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 The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from the state of Nebraska, one from each of the state's three

congressional districts Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...

. 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 The 114th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from Ja ...

Overview

Results of the 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Nebraska by district:

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 Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, Norfolk,

Beatrice Beatrice may refer to: * Beatrice (given name) Places In the United States * Beatrice, Alabama, a town * Beatrice, Humboldt County, California, a locality * Beatrice, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Beatrice, Indiana, an unincorporated ...

and South Sioux City. Incumbent Republican

Jeff Fortenberry Jeffrey Lane Fortenberry (born December 27, 1960) is a former United States congressman. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 2005 to 2022, representing as a member of the Republican Party. In October 2021, a federal ...

, who has represented the district since 2005, ran for re-election. He was re-elected with 68% of the vote in 2012 and the district had a PVI of R+10.

Republican primary

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.

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, incumbent U.S. Representative

=Eliminated in primary

= *Dennis Parker *Jessica Turek

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *Dennis Crawford, attorney and 2nd Associate Chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party

Results

General election

Results

District 2

The 2nd district is based in the

Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area The Omaha metropolitan area, officially known as the Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), is an urbanized region in Nebraska and Iowa in the American Midwest, centered on the city of Omaha, Nebraska. The region consists ...

and includes all of Douglas County and the urbanized areas of Sarpy County. Incumbent Republican Lee Terry, who had represented the district since 1999, ran for re-election. He was re-elected in 2012 with 51% of the vote in the district that had a PVI of R+4.

Republican primary

Terry faced a competitive primary challenge from businessman Dan Frei, who ran to his right. Despite outspending Frei by around 20-to-1, Terry only won the primary by 2,686 votes, or 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 was ineligible to do so, having lost the primary election, but former state senator Chip Maxwell was mentioned as a possible candidate.

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Lee Terry, incumbent U.S. Representative

=Eliminated in primary

= * Dan Frei, businessman and member of the

Nebraska Republican Party The Nebraska Republican Party (NEGOP) is the affiliate of the Republican Party in Nebraska. The party is led by chair Dan Welch. Its headquarters is located in Lincoln. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling all of Nebrask ...

central committee

=Declined

= * Bob Krist, state senator * Chip Maxwell, former state senator

Polling

Results

Democratic primary

After controversial comments made by Terry in October 2013, Omaha City Council President Pete Festersen, a Democrat, decided to run against Terry. 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. Democratic state senator

Brad Ashford John Bradley Ashford (November 10, 1949 – April 19, 2022) was an American politician who served in the Nebraska Legislature and the United States House of Representatives from Nebraska's 2nd congressional district. After serving in the state l ...

announced his candidacy in February 2014.

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, state senator

=Eliminated in primary

= * Mark Aupperle

=Withdrawn

= * Pete Festersen, president of the Omaha City Council

=Declined

= * Larry Bradley, professor at University of Nebraska-Omaha, candidate for University of Nebraska Board of Regents in 2012 *

David Domina David Alan Domina is an American lawyer and politician from Nebraska. A member of the Democratic Party, he was involved in a number of high-profile legal cases, including the impeachment of Nebraska Attorney General Paul L. Douglas in 1986, and ...

, attorney and candidate for governor in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

( running for the U.S. Senate) * John Ewing, Douglas County Treasurer and nominee for this seat in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

* Bob Krist, state senator *

Steve Lathrop Steve Lathrop (born April 1, 1957) is an American attorney and Democratic Party politician from the U.S. state of Nebraska. From 2007 to 2015, he served as a member of the Nebraska Legislature, representing an Omaha-area district. He did not ru ...

, state senator *

Jeremy Nordquist Jeremiah J. Nordquist (born November 10, 1981) is a politician from the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. Nordquist represented an Omaha district in the Nebraska Legislature from 2009 to 2015. He served in the Unicameral as a ...

, state senator * Justin Wayne, president of the Omaha Public Schools Board

Results

Libertarian primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Steven Laird, Republican candidate for the seat in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

=Eliminated in primary

= * Andy Shambaugh

Results

Independents

Candidates

=Withdrawn

= * Chip Maxwell, former state senator

General election

Campaign

On May 21, 2014, Maxwell announced that he would run as an Independent. A former Republican state senator, his party registration is presently

nonpartisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

. He has said that if he wins, he will rejoin the Republican Party and serve as a Republican in the House. 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

to win, meaning that there would be an open Republican primary for the seat in 2016. 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."

Polling

Results

Ashford won the race by a 3.3% margin, making Terry one of only two sitting Republicans to be defeated by a Democrat in 2014 (the other being Steve Southerland in Florida's 2nd).

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 , two time zones and 68.5 counties. It is mostly sparsely populated but includes the cities of Grand Island, Kearney, Hastings,

North Platte North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

and

Scottsbluff Scottsbluff is a city in Scotts Bluff County, in the western part of the state of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. The population was 14,436 at the 2020 census. Scottsbluff is the largest city in the Nebraska Panhandl ...

. Incumbent Republican Adrian Smith, who had represented the district since 2007, ran for re-election. He was re-elected with 74% of the vote in 2012 and the district has a PVI of R+23.

Republican primary

Smith considered running for the United States Senate in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, but declined to do so.

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Adrian Smith, incumbent U.S. Representative

=Eliminated in primary

= *

Tom Brewer Thomas Austin Brewer (September 3, 1931 – February 15, 2018) was an American professional baseball player. The right-handed pitcher appeared in 241 games over eight seasons (1954–1961) for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. He was ...

, retired Army Colonel

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *Mark Sullivan, farmer and nominee for this seat in

Results

General election

Results

References

External links

U.S. House elections in Nebraska, 2014
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Campaign contributions
at OpenSecrets
Andy Shambaugh Website
{{2014 United States elections Nebraska

United States House of Representatives

Overview

District 1

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

=Eliminated in primary

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

Results

General election

Results

District 2

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

=Eliminated in primary

=Declined

Polling

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

=Eliminated in primary

=Withdrawn

=Declined

Results

Libertarian primary

Candidates

=Nominee

=Eliminated in primary

Results

Independents

Candidates

=Withdrawn

General election

Campaign

Polling

Results

District 3

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

=Eliminated in primary

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

Results

General election

Results

See also

References

External links