Nebraskans voted along long-held political divides, county analysis shows

Nebraska voters overwhelmingly chose to send Donald Trump back to the White House, as well as re-elect an all-Republican congressional delegation on Tuesday. A review of unofficial vote counts by county that the Nebraska Secretary of State tallied showed Nebraska continuing its streak of being ruby red.

2024 Nebraska general election results by county

Hover over a race and select "show" or "hide" to toggle between races

Preliminary vote tallies as of 10 a.m., Thursday.

Sources: Nebraska Secretary of State; U.S. Census | Map and analysis by Daniel Wheaton | Midwest Newsroom

For a full-screen version of the map, click here

All but two counties, Lancaster and Douglas, voted for Trump in 2024.

In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Republican Sen. Deb Fischer beat labor leader Dan Osborn, who ran as an independent. Like Trump, Fischer lost the two metropolitan counties that hold Lincoln and Omaha and received lower levels of support in the eastern half of the state and in the more diverse Interstate Highway 80 corridor.

Osborn won two more counties than Vice President Kamala Harris: Sarpy and Thurston. He struggled for voter support on his competitor's home turf in the Nebraska Sandhills. In Grant County, near Fischer's home in Valentine, 90% of voters chose to send her back to the Senate.

In the other Senate race, Sen. Pete Ricketts handily won 92 of the state’s 93 counties to finish the remainder of Ben Sasse's term. Of the two Republicans, the former governor Ricketts was more popular by nearly 16,000 votes.

The state ballot measures showed much more division with voters than the top of the ticket. On Amendment 439, which would expand the right to an abortion up to fetal viability, voters on the eastern edge of the state generally favored the measure, while the margin between the two sides was much closer along the I-80 corridor. The measure was rejected with 51.3% voting against it.

Voters approved Amendment 434 with 55.3% choosing to keep the current 12-week limit on abortion, which would allow for further restrictions. In 18 counties, Nebraskans voted for the measure at margins higher than 75%. Those sparsely populated counties only accounted for slightly more than 8,000 votes for the measure, however.

Divisions did not follow traditional party lines on the measure that would repeal or retain a plan to allow for taxpayer funds to support private school scholarships. The counties that voted in favor of repealing the plan in higher margins were concentrated in the northeastern part of the state. Dakota County was the most in favor of repealing the plan. About 57% of voters statewide chose to repeal the plan.

Voters approved the amendment that would legalize medical marijuana in the state with 70% of the vote. Opposition to legalization was highest in the Sandhills, and support for medical marijuana was most popular in the eastern part of the state. The I-80 corridor was generally more in favor as well. This measure’s fate remains unknown as an ongoing legal challenge could prevent the expansion of the substance.

The Midwest Newsroom is an investigative and enterprise journalism collaboration that includes Iowa Public Radio, KCUR, Nebraska Public Media, St. Louis Public Radio and NPR.

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