By Joan von Kampen | Editor-in-chief
After all the campaign appearances, debates, TV ads and mailboxes stuffed with fliers, today Nebraska voters get their say. The Nebraska Examiner staff will be working late Tuesday and early Wednesday to bring you election results and reports from candidates’ election-night events.
Voting booths at the Lancaster County Election Commission office on April 24. 2026. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner)
ELECTION 2026
By Juan Salinas II and Zach Wendling
Election Day is here. Nebraska has received more national attention than usual, as a handful of races in the Cornhusker State are viewed as competitive. Here are some key races to watch closely.
Polls open for 12 hours at 8 a.m. Central time/7 a.m. Mountain time. Mail-in ballots must be returned by the time polls close.
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, flanked by Gov. Jim Pillen, visits the Micro Market in the Highlander redevelopment site in May. He was in North Omaha in part to promote opportunity zones. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
LABOR & GROWTH
By Cindy Gonzalez
Federal officials have approved 28 Nebraska census tracts as “opportunity zones” eligible for a new tax incentive program that starts in January and is intended to boost economic development.
The tracts span the state from Scottsbluff to Omaha and include both rural and urban areas.
The 2026 Nebraska candidates running for: governor and lieutenant governor (first row); attorney general, secretary of state, state treasurer, auditor of public accounts and Public Service Commission (second row); Legislature (rows three through six, arranged by legislative district); and State Board of Education and University of Nebraska Board of Regents (bottom row, from left, arranged by district). (Photos courtesy of the candidates/campaigns | Nebraska Capitol photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
ICYMI
By Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — As Nebraskans head to the polls Tuesday, they will vote in some of the most expensive races in state history — and in a year when candidates and statewide ballot measure campaigns have already raised more than $63 million.
A bridge stretches across the Missouri River at Chamberlain, South Dakota, on Sept. 29, 2026. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
ENVIRONMENT & AGRICULTURE
Potential of Missouri River pipelines to Western states opens new front in upstream-downstream fight
By Joshua Haiar
Downstream Missouri River states have worried for decades about receiving an insufficient flow of water from upstream dams.
Now they’re worried their share of water could be further diminished by potential pipelines for dry Western states.
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 9, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
D.C. BUREAU
By Jonathan Shorman
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, mere hours before Election Day in the midterms that will determine control of Congress, denied the Trump administration’s final attempt to force California to set aside the ballots of 20,000 people it suspects are noncitizens.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
COMMENTARY
Sounds of silence return after costly campaigns |George Ayoub
From floods to wildfires, Nebraska knows what extremes cost | Laurel Van Ham, Rob Kahn
EDITOR'S CHOICE
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