Adrian Smith facing off against two Republican challengers in primary election

For the last 18 years, Republican Adrian Smith has represented Nebraska’s sprawling third congressional district. This year, Smith has two Republican primary opponents, one of them endorsed by the Nebraska Republican Party. Two Democrats are running as well.

Since 2006, Congressman Adrian Smith of Gering has compiled a conservative voting record on a wide range of issues, earning an 88 percent approval rating from the American Conservative Union. Smith said there are challenges ahead.

“We need to strengthen the border, we need to work on our debt like never before, and tax policy that's about to expire, that is important to renew, expand or make permanent,” he said. “And there's a lot of work to be done. And that's why I'm running again.”

Smith has two opponents in the Republican primary. Robert McCuiston of Holdrege is a welder. He said he’s running on fiscal issues, including cutting foreign aid.

“As a politician, I would be voting against giving all of our taxpayer dollars to Ukraine, to Israel, to Afghanistan, and the list goes on and on,” he said.

Smith has defended his recent votes in favor of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

“A lot of this actually helps us with our military, being able to update the technology, replace equipment with newer equipment, and be able to help our friends at the same time,” he said.

The third Republican candidate, John Walz, of Hastings, runs a discount grocery store. Walz said he wants to eliminate federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, that are not explicitly authorized by the Constitution. Walz complained about Smith’s response when he suggested the idea.

“I said, ‘As one of your constituents, I expect you to defund the FBI and the DOJ, this federal government that's weaponized against us,’” Walz said. “And his response was ‘You know, there's a lot of good people in the FBI.’”

Smith compared the idea to another one he opposes.

“I hear requests to defund the local police, too,” Smith said. “That's unwise. And certainly, do I have my concerns about the application of justice even at our Department of Justice? Absolutely. That's why we need a new president, quite honestly.”

Smith has faced primary challenges from fellow Republicans before. But never in the past has the state’s Republican Party endorsed a challenger. This time, they’ve endorsed Walz. That happened after insurgent populists wrested control of the party from the establishment wing at a state central committee meeting last July. Party officials prepared a questionnaire for candidates to seek endorsements, but say none of the incumbents filled them out.

University of Nebraska-Kearney political science professor Joan Blauwkamp said that’s typical of splits within the Republican Party around the nation.

“The same kind of factions between Republicans who are sort of more MAGA, Donald Trump-supporting Republicans and sort of other Republicans, other factions in the Republican Party, and how some of that is playing out in conflicts in state and local party organizations,” she said. “That's happening all over the country. It's not just happening in Nebraska.”

Blauwkamp said there’s nothing new about internal conflict within political parties.

“But I would say there are also some things that are pretty different about this sort of contemporary faction,” she said. “One is the endorsement of political violence as a means of obtaining and retaining power.”

Blauwkamp said she was referring to some of former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about using the military for deportations and executing traitors.

She added the state party’s endorsement of challengers to Republican officeholders is not likely to affect primary outcomes, but it could.

“The presidential nomination contest is settled,” Blauwkamp said. “And so it could be that these primary elections are really low turnout events, and if they're really low turnout events and the people who turn out are the same people who showed up at the state convention, then maybe the incumbents might have something to worry about. I don't think that's super likely.”

Smith, who’s been endorsed by a slew of Republican officeholders, said he hasn’t focused on divisions within the party, and suggested they could be a distraction.

“My goal is achieving more conservative policy,” Smith said. “But we have to win elections first. The Republican majority is very important. I'm not sure that is a high priority for some of my Republican colleagues.”

Smith has collected more than $1 million in campaign contributions in the last 16 months, and had $1.2 million in cash-on-hand as of April. By contrast, Walz collected just under $20,000 last year and this year, half of it a loan from himself to his campaign, and had about $1,500 cash on hand. McCuiston didn’t file a report with the Federal Election Commission, which requires reports only when candidates raise or spend at least $5,000.

There are also two Democrats running in the primary to face the eventual Republican nominee this fall. David Else, a farmer from Overton, said he wants to maintain and strengthen the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

“That's my main goal, to save Obamacare and even add dental and vision to Obamacare,” he said.

The other Democratic candidate is Daniel Ebers, a hotel manager. He says his main concern is working with others to solve economic problems.

“Wages are not really going up in comparison to the way the prices are right now, and everyone's expressing concerns to me that they can’t afford it,” he said.

Ebers says he grew up in the Third District but his job required him to move to Lincoln. Lincoln is outside the Third District, but there is no constitutional requirement for candidates to live in the district they seek to represent.

Neither Democratic candidate has filed the campaign finance reports that would be required once they raised or spent $5,000. A Democrat has not won the Third District race since 1958.