2020 United States Senate election in Nebraska

See also: 2020 United States Senate elections

2020 United States Senate election in Nebraska

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Nominee Ben Sasse Chris Janicek Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 583,507 227,191 Percentage 62.74% 24.43%   Nominee Preston Love Jr. (write-in) Gene Siadek Party Democratic Libertarian Popular vote 58,411 55,115 Percentage 6.28% 5.93%

County results Congressional district results Precinct results Sasse:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% Janicek:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%      No votes

U.S. senator before election Ben Sasse Republican Elected U.S. Senator Ben Sasse Republican

The 2020 United States Senate election in Nebraska was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Nebraska, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

Incumbent Republican Senator Ben Sasse was challenged by Democratic nominee Chris Janicek, who was disavowed by his party after numerous scandals; by write-in candidate Preston Love Jr., who received the support of the state Democratic Party; and by Libertarian nominee Gene Siadek.

Sasse was reelected to a second term in office with 62.7% of the vote and a 38.3% margin. He outperformed President Donald Trump by almost 27,000 votes, or 8.9%, compared to the concurrent presidential election, the largest overperformance by any Republican Senate candidate in the country that year. In contrast, Janicek was the worst performing Democratic Senate candidate in the country compared to Joe Biden, underperforming him by 13.1%. This was attributed to a sexual misconduct scandal affecting Janicek and split-ticket voting in Omaha suburbs. ^{[1] [2]}

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Ben Sasse, incumbent U.S. senator ^[3]

Eliminated in primary

• Matt Innis, businessman and former chair of the Lancaster County Republican Party ^{[4] [5]}

Declined

• Charles Herbster, farmer ^[6]
• Pete Ricketts, Governor of Nebraska ^[7]

Endorsements

Ben Sasse

Organizations

• Club for Growth ^[8]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size [lower-alpha 1]	Margin of error	Matt Innis	Ben Sasse	Undecided
We Ask America [9]	February 19–20, 2020	400 (LV)	± 4.9%	17%	65%	18%

Results

Republican primary results by county

  Sasse

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%

  Innis

•   50–60%
•   60–70%

Republican primary results ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ben Sasse (incumbent)	215,207	75.21%
	Republican	Matt Innis	70,921	24.79%
Total votes			284,212	100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Chris Janicek, businessman and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018 ^[11]

On June 16, 2020, Janicek lost the support of the Nebraska Democratic Party after allegations surfaced of sending sexually explicit text messages about a female campaign staff member and allegedly using racist slurs to insult a guest at a party 20 years prior. ^{[12] [13] [14]} Nonetheless, Janicek refused to drop out of the race and his name remained on the ballot in the general election. In September the state Democratic party supported Preston Love Jr. via a write-in candidacy. ^{[15] [16]}

Eliminated in primary

• Dennis Frank Maček ^[17]
• Larry Marvin, perennial candidate ^[18]
• Angie Philips, mental health advocate ^[19]
• Alisha Shelton, behavioral health clinical supervisor ^[20]
• Andy Stock, former candidate for Lancaster County Treasurer ^{[17] [21]}
• Dan Wik, physician ^[22]

Declined

• Chris Beutler, former mayor of Lincoln ^[23]

Results

Democratic primary results by county

  Janicek

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

  Philips

•   20–30%
•   30–40%
•   40–50%

  Shelton

•   20–30%
•   30–40%

Tie

•   20–30%

Democratic primary results ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Chris Janicek	46,247	30.69%
	Democratic	Angie Philips	35,929	23.84%
	Democratic	Alisha Shelton	34,284	22.75%
	Democratic	Andy Stock	17,156	11.38%
	Democratic	Larry Marvin	6,868	4.56%
	Democratic	Daniel Wik	5,765	3.83%
	Democratic	Dennis Macek	4,453	2.95%
Total votes			150,702	100.00%

Other candidates

Libertarian Party

Nominee

• Gene Siadek, former chairman of the Libertarian Party of Nebraska ^[17]

Withdrawn

• Eric Dilliard ^[24]

Results

Libertarian primary results ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Libertarian	Gene Siadek	2,517	100.00%
Total votes			2,517	100.00%

Democratic write-in

Declared

• Preston Love Jr., first vice president of the Omaha NAACP chapter and second associate chairman of the Nebraska Democratic Party, endorsed by the party after the allegations against Janicek ^{[25] [16]}

Withdrawn

• Brad Ashford, former Democratic Congressman from NE-02 ^{[26] [27] [28]}

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report [29]	Safe R	October 29, 2020
Inside Elections [30]	Safe R	October 28, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball [31]	Safe R	November 2, 2020
Daily Kos [32]	Safe R	October 30, 2020
Politico [33]	Safe R	November 2, 2020
RCP [34]	Safe R	October 23, 2020
DDHQ [35]	Safe R	November 3, 2020
538 [36]	Safe R	November 2, 2020
Economist [37]	Safe R	November 2, 2020

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size [lower-alpha 1]	Margin of error	Ben Sasse (R)	Chris Janicek (D)	Gene Siadek (L)	Undecided
Cygnal [38]	October 19–21, 2020	625 (LV)	± 3.9%	47%	18%	6%	29%

Hypothetical polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size [lower-alpha 1]	Margin of error	Generic Republican	Generic Democrat	Undecided
Cygnal [38]	October 19–21, 2020	625 (LV)	± 3.9%	53%	38%	9%

Results

United States Senate election in Nebraska, 2020 ^[39]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Ben Sasse (incumbent)	583,507	62.74%	−1.60%
	Democratic	Chris Janicek	227,191	24.43%	−7.05%
	Democratic	Preston Love Jr. (write-in)	58,411	6.28%	N/A
	Libertarian	Gene Siadek	55,115	5.93%	N/A
	Write-in		5,788	0.62%	+0.54%
Total votes			930,012	100.0%
	Republican hold

By county

County [39] Ben Sasse Republican Chris Janicek Democratic Preston Love Jr. (write-in) Democratic Gene Siadek Libertarian Write-in Total votes  % #  % #  % #  % #  % # Adams 70.88% 9,995 18.32% 2,583 3.89% 548 6.36% 897 0.56% 79 14,102 Antelope 82.14% 2,828 10.28% 354 0.84% 29 5.34% 184 1.39% 48 3,443 Arthur 84.44% 228 7.78% 21 0.00% 0 7.78% 21 0.00% 0 270 Banner 84.17% 335 9.80% 39 0.50% 2 5.28% 21 0.25% 1 398 Blaine 75.00% 222 11.82% 35 0.68% 2 11.49% 34 1.01% 3 296 Boone 79.51% 2,402 11.62% 351 1.79% 54 5.89% 178 1.19% 36 3,021 Box Butte 75.59% 3,840 16.18% 822 1.34% 68 6.42% 326 0.47% 24 5,080 Boyd 83.62% 883 8.43% 89 0.00% 0 7.10% 75 0.85% 9 1,056 Brown 85.20% 1,387 7.68% 125 0.86% 14 5.71% 93 0.55% 9 1,628 Buffalo 72.45% 16,729 16.68% 3,851 3.38% 780 6.95% 1,605 0.55% 126 23,091 Burt 73.57% 2,639 18.90% 678 1.95% 70 5.21% 187 0.36% 13 3,587 Butler 80.16% 3,512 13.99% 613 1.05% 46 4.52% 198 0.27% 12 4,381 Cass 70.77% 10,493 19.38% 2,874 3.55% 527 5.98% 886 0.31% 46 14,826 Cedar 81.34% 3,902 11.36% 545 0.96% 46 5.67% 272 0.67% 32 4,797 Chase 85.70% 1,666 8.90% 173 0.62% 12 4.06% 79 0.72% 14 1,944 Cherry 78.49% 2,365 9.39% 283 1.16% 35 9.09% 274 1.86% 56 3,013 Cheyenne 75.54% 3,505 15.47% 718 0.45% 21 6.96% 323 1.57% 73 4,640 Clay 77.73% 2,660 12.62% 432 1.55% 53 7.10% 243 0.99% 34 3,422 Colfax 73.24% 2,652 20.63% 747 1.66% 60 4.31% 156 0.17% 6 3,621 Cuming 82.07% 3,566 11.71% 509 1.57% 68 4.56% 198 0.09% 4 4,345 Custer 82.56% 4,824 9.09% 531 0.74% 43 6.18% 361 1.44% 84 5,843 Dakota 60.53% 3,951 34.24% 2,235 1.33% 87 3.68% 240 0.21% 14 6,527 Dawes 71.75% 2,883 19.54% 785 2.17% 87 6.22% 250 0.32% 13 4,018 Dawson 72.31% 6,460 20.48% 1,830 1.42% 127 5.36% 479 0.43% 38 8,934 Deuel 82.71% 837 10.28% 104 0.49% 5 6.13% 62 0.40% 4 1,012 Dixon 74.05% 2,206 16.82% 501 1.58% 47 6.92% 206 0.64% 19 2,979 Dodge 69.07% 11,397 20.65% 3,408 3.47% 572 6.51% 1,074 0.30% 50 16,501 Douglas 50.71% 136,745 32.49% 87,608 10.10% 27,229 5.94% 16,019 0.76% 2,046 269,647 Dundy 85.82% 835 7.91% 77 0.82% 8 4.93% 48 0.51% 5 973 Fillmore 78.46% 2,418 14.11% 435 2.21% 68 5.06% 156 0.16% 5 3,082 Franklin 82.67% 1,398 11.24% 190 1.24% 21 4.20% 71 0.65% 11 1,691 Frontier 84.14% 1,183 9.17% 129 0.92% 13 5.19% 73 0.57% 8 1,406 Furnas 81.43% 2,079 10.85% 277 0.71% 18 6.31% 161 0.71% 18 2,553 Gage 70.44% 7,656 20.61% 2,240 2.83% 308 5.70% 620 0.41% 45 10,869 Garden 82.06% 938 11.11% 127 0.09% 1 6.47% 74 0.26% 3 1,143 Garfield 84.52% 868 8.86% 91 0.78% 8 4.87% 50 0.97% 10 1,027 Gosper 82.42% 900 10.16% 111 1.56% 17 5.40% 59 0.46% 5 1,092 Grant 86.29% 321 3.76% 14 1.08% 4 6.72% 25 2.15% 8 372 Greeley 79.97% 938 14.15% 166 0.85% 10 4.77% 56 0.26% 3 1,173 Hall 68.54% 16,231 21.87% 5,180 2.76% 653 6.29% 1,489 0.54% 129 23,682 Hamilton 77.24% 4,114 12.73% 678 2.23% 119 7.02% 374 0.77% 41 5,326 Harlan 81.37% 1,529 11.07% 208 1.22% 23 5.59% 105 0.75% 14 1,879 Hayes 88.91% 457 5.84% 30 0.39% 2 4.47% 23 0.39% 2 514 Hitchcock 81.65% 1,179 9.97% 144 0.69% 10 7.55% 109 0.14% 2 1,444 Holt 77.98% 4,165 11.29% 603 1.14% 61 6.98% 373 2.60% 139 5,341 Hooker 81.73% 349 11.24% 48 0.94% 4 3.98% 17 2.11% 9 427 Howard 78.86% 2,660 13.22% 446 1.54% 52 6.14% 207 0.24% 8 3,373 Jefferson 75.17% 2,764 18.06% 664 1.25% 46 5.19% 191 0.33% 12 3,677 Johnson 72.93% 1,576 19.30% 417 1.90% 41 5.78% 125 0.09% 2 2,161 Kearney 79.56% 2,790 11.75% 412 2.02% 71 6.27% 220 0.40% 14 3,507 Keith 78.92% 3,355 13.01% 553 1.62% 69 5.98% 254 0.47% 20 4,251 Keya Paha 84.39% 427 8.10% 41 0.20% 1 6.72% 34 0.59% 3 506 Kimball 79.85% 1,458 13.36% 244 0.49% 9 6.13% 112 0.16% 3 1,826 Knox 75.78% 3,376 15.89% 708 0.65% 29 6.46% 288 1.21% 54 4,455 Lancaster 51.74% 79,436 31.75% 48,756 10.41% 15,990 5.47% 8,405 0.62% 954 153,541 Lincoln 75.39% 12,679 15.61% 2,626 1.81% 304 6.62% 1,113 0.57% 96 16,818 Logan 85.22% 369 8.31% 36 0.23% 1 5.08% 22 1.15% 5 433 Loup 84.28% 370 6.38% 28 4.10% 18 4.78% 21 0.46% 2 439 Madison 75.31% 11,552 15.64% 2,399 2.20% 337 6.15% 943 0.71% 109 15,340 McPherson 88.14% 260 4.07% 12 0.68% 2 6.44% 19 0.68% 2 295 Merrick 79.81% 3,242 12.58% 511 1.03% 42 6.57% 267 0.00% 0 4,062 Morrill 76.14% 1,870 13.23% 325 0.53% 13 9.00% 221 1.10% 27 2,456 Nance 78.57% 1,353 14.05% 242 1.63% 28 5.23% 90 0.52% 9 1,722 Nemaha 75.11% 2,511 15.67% 524 2.54% 85 6.16% 206 0.51% 17 3,343 Nuckolls 82.27% 1,856 11.30% 255 1.20% 27 4.74% 107 0.49% 11 2,256 Otoe 73.18% 5,961 18.43% 1,501 2.49% 203 5.59% 455 0.32% 26 8,146 Pawnee 77.46% 1,072 15.68% 217 2.02% 28 4.70% 65 0.14% 2 1,384 Perkins 85.18% 1,270 9.26% 138 0.74% 11 4.63% 69 0.20% 3 1,491 Phelps 80.46% 3,896 10.08% 488 1.18% 57 6.69% 324 1.59% 77 4,842 Pierce 83.85% 3,261 9.08% 353 1.05% 41 5.25% 204 0.77% 30 3,889 Platte 79.26% 12,055 14.35% 2,183 1.40% 213 4.77% 725 0.22% 34 15,210 Polk 80.97% 2,276 12.63% 355 1.39% 39 4.66% 131 0.36% 10 2,811 Red Willow 80.65% 4,290 10.79% 574 1.69% 90 6.39% 340 0.47% 25 5,319 Richardson 76.05% 3,023 17.11% 680 1.06% 42 4.93% 196 0.86% 34 3,975 Rock 86.94% 699 5.35% 43 0.00% 0 5.97% 48 1.74% 14 804 Saline 65.91% 3,675 25.29% 1,410 1.99% 111 6.81% 380 0.00% 0 5,576 Sarpy 61.46% 57,763 25.00% 23,500 6.88% 6,471 6.20% 5,826 0.46% 432 93,992 Saunders 74.06% 9,210 16.06% 1,997 3.22% 400 6.18% 768 0.49% 61 12,436 Scotts Bluff 71.36% 10,820 20.06% 3,042 1.82% 276 6.29% 953 0.47% 71 15,162 Seward 75.04% 6,718 16.35% 1,464 3.21% 287 5.08% 455 0.32% 29 8,953 Sheridan 78.87% 2,042 11.20% 290 0.50% 13 8.07% 209 1.35% 35 2,589 Sherman 75.60% 1,233 15.14% 247 0.98% 16 7.85% 128 0.43% 7 1,631 Sioux 84.92% 597 7.40% 52 0.71% 5 6.69% 47 0.28% 2 703 Stanton 76.80% 2,304 12.47% 374 1.63% 49 8.07% 242 1.03% 31 3,000 Thayer 81.38% 2,356 12.85% 372 1.38% 40 4.25% 123 0.14% 4 2,895 Thomas 82.25% 329 10.00% 40 0.00% 0 5.25% 21 2.50% 10 400 Thurston 53.30% 1,218 38.73% 885 2.36% 54 3.24% 74 2.36% 54 2,285 Valley 80.47% 1,821 12.37% 280 1.33% 30 5.39% 122 0.44% 10 2,263 Washington 72.88% 8,808 16.39% 1,981 4.10% 495 6.30% 761 0.34% 41 12,086 Wayne 73.62% 3,000 15.66% 638 3.26% 133 6.77% 276 0.69% 28 4,075 Webster 80.43% 1,443 12.82% 230 1.78% 32 4.96% 89 0.00% 0 1,794 Wheeler 80.79% 387 10.23% 49 0.63% 3 7.52% 36 0.84% 4 479 York 77.84% 5,406 14.64% 1,017 1.83% 127 5.46% 379 0.23% 16 6,945

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear

References

1. Rakich, Nathaniel (December 2, 2020). "There Wasn't That Much Split-Ticket Voting In 2020". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
2. Beaumont, Thomas (February 12, 2021). "Nebraska Sen. Sasse bets political future on opposing Trump". Associated Press. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
3. Akin, Stephanie (August 5, 2019). "Ben Sasse, one of the Senate's last remaining Republican Trump critics, to seek reelection". Roll Call. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
4. Walton, Don (July 21, 2019). "Don Walton: Hateful politics, the moonshot, another ag blow". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
5. Walton, Don (August 2, 2019). "Matt Innis will oppose Sasse in 2020 GOP primary". Lincoln Journal Star .
6. Cohen, Zach C. (April 1, 2019). "How Sasse Is Prepping for 2020—in Nebraska". National Journal. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
7. Isenstadt, Alex (July 9, 2018). "Sasse tempts Trump's wrath by refusing to bow". Politico. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
8. "Ben Sasse (NE-SEN)". Club for Growth. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
9. We Ask America
10. "Primary Election Official Results" (PDF). Nebraska Secretary of State. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
11. Sherrod, Brian (September 18, 2019). "Chris Janicek runs for U.S. Senate 2020 seat representing Nebraska". NBC Nebraska Scottsbluff. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
12. Astor, Maggie (June 16, 2020). "Nebraska Democrat Urged to Quit Senate Race Over Sexual Texts to Aide". The New York Times. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
13. Astor, Maggie (June 17, 2020). "Nebraska Senate Candidate Used Racist Slur at a Party, Guests Recall". The New York Times. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
14. Nebraska, Democratic Party (June 16, 2020). "Nebraska Democratic Party demands that Chris Janicek drop out of Senate race after sexual harassment complaint". nebraskademocrats.org. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
15. Sanderford, Aaron (September 1, 2020). "Chris Janicek won't quit Senate race; Democrats eye write-in candidate". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
16. Sanderford, Aaron (September 10, 2020). "Preston Love Jr. announces write-in candidacy against Sen. Ben Sasse". Omaha World-Herald . Archived from the original on September 18, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
17. "Nebraska Secretary of State Statewide Candidate List as of 12/11/2019 8:49:50 AM" (PDF). Nebraska Secretary of State.
18. Walton, Don (August 18, 2019). "Don Walton: Mike Flood, Lady Liberty and Sonny Perdue". JournalStar.com. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
19. Morton, Joseph (July 15, 2019). "Will Sen. Ben Sasse seek another term? Signs point to yes". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
20. "Alisha Shelton for Senate | Official Site" . Retrieved December 2, 2019.
21. Hicks, Nancy (February 15, 2018). "Andrew Stock files for Lancaster County treasurer on Democratic ticket". JournalStar.com. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
22. Star, DON WALTON Lincoln Journal. "Don Walton: Mike Flood, Lady Liberty and Sonny Perdue". Hastings Tribune. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
23. Jordan, Joe (November 13, 2018). "Democrat Names for 2020 Starting to Surface". Sandhills Express. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
24. "13 changes to the candidate list". The Green Papers. December 6, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
25. Dvorak, Gina (September 10, 2020). "Nebraska Democrats announce Preston Love Jr. as write-in candidate for Senate". 6News. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
26. "Brad Ashford to Launch Write-In Bid for US Senate". KETV TV. August 24, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
27. Wasikowski, Jake (August 25, 2020). "Fmr. Rep. Ashford feels he can beat U.S. Senator Sasse as write-in candidate". 3 News Now. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
28. "Brad Ashford reverses course, says he will not run for U.S. Senate". KETV. August 27, 2020. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
29. "2020 Senate Race Ratings for October 29, 2020". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
30. "2020 Senate Ratings". Senate Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
31. "2020 Senate race ratings". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
32. "2020 Senate Race Ratings". Daily Kos Elections. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
33. "2020 Election Forecast". Politico. November 19, 2019.
34. "Battle for the Senate 2020". RCP. October 23, 2020.
35. "2020 Senate Elections Model". Decision Desk HQ. September 2, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
36. Silver, Nate (September 18, 2020). "Forecasting the race for the Senate". FiveThirtyEight . Retrieved September 18, 2020.
37. "Forecasting the US elections". The Economist. November 2, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
38. Cygnal
39. "General Election Official Results" (PDF). Nebraska Secretary of State. Retrieved December 4, 2020.

External links

• Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "Nebraska", Voting & Elections Toolkits
• "Nebraska: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org , Oakland, CA
• "League of Women Voters of Nebraska". (state affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• Nebraska at Ballotpedia

Official campaign websites

• Ben Sasse (R) for Senate Archived March 13, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
• Chris Janicek (D) for Senate
• Gene Siadek (L) for Senate Archived November 3, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
• Preston Love Jr. (D) for Senate Archived November 1, 2020, at the Wayback Machine