Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen wins reelection

LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen won reelection Tuesday in a winding year that gave a Republican gubernatorial candidate their toughest run since the 1990s.

The Associated Press called the race just before 2 a.m. Wednesday. Pillen, who became governor in 2023, defeated former Democratic state Sen. Lynne Walz by more than 48,000 votes, with 50.4% of the vote to Walz’s 42.6%. He defied a blue wave nationwide while still running in a closer race than in 2022, when he won by a margin of 23%.

Former state Sen. Brett Lindstrom of the new America First Party earned 4.4% of the vote. Rick Beard of the Legal Marijuana NOW Party earned 2.6% of the vote.

“You chose a leader, not a politician, and I will never forget that trust,” Pillen told a cheering crowd in Lincoln.

Walz had hoped to repeat the 1990 upset where Ben Nelson unseated then-Gov. Kay Orr by just 4,030 votes, a 0.7% margin.

National pundits, pollsters and figures, including President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, had not initially placed Nebraska on the map. But over time, Pillen and Walz faced a closer-than-expected matchup. 

The Republican Governors Association had given Pillen $2 million in the last month, and the Democratic Governors Association, which Beshear chairs, gave Walz more than $500,000.

‘Everything is trending upward’

Pillen credited his victory with bringing people together, including those who had never been to similar political events before.

Throughout the night, Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly, who agreed to join Pillen for another four years, repeatedly took the stage to encourage voters to be patient and to say that the campaign remained confident the night would end their way.

Just before 8:30 p.m., Kelly said the results, which had Walz with a widening margin above Pillen, were still “very encouraging, very positive” and above campaign projections. Around 10:20 p.m., Kelly said things still looked good even if some national races “might be startling” to some of the “good Republicans in this room.”

“We have now gone ahead in the race. Everything is trending upward, and the bar is still open,” Kelly said just before 11:15 p.m. to a cheering crowd and hoots and hollers.

Pillen during his victory speech acknowledged “a lot of tough stuff” going on nationwide. He said it was important that conservatives unite and build relationships so they can run government like a business. He credited Nebraskans for his win.

“When Nebraska wins, we all win,” Pillen said.

‘We’re all still Nebraskans’

Walz told a crowd of supporters in Omaha just before 11 p.m. that when she set out across Nebraska to listen about a year ago, from everywhere she went she heard the same thing: “Government is not working for people anymore. That’s the spirit I am asking for tonight.” 

She told supporters to go home, get rest and when every vote is in, “we’ll have more to say.”

“Be patient. Be kind to each other,” Walz said. “And to the folks on the other side who are waiting up, just like we are: tomorrow morning, we’re all still Nebraskans.” 

Pillen said he hadn’t heard from Walz before he took the stage shortly after 12:10 a.m.

A ‘challenging’ election year

The race had also been complicated by the late addition of Lindstrom, an ex-Republican who had initially run for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District until suspending his campaign in January. He later dropped his party registration and ran petitions this summer to become a nonpartisan gubernatorial candidate. His campaign got ensnared in a web of allegedly fraudulent signature collections that initially took down a separate Lincoln petition campaign. 

In total, seven out-of-state circulators were arrested in the case.

Lindstrom found a “pirate ship” he was looking for to revive his bid: the America First Party, one of two new political parties that emerged this summer, too. Some Republicans had feared the label could mislead voters and pull votes from the GOP.

The new Nebraska Working People Party did not run a gubernatorial candidate.

In addition, a new political action committee had popped up in the last month to support Beard, labeling him the “real progressive” in the race. The main funder of the new PAC, Nebraskans for Cannabis Future, had previously only donated to Pillen and other Republican-aligned groups.

Beard had told the Nebraska Examiner last week that he suspected the move was meant to hurt Walz and that he had no knowledge of or involvement in the latest PAC effort.

Pillen said 2026 presented a “challenging year” for the state, “especially for all of us here that still hold high expectations for how government should work.”

“The political garbage, the sham parties, the dirty tricks, the dark stunts that were unprecedented, a historic amount of dark liberal money poured into Nebraska from outside of our state, trying to divide us and manipulate us,” Pillen said. “I am very, very, very proud that our campaign avoided all that garbage.”

An agricultural governor

Pillen had faced pushback over how his handling of Nebraska’s budget and how state agencies under his purview handled an emergency no-bid contract with a bioeconomy consultant and lobbyist whom Pillen was familiar with. On Friday, law enforcement said Pillen’s office “was not implicated in any criminal wrongdoing.”

The governor had told the Examiner last week that Republicans and commonsense Nebraskans knew  how “critical” the election was, at all levels, “to keep far-left radicals from gaining a foothold in our state.”

Walz had faced criticism over her familial ties to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — a distant cousin through marriage — and over legislative votes Pillen said went against Nebraska values.

The former lawmaker had pitched a different message, seeking to travel the state, hear Nebraskans’ ideas and bring people together with kindness. She often leaned into the biblical instruction to “love thy neighbor” regardless of who they are or what differences they may have. 

Lindstrom had pitched a middle-ground political alternative, while Beard leaned into a state-run medical cannabis program and a desire to get money out of politics.

The next legislative session

State Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte took the stage before 9 p.m. and repeatedly praised Pillen and Kelly for their record, particularly around agriculture.

“People ask what he knows about agriculture. He’s forgotten more about agriculture than his opponents know,” Jacobson said of Pillen.

“I can tell you that I am feel privileged to work with him because, having also grown up on a farm and having still stayed involved in farming, it’s not an easy path forward, and he understands that.”

Jacobson appears to be a frontrunner to be the next speaker of the Legislature; state Sen. Brad von Gillern of Elkhorn, the current Revenue Committee chair, continues to trail his challenger, Cindy Maxwell-Ostdiek of Omaha.

Pillen heads into an increasingly tough legislative session where Republicans appear likely to lose their 33-seat supermajority (the number needed to overcome filibusters, such as on party-line votes). The state also faces a projected $1.2 billion deficit through mid-2029. 

Pillen has denied that Nebraska faces a “budget crisis” as all three of his opponents had said, and he said it’s time that Nebraskans shed their political “sweaters.” The governor has long said his priorities are “kids, taxes, agriculture and values,” and he’s said finding a “solution” to Nebraska’s property tax crisis will remain top of mind the next four years, as will balancing the budget. The legislative session begins Jan. 6.

‘You keep working’

Pillen’s seven grandchildren took the stage just before 10 p.m. Each read from a slip of paper thanking their grandpa and “our Jim.” The children said they’ve seen just how much Pillen loves Nebraska and how seriously he takes the responsibility.

One said that the governor didn’t work to win an election but that he believes in his work. A teary-eyed Pillen watched from the crowd.

“That might be the biggest lesson he has taught us: When you are given an opportunity, you don’t just sit back and enjoy it,” one of Pillen’s grandchildren said. “You go to work, and even after you succeed, you keep working. You work harder. You try to leave things better than you found them. And if there is more work to be done, you don’t ever quit. We are so proud of you.”

Nebraska Examiner senior reporter Cindy Gonzalez and UNO student journalist Chase Zagurski contributed to this report.