# 2018 Nebraska gubernatorial election

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The 2018 Nebraska gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the governor of Nebraska, concurrently with the election of Nebraska's Class I U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various Nebraska and local elections. Incumbent Republican governor Pete Ricketts won re-election to a second term.

## Republican primary
### Candidates
#### Declared

* Krystal Gabel, writer, candidate for Metropolitan Utilities District in 2016 and candidate for Omaha City Council in 2017
* Pete Ricketts, incumbent governor
   * Running mate: Mike Foley, incumbent lieutenant governor

#### Declined

* Mike Flood, former speaker of the Nebraska Legislature
* Bob Krist, state senator (running as a Democrat)

### Endorsements
#### Organizations

* Nebraska Farm Bureau
* NRA Political Victory Fund

### Results

Republican primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Pete Ricketts (inc.) | 138,292 | 81.42% |
| | Republican | Krystal Gabel | 31,568 | 18.58% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 169,860 | 100.00% |

## Democratic primary
### Candidates
#### Declared

* Tyler Davis, University of Nebraska, Omaha instructor
* Bob Krist, state senator
   * Running mate: Lynne Walz, state senator
* Vanessa Gayle Ward, activist

#### Declined

* Chuck Hassebrook, former regent of the University of Nebraska and nominee for governor in 2014 (running for the legislature)
* Steve Lathrop, former state senator (running for the legislature)

### Endorsements
#### State legislators

* Burke Harr, Nebraska Legislature 8th District

#### Mayors

* Chris Beutler, Lincoln

#### Federal-level politicians

* Brad Ashford, former congressman

### Results

Democratic primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Bob Krist | 54,992 | 59.81% |
| | Democratic | Vanessa Gayle Ward | 26,478 | 28.80% |
| | Democratic | Tyler A. Davis | 10,472 | 11.39% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 91,942 | 100.00% |

## Independents

State Senator Bob Krist announced in September 2017 that he had left the Republican Party in order to mount a third party challenge against Governor Ricketts. Krist planned to create a new party in order to run, which would require submitting 5,000 signatures to qualify the party for the ballot. However, in February 2018 he abandoned his independent candidacy and became a Democrat.

### Candidates
#### Withdrawn

* Bob Krist, state senator (running as a Democrat)

## General election
### Predictions

| Source | Ranking | As of |
| The Cook Political Report | Safe R | October 26, 2018 |
| The Washington Post | Safe R | November 5, 2018 |
| FiveThirtyEight | Safe R | November 5, 2018 |
| Rothenberg Political Report | Safe R | November 1, 2018 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe R | November 5, 2018 |
| RealClearPolitics | Safe R | November 4, 2018 |
| Daily Kos | Safe R | November 5, 2018 |
| Fox News | Likely R | November 5, 2018 |
| Politico | Safe R | November 5, 2018 |
| Governing | Safe R | November 5, 2018 |

#### Notes

* ↑ The Fox News Midterm Power Rankings uniquely does not contain a category for Safe/Solid races

### Debates

| Host network/sponsors | Date | Link(s) | Participants | Participants | Participants |
| Host network/sponsors | Date | Link(s) | Bob Krist (D) | Pete Ricketts (R) |
| KMTV-TV | August 30, 2018 3:00 pm MDT | | Invited | Invited |

### Results

2018 Nebraska gubernatorial election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Republican | Pete Ricketts (inc.) | 411,812 | 59.00% | +1.85% |
| | Democratic | Bob Krist | 286,169 | 41.00% | +1.77% |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 125,643 | 18.00% | +0.08% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 697,981 | 100.0% | |
| | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold |

#### Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

* Burt (largest village: Tekamah)
* Saline (largest city: Crete)
* Thurston (largest village: Pender)

#### Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

* Douglas (largest city: Omaha)

#### By congressional district

Rickets won two of three congressional districts, with Krist winning the remaining one, which elected a Republican.
| District | Ricketts | Krist | Representative |
| 1st | 56% | 44% | Jeff Fortenberry |
| 2nd | 49% | 51% | Don Bacon |
| 3rd | 74% | 26% | Adrian Smith |