11%	0	0.00%	376	3.79%	9,924
Polk	1,479	55.58%	1,182	44.42%	0	0.00%	297	11.16%	2,661
Red Willow	2,314	62.91%	1,364	37.09%	0	0.00%	950	25.83%	3,678
Richardson	2,667	56.60%	2,045	43.40%	0	0.00%	622	13.20%	4,712
Rock	573	63.46%	330	36.54%	0	0.00%	243	26.91%	903
Saline	2,705	53.33%	2,367	46.67%	0	0.00%	338	6.66%	5,072
Sarpy	7,417	48.82%	7,740	50.94%	37	0.24%	-323	-2.13%	15,194
Saunders	3,656	55.16%	2,968	44.78%	4	0.06%	688	10.38%	6,628
Scotts Bluff	5,227	60.23%	3,449	39.74%	2	0.02%	1,778	20.49%	8,678
Seward	3,266	64.79%	1,775	35.21%	0	0.00%	1,491	29.58%	5,041
Sheridan	1,733	72.39%	661	27.61%	0	0.00%	1,072	44.78%	2,394
Sherman	757	39.24%	1,172	60.76%	0	0.00%	-415	-21.51%	1,929
Sioux	522	68.59%	239	31.41%	0	0.00%	283	37.19%	761
Stanton	1,379	70.14%	587	29.86%	0	0.00%	792	40.28%	1,966
Thayer	1,848	62.54%	1,107	37.46%	0	0.00%	741	25.08%	2,955
Thomas	312	68.87%	141	31.13%	0	0.00%	171	37.75%	453
Thurston	1,125	62.81%	666	37.19%	0	0.00%	459	25.63%	1,791
Valley	1,356	53.92%	1,159	46.08%	0	0.00%	197	7.83%	2,515
Washington	2,896	56.72%	2,204	43.16%	6	0.12%	692	13.55%	5,106
Wayne	2,322	73.09%	855	26.91%	0	0.00%	1,467	46.18%	3,177
Webster	1,057	48.89%	1,105	51.11%	0	0.00%	-48	-2.22%	2,162
Wheeler	234	49.79%	236	50.21%	0	0.00%	-2	-0.43%	470
York	3,832	68.21%	1,786	31.79%	0	0.00%	2,046	36.42%	5,618

References

1. "Official Report of the Board of State Canvassers of the State of Nebraska - Primary Election, May 9, 1978 & General Election, November 7, 1978" (PDF). Nebraska Secretary of State.
2. "Orval Keyes Is Unopposed". Chadron Record. May 3, 1978. p. 29. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
3. State of Nebraska, 2020-21 Nebraska Blue Book (PDF), pp. 317–378, retrieved May 29, 2023
4. Harnik, Nati (August 3, 2006). "Who is Bob Plares?". Lincoln Journal Star. Nebraska. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
5. "Rosemary Skrupa seeks No. 2 post". Lincoln Journal Star. February 27, 1978. p. 7. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
6. "More About Don | Stenberg for Senate 2012". Stenbergforsenate.com. April 16, 2012. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
7. "1978-11-07 Gubernatorial Election Results for Nebraska". Right Data USA. Retrieved December 29, 2025.