The 2000 United States Senate election in Nebraska was held on November 7, 2000. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey retired after two terms in office, and Democrat Ben Nelson, a former two-term governor, won the open seat. Ben Nelson won the election despite Republican nominee George Walker Bush winning the state in the concurrent presidential election. This is the last time that Nebraska voted for a Senate candidate and a presidential candidate of different political parties.
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
County results Nelson: 50–60% 60–70% Stenberg: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
|
Democratic primary
editCandidates
edit- Ben Nelson, former Governor of Nebraska and 1996 Democratic nominee for the United States Senate
- Al Hamburg, perennial candidate
Results
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Ben Nelson | 105,661 | 92.12% | |
Democratic | Al Hamburg | 8,482 | 7.39% | |
Democratic | Write-ins | 558 | 0.49% | |
Total votes | 114,701 | 100.00% |
Republican primary
editCandidates
edit- Don Stenberg, Attorney General of Nebraska
- Scott Moore, Secretary of State of Nebraska
- David Hergert
- George Grogan
- John DeCamp, former State Senator
- Elliott Rustad
Results
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Don Stenberg | 94,394 | 49.99% | |
Republican | Scott Moore | 41,120 | 21.77% | |
Republican | David Hergert | 32,228 | 17.07% | |
Republican | George Grogan | 8,293 | 4.39% | |
Republican | John DeCamp | 7,469 | 3.96% | |
Republican | Elliott Rustad | 5,317 | 2.82% | |
Republican | Write-ins | 21 | 0.01% | |
Total votes | 188,842 | 100.00% |
General election
editCandidates
edit- Ben Nelson (D), former Governor of Nebraska and 1996 Democratic nominee for the United States Senate
- Don Stenberg (R), Attorney General of Nebraska
Debates
edit- Complete video of debate, September 21, 2000
Results
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Ben Nelson | 353,093 | 51.00% | −3.78% | |
Republican | Don Stenberg | 337,977 | 48.82% | +3.81% | |
Write-in | 1,280 | 0.18% | N/A | ||
Total votes | 692,350 | 100.00% | N/A | ||
Democratic hold |
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
edit- Burt (largest village: Tekamah)
- Box Butte (largest city: Alliance)
- Butler (largest city: David City)
- Clay (largest city: Sutton)
- Colfax (largest city: Schuyler)
- Furnas (largest city: Cambridge)
- Gosper (largest city: Elwood)
- Harlan (largest city: Alma)
- Hitchcock (largest city: Culbertson)
- Knox (largest city: Creighton)
- Kearney (largest city: Minden)
- Merrick (largest city: Central City)
- Nemaha (largest city: Auburn)
- Nance (largest city: Fullerton)
- Boone (largest city: Albion)
- Polk (largest city: Stromsburg)
- Richardson (largest city: Falls City)
- Sarpy (largest city: Bellevue)
- Thayer (largest city: Hebron)
- Washington (largest city: Blair)
- Franklin (largest city: Franklin)
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
edit- Lincoln (largest city: North Platte)
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Nebraska Secretary of State". sos.ne.gov. June 6, 2000. Archived from the original on May 7, 2008. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
- ^ "Republican Senate Race". sos.ne.gov. August 22, 2000. Archived from the original on May 7, 2008. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
- ^ Trandahl, Jeff (June 21, 2001). "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 7, 2000". clerk.house.gov. Archived from the original on January 5, 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2021.