2024 United States presidential election in Nebraska

The 2024 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, as part of the 2024 United States presidential election in which all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated. Nebraska voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote. Nebraska has five electoral votes.
Nebraska is one of two states — the other being Maine — that allocates their electoral votes separately by congressional district in addition to two electoral votes going to the statewide winner. The 2nd congressional district, which contains Omaha and some of its suburbs, has been competitive since 2008, when Obama narrowly won the district, making it the first time in 44 years that a Democrat won any of the state's electoral votes. In recent years, the district has leaned Democratic. In 2020, the district flipped back to the Democratic column, backing Joe Biden by 5.9%, despite the state voting Republican by a landslide margin.
Trump improved his margin statewide but lost the 2nd district again, as Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris carried it by 4.6%. Redistricting between the 2020 and 2024 elections exchanged parts of more liberal areas near Douglas County for more areas of the more conservative Sarpy County. Tim Walz, the running mate of Kamala Harris and governor of Minnesota, was born and raised in Nebraska.
The Nebraska Democratic primary was held on May 14, 2024. President Biden won twenty-eight delegates. Congressman Dean Phillips won one delegate by receiving the most votes of any candidate in Logan County, with 55.6% of the vote.
The Nebraska Republican primary was held on May 14, 2024.
The Nebraska Libertarian primary was held on May 14, 2024. Six candidates were on the ballot.
The following presidential candidates have received ballot access in Nebraska:
In addition, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. successfully made it on the ballot, but took his name off of it when he withdrew.
In April 2024, there was a failed push from some Republicans to replace the split Electoral College voting with a winner-takes-all system. The change was prompted by a possible scenario where if Joe Biden carried the blue wall states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania but no other swing states, the second district could give Biden the decisive 270th electoral vote. While Republicans control the state legislature, the attempt failed due to internal opposition. Only eight legislators voted to advance the proposal when it was brought forward at the end of the legislative session. Republican Senator Mike McDonnell, who had given the caucus a filibuster-proof majority when he switched his affiliation from Democratic, stated, "I am not voting for cloture on winner-take-all, and I am not supporting winner-take-all."
Governor Jim Pillen said he would call a special session to adopt a winner-take-all system if it were to get the necessary support for passage. As bills in Nebraska normally take effect three months after being signed, it would need to be passed with an emergency clause and the support of two-thirds of 49 senators – meaning all 33 Republicans – to be effective for the election. Maureen Terry, a Democratic leader in Maine, responded to the efforts by signaling that if they were successful, the Maine legislature would also adopt a winner-take-all system to negate any benefit given to Republicans.
After Kamala Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate, a second push to change to a winner-take-all system began in September after Republican nominee Donald Trump and several of his allies spoke to Republican legislators and Pillen about instituting the change. Pillen stated he would call a special session for the change if supporters could give him commitments from the 33 legislators needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster; at the time, three of the 33 Republicans in the legislature, including McDonnell, who was expected to be the last holdout, had not committed to supporting the change. Due to restrictions in Maine law, Maine would not have been able to counter such a modification in time for the November election, meaning the change would almost certainly have secured an extra Republican electoral vote. McDonnell stated on September 23 that he would not vote to change the system before the election, preferring that the issue be decided by the state's voters. The following day, Pillen stated he would not call a special session.
Statewide
Donald Trump vs. Kamala Harris vs.Cornel West vs. Jill Stein vs. Chase Oliver
Nebraska's 1st congressional district
Donald Trump vs. Kamala Harris vs.Cornel West vs. Jill Stein vs. Chase Oliver
Nebraska's 2nd congressional district
Nebraska's 3rd congressional district
Donald Trump vs. Kamala Harris vs.Cornel West vs. Jill Stein vs. Chase Oliver
Trump won two of Nebraska's three congressional districts, while Harris won the second, which elected a Republican.
A sparsely populated Great Plains state, Nebraska has voted Republican in nearly every presidential election since its statehood, making exceptions only for favorite son William Jennings Bryan; Woodrow Wilson; Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first two terms; and landslide winner Lyndon B. Johnson. Democratic presidential candidates have not been able to come within single digits of carrying the state since Johnson carried the state in his 1964 landslide, and the only Democrat to win more than 40% of the statewide vote since then was Barack Obama, who garnered 41.60% in 2008.
Harris's win in Nebraska's 2nd congressional district marked the first time Democrats carried the district in consecutive elections since Nebraska adopted the district method in 1992, and the first time since 1936 that Democrats won consecutive electoral votes from the state. It was also the first presidential election since 2012 where the district did not back the Electoral College winner, and the first time a Republican won the presidency without carrying the district or sweeping Nebraska’s electoral votes since 1908.
Notably, the 2nd district was the only electoral vote Trump won in 2016 but lost in 2024. Despite Harris's win at the top of the ticket, Republican Don Bacon won re-election to represent the 2nd district in the U.S. House.
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