Primary Outlook: Women Candidates in Nebraska

Kelly Dittmar

Gender Watch 2018From March to December 2018, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation (BLFF) and the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) partnered to offer Gender Watch 2018, which tracked, analyzed, and illuminated gender dynamics in the 2018 midterm elections. With the help of expert scholars and practitioners, Gender Watch 2018 furthered public understanding of how gender influences candidate strategy, voter engagement and expectations, media coverage, and electoral outcomes in campaigns. The blog below was written for Gender Watch 2018, as part of our collective effort to raise questions, suggest answers, and complicate popular discussions about gender’s role U.S. elections.

 

Ahead of the Nebraska primary election on May 15, 2018, we outline the numbers and proportions of women who have filed as candidates for congressional and statewide office. The data below also provide points of historical comparison to give context to today’s presence and potential success of women candidates.

All data are provided from the Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. For a full list of the women candidates in Nebraska primary races for congressional and statewide offices, see CAWP’s Election Watch page.

CONGRESS

Current: 1 (1R) of 5 members of the NE congressional delegation (20%)
Filed: 4 (3D, 1R)
Percent of all Filed Congressional Candidates (D/R): 20% (4 of 20)

SENATE

Current: 1 of 2 senators

  • Deb Fischer (R) is the third woman to serve in the U.S. Senate from Nebraska. The first two women senators, both Republicans, from Nebraska served in 1954 for less than one year between the two of them.

Filed:  2 (1D, 1R)

  • Incumbent Deb Fischer (R) is running for re-election and Jane Raybould is competing for the Democratic nomination to challenge Fischer in the fall.

Percent of all Filed Senate Candidates (D/R):  22.2% (2 of 9)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Senate Candidates:  25% (1 of 4)
Percent of all Filed Republican Senate Candidates: 20% (1 of 5)

HOUSE

Current: 0 of 3 representatives (0%)

  • Just one woman has served in the U.S. House from Nebraska: Virginia Dodd Smith (R), 1975-1991.

Filed:  2 (2D)

  • Both women running for U.S. House seats this year are running in Democratic primaries to challenge incumbent Republican representatives.

Districts with Women Candidates: 2 of 3
Percent of all Filed House Candidates (D/R):  18.2% (2 of 11)
Percent of all Filed Democratic House Candidates:  40% (2 of 5)
Percent of all Filed Republican House Candidates: 0% (0 of 6)

Recent history: The number of women who filed for major party candidacy for the U.S. House in Nebraska in 2018 is not a record high. Between 2008 and 2018, the highest number of women candidates filed to run for the U.S. House was 3 (all Democrats) in 2010. There have been no open seat contests for the U.S. House in Nebraska in the past 5 election cycles, and there are no open seat contests again this year.

GOVERNOR

Current: 0
Kay Orr (R) served as governor of Nebraska from 1987 to 1991. She remains the only woman governor of Nebraska.

Filed: 2 (1D, 1R)
Percent of all Filed Gubernatorial Candidates (D/R):  25% (2 of 8)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Gubernatorial Candidates:  25% (1 of 4)
Percent of all Filed Republican Gubernatorial Candidates: 25% (1 of 4)

Recent history: This year’s women candidates for governor are the only female major party candidates for governor in the past two decades.

OTHER STATEWIDE ELECTED EXECUTIVE OFFICES

Current: 0 of 5 positions (excludes governor) (0%)

Filed:  2 (1D, 1R)

  • 1 (1D) woman, Jane Skinner, is unopposed for the Democratic nomination for state auditor to challenge incumbent Charlie Janssen.
  • 1 (1R) woman, Debra Perrell, is running for the open state secretary of state position. She is one of two Republicans competing in the primary.

Percent of all Filed Statewide Executive (other than governor) Candidates (D/R): 22.2% (2 of 9)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Statewide Executive (other than governor) Candidates: 33.3% (1 of 3)
Percent of all Filed Republican Statewide Executive (other than governor) Candidates: 16.7% (1 of 6)

Kelly Dittmar headshot

Kelly Dittmar

Kelly Dittmar is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers–Camden and Director of Research and Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. She is the co-author of A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Representation Matters (Oxford University Press, 2018) (with Kira Sanbonmatsu and Susan J. Carroll) and author of Navigating Gendered Terrain: Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns (Temple University Press, 2015).

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