Challengers from across the political landscape are looking to make a big change in Congressional representation this November in Nebraska’s 3rd District. They include a Democrat, two independents and a former Democratic nominee who decided to switch parties after the 2024 election.
No matter the party, winning the 3rd District won’t be easy. It is one of the most red-leaning in the entire country and has been comfortably held by Republican incumbent Adrian Smith for almost 20 years.
After a lopsided Republican primary, the Cook Partisan Voting Index gives Republicans a +27 advantage. That shows in elections; a Republican has held the seat consistently since the early 1960s.
Most of the district is agricultural, with nearly 92% of its population living in rural areas. Those rural voters have been especially affected by the Trump Administration’s tariffs and ongoing trade disputes, as well as the aggressive immigration policy that has depleted the district’s pool of much-needed labor.
Candidates are also concerned with how best to position the district’s farmers and ranchers as access to international markets remains choppy; one thing that most of those vying for the seat agree on is that access to year-round ethanol fuel could be a lasting solution.
Republican incumbent Adrian Smith is focused on bolstering district’s ag industry
Republican incumbent Adrian Smith of Gering will be aiming for his 11th term representing the state’s 3rd Congressional District. Smith, a sixth-generation Nebraskan, has held the seat longer than anyone in history.
Smith is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and started his political career on the Gering City Council, followed by two terms representing District 48 in Nebraska’s Legislature.
Historically, Smith has easily won both primary and general elections for the district’s seat. He won the district’s Republican primary earlier this year with nearly 65% of the vote against a single challenger, and won the 2024 general election with just over 80% of the tally.
In the House of Representatives, Smith currently serves as chair of both the Ways and Means Subcommittee and the Agriculture Trade Caucus.
In an interview with Nebraska Public Media News, Smith said that one of the biggest economic challenges facing the district’s ag producers is the shrinking market for U.S. crops, something he’d focus on if he returns to Washington.
“Overall, we want to look for opportunities to add value to our crops,” he said. “Whether that’s soybean processing, or ethanol from corn or sustainable beef plants like the one in North Platte.”
Smith authored the current bipartisan year-round ethanol bill that passed through the House of Representatives. Though it’s now stalled in the Senate, Smith said continuing to push the bill forward remains a priority.
“I hope that we can say that we passed year-round E15 at the end of 2026, and point to the next two years as the start of even more innovation for biofuels.”
Smith also said the ongoing drought and historic wildfire season that have decimated the district’s ag production are also top of mind for his policymaking next term.
“From sugar beets in the Panhandle to the million or so grazing acres lost from the fires, it all requires different federal policy," he said. "But we really need all hands on deck to help those producers recover.”
Part of that federal policy is responding to ongoing and seemingly ever-changing tariffs. Smith said that he isn’t a strict proponent of those restrictions but sees them as a possible necessary evil that could benefit producers down the line.
“It’s no secret I’m not a fan of them,” Smith said. “But I do think we’ve seen good discussions, concessions from other countries that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
“The worst thing that could happen economically for our producers is non-engagement. We know that because we saw it over the past four years.”
Smith has been a stalwart conservative throughout his nearly two decades in Washington, supporting several of President Donald Trump’s policies. He co-authored the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and is a supporter of the Trump Accounts program started earlier this year.
“The accounts are going very well,” Smith said. “I’ve already introduced a bill that would make federal contributions to those accounts permanent, instead of expiring in three years.”
Smith is also pro-school choice.
On immigration, Smith said it’s Congress’ job to repair the system that allows individuals to enter the country legally.
“We need to make sure we’ve got a legal immigration system that’s functioning efficiently and appropriately so it discourages illegal entry into this country," he said.
He added that Congress and the current administration are taking the correct steps in fixing it.
“The fact that illegal border crossings are down more than 90% simply with a new president in the White House speaks volumes for what we’re doing," he said.
Smith believes his record over the past two decades speaks for itself when it comes to representing the district.
“It’s been a great honor to represent the district so far, to bring the voices of my constituents to Washington, and I look forward to continuing to do the job," he said.
Democratic newcomer Becky Stille is focused on affordability
Becky Kelly Stille has lived in Nebraska her entire life. The 2026 race marks the South Sioux City resident’s first foray into national politics.
She told Nebraska Public Media News that she’s driven by the ongoing affordability crisis she’s seeing in the 3rd District.
“Gas prices, grocery prices, it’s all out of control,” she said.
Stille said she’s seen firsthand the adverse effects on the district’s farmers, a huge part of the economy in rural Nebraska. She said the solution is simple.
“We need to get out of Iran. That’ll help with diesel costs. It’ll also help fertilizer go down, and help get us back on track," she said.
Another way Stille sees to boost the district’s farm economy is through access to year-round E15.
“I use it in my truck,” she said. “It helps the farmers here, gives them a market. I think it should absolutely be an option.”
Affordability goes beyond fuel and food for Stille. She said that it bleeds into healthcare costs, as well.
“We need to figure out a way to make healthcare affordable for everyone," she said. "A farmer I’ve talked to is paying an additional $32,000 a year for his health insurance premiums.”
Stille is against the recent cuts to Medicaid, citing numbers that put the 3rd District’s reliance on the system above the state average. When Medicaid dwindles, she argues, it puts rural Nebraskans at risk.
“We are six to eight percent above the state average for Affordable Care Act usage," she said. "If people lose that care, they’re simply not going to be able to go to the hospital. We need that funding back.”
She is a proponent of a universal healthcare system as a solution, but said that the likelihood of implementing it is minimal until the national debt goes down.
To boost the district’s economy, Stille believes that returning manufacturing to the region is a good start, but said the way the current Trump administration’s going about it is wrong.
“Tariffs aren’t the way to do it. All that’s done is make everyday items more expensive," she said.
Those price hikes, she argued, are hitting the rural 3rd District disproportionately.
“We’re not super wealthy," she said. "Most of us are living paycheck to paycheck.”
Stille said the nation’s immigration system could be recalibrated. She said a good starting point would be revisiting prior policies, including DACA, which protects undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
“We do need to secure the border, certainly,” she said. “But we also need to make sure that people here on work visas are maintained, that there is a clear path to citizenship for those who want it.”
She added that the current immigration policy isn’t helping anyone and that legal immigration is good for the country’s growth.
“Instead of deporting people, let’s get them on the path to start working toward their citizenship," she said. "Our country is growing, and immigration is an important part of that.”
While Stille had been a general opponent of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” she said she agrees with a few elements. However, she doesn’t think it did enough to help the district’s workers.
“I agree that there should be no taxes on tips or overtime, but those are the things that should be made permanent, not the tax breaks for corporations or the wealthy," she said.
That ethos is why Stille chose to run as a Democrat; she sees the current Republican administration, and the district’s representation, as opposed to the district’s best interests.
“There are just so many things that need to be changed,” she said. “You’ve got an administration that doesn’t listen to anybody in this country, and a representative who’s nowhere to be found.”
Independent candidate Mark Cohen looks to hold Congress accountable
Mark Cohen has been carving out his home in Nebraska’s Sandhills since 1983. The retired Air Force veteran lives in Lemoyne and teaches karate in Ogallala. He’s the only veteran running for the 3rd District seat.
Cohen is also the only remaining registered independent candidate on the ballot. In an interview with Nebraska Public Media News, he said that’s by design; neither party is upholding the values of the 3rd District, and the United States.
“I’m running because there's very little accountability in the two-party system," he said. "There’s too much money between the parties, their leaders and their donors. What’s missing is attention to the needs of Nebraskans.”
Cohen added that affordability is the No. 1 issue facing the district, compounded by cuts to Medicaid, and Congress has a responsibility to look after the country’s rural areas.
“Affordability means a lot of things: tariffs driving up input and grocery costs, the war in Iran, which is driving up fuel and diesel," he said. "“I don’t think there’s one fix, but I think it’s a shift in priorities: Congress needs to stop serving the big money donors and focus on helping the working people.”
He points to tariffs and the war in Iran as examples of Congress falling short of that priority. Those missteps, he said, hurt the district’s ag producers on top of drought and losses from wildfire.
“Agriculture depends on predictable markets and stability. So when you have turmoil from wars and tariffs, that interferes with markets," he said. "We haven’t had stability in ag programs thanks to this administration getting rid of some of them.”
The nonpartisan candidate added he would try to bring back some Biden-era beef protection programs, which he argues would be a huge help to the district’s ranchers, especially as the workforce remains relatively thin.
A fair number of the district’s ag producers rely on immigrant labor, and Cohen said he can’t see a federal “one size fits all” policy working in the slightest.
“Around here, it is difficult to find ag, construction and hospitality workers. The current policy isn’t working. We need a sensible path to citizenship, like the bipartisan bill that was put forward in 2024.”
He added that a return to some of the prior administration’s attitudes toward immigration may benefit the district.
“I would go back to the Biden-era funding we had for immigration,” he said.
“What concerns me now is that immigration has become militarized. We’ve never before had masked men wandering the streets demanding to see papers. The budget for ICE has gone up significantly, and I think we could put that money to better use.”
One of the big ways he’d use that money in Congress is healthcare; Cohen said he’d try to reverse the Trump Administration’s Medicaid cuts to rural healthcare systems in the district.
“The district’s rural hospitals and clinics are already operating on narrow margins. They really need that money. That never should have happened.”
Cohen also plans on fighting President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which Smith coauthored.
Cohen argues that it’s a losing proposition for the district; it cuts necessary healthcare dollars and benefits those out of state.
“Cutting a trillion from Medicaid, cutting taxes for those at the top, most of whom don’t live in Nebraska, and adding trillions to the national debt are things I can’t stand for," he said.
Still, Cohen agrees with Smith on one issue.
“I think the success of Representative Smith’s year-round E15 biofuel bill is good for the district, so I’ll give him credit there," Cohen said.
Legal Marijuana NOW candidate David Else runs to represent farmers
David Else has lived and farmed in Overton his entire life. This congressional run is the third for the Dawson County native, who ran for the 3rd District seat in 2022 and 2024.
Else’s most successful campaign was in 2022 when he ran as a Democrat and secured that party’s nomination, though he ultimately lost in the general election to Smith.
He has since switched parties, and now is running as a representative of the Legal Marijuana NOW party. In an interview with Nebraska Public Media News, Else said he’s flying the new banner because neither party seems to represent his interests.
“I was a lifelong Republican prior to Trump,” Else said. “But I don’t agree with everything the Democrats say, either.”
He said in an interview that one of the big reasons he’s running this cycle is that he feels the Republican-controlled House and Senate aren’t doing enough to stand up to President Trump’s policies.
“All Congress does is cater to whatever President Trump wants. They don’t have a backbone.”
He added that the current administration’s tariffs and ongoing trade wars have done serious harm to the district’s agriculture economy, and made the industry increasingly expensive for farmers like him.
“It seems like Trump’s trade wars destroyed our agricultural economy. Prices are skyrocketing. I’m paying double for everything this year.”
Else also said that if he is elected, he’d advocate for a cooling of trade disputes, and hopefully for chances to reopen international markets for the district’s farmers.
“If we can try to reverse Trump’s trade wars, that’s a first step. Huge buyers are going elsewhere: China went to Brazil for their corn and Argentina for soybeans instead of the U.S.," he said.
Else does acknowledge, though, that a push for year-round access to E15 is something that Smith is getting right.
“We should have been aiming for that a long time ago,” he said.
Else also believes that the country’s healthcare system could use reform. He thinks a universal healthcare system would benefit the district the most.
“We could either stay with Obamacare or head toward universal healthcare,” Else said. “It’s unbelievable that in the richest country in the world, we don’t have it.”
On immigration, Else said he’d support returning to policy from the early 2000s, specifically those policies under President George W. Bush. He said that policies like temporary workforce visas could be a good first step.
“I think we need a policy like we had under the second Bush,” Else said. “Somehow for those coming into the country to work, pay into Social Security. We need to make it easier for people to be here.”
He added that he doesn’t necessarily want open borders but would advocate for a more robust work visa system.
“What we need is better ways to keep track of people who come into the country,” he said. “We need a better way to keep visas updated.”
Else said that a successful first term in Congress boils down to agricultural support: he’d like to boost crop prices, expand access to international markets and increase funding for USDA programs that would help younger farmers get into agriculture.
“It seems like most farmers around here are my age,” Else said. “They’re pushing 60 years old or more. It’s hard to imagine they’ll be doing this another 10 or 15 years.”
Else thinks that’s a concerning trend for the district; he said he doesn’t want to see smaller agricultural operations go away.
“If there’s no one to take over, we’re going to only have these huge, corporate operations who will continue to buy up everything in the district, and we won’t have any real farms left," he said.
Write-in candidate Macey Budke sees problems with current leadership
Macey Budke has been a resident of Nebraska’s 3rd District since she was 3 months old.
The North Platte resident initially mounted an independent campaign but recently opted to stay on the ballot as a member of the newly formed Working People Party.
In an interview with Nebraska Public Media News, she said she’s still in the race because in her three decades in the district, she feels she hasn’t seen proper Congressional representation.
“We seem to be an afterthought," she said. “It seems like decisions are being made without our input, the people in the district.
“We don’t get to see Representative Smith out much. There’s no face-to-face accountability, and that’s what we’re about in rural Nebraska. Presence is everything.”
Healthcare is one of Budke’s biggest issues, and for good reason. She’s a mental health professional and holds a graduate degree in organizational psychology and healthcare administration.
She’s seen firsthand how difficult navigating the healthcare system can be for those seeking care, and said she’d like to do something different in Washington.
“One thing I’d like to collaborate on at the federal level is moving our system away from a volume-based payment system," she said.
Budke argued that in such a system, rural hospitals are always at a funding disadvantage simply because they serve fewer patients than their urban counterparts.
Her solution is shifting hospitals and clinics to an “access readiness system,” which distributes funding based in part on measurable healthcare outcomes.
That also includes boosting funding for EMS services, and treating them as integral parts of the healthcare system.
“The EMS service is a huge component of healthcare, especially in rural areas. When you need them, you should have them at the ready,” she said.
“But,” she added, “to make that happen, they need to be paid.”
As for the ongoing tariffs and trade wars, Budke said all that serves to do is hurt the district’s ag producers.
“Our agricultural sector, across rural America, should not become collateral in these broad, spread-out trade disputes, because we get hit the hardest," Budke said.
She added it’s Washington’s responsibility to clean up those messes.
“If the government creates these trade shocks, they have a responsibility to our producers, because they’re limited in what they can do by themselves.”
Budke also said she’s seen Congress fail in how it’s been handling immigration, particularly when it comes to rural Nebraska.
“We can’t pretend like we don’t depend on immigrant labor,” she said. “That’s just not the reality.”
She added that Congress needs to work on providing immigration solutions that better serve the unique workforce needs of the district, which includes paths to citizenship.
“It’s inexcusable that we can have people here for 30 years and have no clear path to citizenship. We need a system that’s functional and timely and deals with our current economic reality.”
Budke said she believes the recent Trump administrations haven’t been helping the 3rd District. While she acknowledged the president’s first term had some helpful ideas, implementation left much to be desired.
“I’m thinking specifically about expansion of broadband internet access in rural areas,” she said.
“That didn’t happen as well as we would’ve hoped. And now, in his second term, he’s instructed not to accept any more applications for the program.”
Budke said a successful term in Washington would include advocating for the reopening of several of those programs for her district.
She also believes that success would equal accountability.
“A successful first term would mean my constituents see me, they know me, and they’re getting honest answers from me," Budke said. "They will genuinely know that I’m hearing them and taking their voices to Washington.”
Important election dates and reminders
Nebraska’s general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Most county election offices begin sending early voting ballots in September.
Voters can cast their ballots early, in person at their respective county election office starting Monday, Oct. 5. Voting in person at county election offices will end Monday, Nov. 2. All early voting ballots are due back to county election offices by the close of polls on election day. Ballots received after the polls close will not be accepted.
Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central Time on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. Voters can locate their polling place online at Nebraska’s VoterCheck system. There, voters can also verify that their voter registration information is up to date and preview their ballot once those are finalized by county election offices.
There are two voting registration deadlines ahead of the general election. Friday, Oct. 16 is the final day Nebraskans can update their voter registration information or register to vote online, by mail, at the DMV, via personal agent or via deputy registrar. Friday, Oct. 23 is the final day Nebraskans can update their voter registration or register to vote in person at their respective county election offices.
Read Nebraska Public Media News’ election-related coverage on our Campaign Connection page.