Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — Nearly every Nebraska legislative race in this election cycle has surpassed six figures in spending ahead of Tuesday’s election, already climbing above 2022 records.
Together, legislative candidates had raised $9.2 million and spent $7.4 million as of the Oct. 21 campaign finance reporting deadline. The latest deadline leaves about two weeks of fundraising and spending before Election Day to report when final reports are due Jan. 14. In the final 10 days of the election, another $505,000 had already been raised.
Spending in 22 of the 25 races exceeded six figures by Oct. 21, and all but one race exceeded six figures in fundraising. The single fundraising exception is South Omaha’s Legislative District 5 between Margo Juarez and Gilbert Ayala. They raised $93,000 combined, most by Juarez.
A rematch between State Sen. Ray Aguilar and former State Sen. Dan Quick, both of Grand Island, exceeds $600,000 in spending, more than any race in 2022. Two Lincoln races — both involving senators appointed by Gov. Jim Pillen who are seeking election — sit at just under $550,000 spent.
The annual salary for a state senator is $12,000.
Candidates who spent the most in 2022 legislative races won their elections in all but two cases. The most expensive race that year was about $577,000.
Grand Island rematch, Lincoln appointees
Aguilar and Quick, in Legislative District 35, also faced off in 2020 when Aguilar, term-limited from the Legislature 12 years prior, mounted a successful challenge to Quick.
Fundraising for the duo has exceeded $715,000, and spending sits at $603,000. Quick had a spending advantage of about $60,000, while Aguilar had a fundraising advantage of $30,000.
The next costliest races come in Lincoln between State Sen. Beau Ballard and Seth Derner (Legislative District 21) and between State Sen. Carolyn Bosn and Nicki Behmer Popp (Legislative District 25).
Ballard and Derner are neck-and-neck in spending, separated by the narrowest amount of all candidates, at $2,000 — Ballard at $275,000; Derner at $273,000. Ballard also had a fundraising edge of about $59,000.
Bosn has spent $341,000, about $135,000 above Behmer Popp’s $206,000. Bosn had raised $373,000, with $32,000 on hand; Behmer Popp had raised $219,000, with $14,000 on hand.
Sarpy County
The other race exceeding $500,000 was in Bellevue between Felix Ungerman and Victor Rountree, both seeking to succeed term-limited Democratic State Sen. Carol Blood (Legislative District 3), spending a combined $508,000. Ungerman holds an edge of about $20,000 in spending and about $50,000 in fundraising.
Sarpy County is also home to Legislative District 49, represented by State Sen. Jen Day, who is facing a challenge from Bob Andersen. They sit just under $400,000 in spending, with Day more than double Andersen’s fundraising and spending.
Day has raised $389,000 and spent $272,000, with $135,000 on hand. Andersen has raised $183,000 and spent $124,000, with $59,000 on hand.
The least expensive race is between Ayala and Juarez, at $47,000. They are competing to succeed term-limited State Sen. Mike McDonnell, a Democrat who turned Republican last spring.
These races could decide the partisan balance in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, currently at 33 Republicans, 15 Democrats and one progressive independent.
Aguilar, Andersen, Ayala, Ballard, Bosn and Ungerman are Republicans. Day, Derner, Juarez, Quick, and Rountree are Democrats. Behmer Popp is a registered nonpartisan.
Republicans are guaranteed at least one pick-up representative in Fremont, either Roxie Kracl or Dave “Woody” Wordekemper, as Legislative District 15 State Sen. Lynne Walz, a Democrat, is term-limited.
Pete Ricketts, Susanne Shore
U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., has continued to take a sizable lead in contributing to legislative races, spending at least $252,500 across 15 legislative races so far this year. His wife, Susanne Shore, a Democrat, has donated $56,000 in eight campaigns, sometimes in direct odds with her husband.
Shore is financially backing Rountree ($14,000), Juarez ($3,000), Derner ($5,000), Day ($2,000) and Behmer Popp ($10,000). She did not give to Quick.
Ricketts has financially backed Aguilar ($30,000), Andersen ($20,000) and Ungerman ($2,500). He did not give to Ayala, Ballard or Bosn, but he did give $25,000 each to four other candidates.
The couple took sides in Legislative District 39, in Elkhorn, between nonpartisan Allison Heimes (Shore gave $11,000) and Republican Tony Sorrentino (Ricketts gave $25,000). The seat is currently held by State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, a Republican.
Sorrentino and Heimes are separated by about $3,500 in fundraising and $37,000 in spending, with Sorrentino having the most of both, at $264,000 raised and $254,000 spent. Heimes had $33,000 more cash on hand than Sorrentino as of Oct. 21.
Other insights
The most competitive Republican-Republican race is in Legislative District 19 between Ricketts-appointed State Sen. Rob Dover of Norfolk and Jeanne Reigle of Madison, an agricultural producer who joined Pillen at one of his recent ag-related news conferences.
Dover has raised $281,000 and spent $277,000; Reigle has raised $200,000 and spent $175,000. Ricketts gave Dover $25,000, while Pillen has not donated to either candidate.
Elsewhere, the largest disparities in spending are in Lincoln’s Legislative District 27 and the western Nebraska Legislative District 47.
In Lincoln, Jason Prokop, a Democrat, has spent $331,000 while Dawn Liphardt, the executive director of the Nebraska Republican Party who is also running for the seat, has spent $64,000. The seat is held by term-limited State Sen. Anna Wishart, a Democrat.
In western Nebraska, Paul Strommen has spent $78,000 while Larry Bolinger has spent $374.92, the total of his funds raised this cycle. The seat is held by term-limited State Sen. Steve Erdman.
Two candidates running unopposed on the ballot also raised and spent sizable amounts.
State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, in Legislative District 29, raised $438,000 and spent $187,000 since his last election. Meanwhile, State Sen. Terrell McKinney of North Omaha, in Legislative District 11, raised $163,000 and spent $127,000.
Longtime former State Sen. Ernie Chambers, who held the District 11 seat for 46 years, filed to run for the office and came a handful of votes behind McKinney in May. Chambers later dropped out of the race before filing as a write-in candidate.
See below for a campaign finance breakdown for all legislative candidates. Or, view the visualization online here.