Nebraska independents have won at least 10 percent of the vote in just six out of 40 candidacies for the U.S. House since statehood

Last autumn, Nebraska mechanic and former national guardsman and union president Dan Osborn set a new state record by winning 46.5 percent of the U.S. Senate vote as an independent – coming up 6.7 points short of unseating Republican incumbent Deb Fischer.

But Osborn overtook former progressive Republican U.S. Senator George Norris’s nearly 90-year old state record along the way.

Norris was a sitting four-term incumbent in 1936 when he left the GOP and filed to run as an independent. Norris won the general election with a plurality 43.8 percent – defeating former five-term Republican U.S. Representative Robert Simmons by 5.0 points.

Osborn’s impressive performance has him considering a 2026 bid – though he has yet to narrow down for which office he would run. The independent is looking at another U.S. Senate campaign, the governorship, as well as the state’s first and second congressional districts.

If Osborn opts to run for the U.S. House, it may be a taller order to eclipse the best showing by an independent for that office, particularly if – unlike in 2024 – Democrats field a nominee against him.

To date, there have been 40 independent candidacies across the 314 general and special U.S. House elections in Nebraska since statehood.

Just six of those candidacies resulted in double-digit support from the electorate.

The best showing by an independent in Nebraska U.S. House electoral history was recorded by former Democratic U.S. Representative Clair Callan in 1970. Callan had failed bids for the chamber in 1956, 1958, and 1962 before winning a seat in the 1st CD during the Democratic landslide of 1964.

After losing his seat in 1966 to Robert Denney, Callan lost the rematch in 1968. In 1970’s open seat race, Callan ran as an independent and won 26.2 percent of the vote – good for second place but 24.5 points behind the GOP victor Charles Thone.

In doing so, Callan bested a mark that had held for half a century.

In 1920, Norfolk Press editor Marie Weekes won 21.8 percent in a three-way race won by Republican freshman Robert Evans. Weekes was a former Nebraska State Food and Hotel Inspector.

The remaining four elections in which independents won double digits were:

  • 1874 (At-Large): Omaha contractor Major James W. Davis with 11.3 percent
  • 1932 (CD-04): Minden movie theater proprietor Charles Binderup with 17.6 percent
  • 1940 (CD-04): Binderup with 17.1 percent
  • 2010 (CD-03): Grand Island’s Dan Hill with 12.0 percent

Independent candidacies for the U.S. House in Nebraska have been exceedingly rare in recent decades.

From statehood through World War II there were 35 such campaigns by Nebraskans, including 27 from 1932 to 1944.

However, over the next 80 years through 2024, there have been just five independent runs.

Independents have averaged 5.0 percent support across the 40 U.S. House candidacies.

It should be noted that in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries a number of third-party and fusion candidates did win election to the U.S. House in Nebraska including William McKeighan of the People’s Party in 1890 (CD-02), Alliance/Populist Omer Kem in 1890 (CD-03), 1892 (CD-06), and 1894 (CD-06), and Democratic-Populists William Stark in 1896, 1898, and 1900 (CD-04), Samuel Maxwell in 1896 (CD-03), Roderick Sutherland in 1896 and 1898 (CD-05), William Greene in 1896 and 1898 (CD-06), John Robinson in 1898 and 1900 (CD-03), William Neville in 1899 and 1900 (CD-06), Ashton Shallenberger in 1900 (CD-5), and Gilbert Hitchcock in 1902 (CD-02).

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1 Comments

  1. Cecil Crusher on March 19, 2025 at 11:38 pm

    – Is a law degree required of a candidate to seek the attorney general post (in NE)? Or a business-related degree or certification for treasurer? (My surmise is Mr. Osborn is simply not interested in seeking either of those positions – or is unaware that they too are elective position in the state.)
    – Aside from PA, OH, and MT, the ’24 presidential and Senate elections in NE and MD are arguably the most compelling cases of ‘what might have been’ had the environment been more conducive for ‘divergent voting’ (which, ‘thankfully/shamefully’, did occur in MI, AZ, WI, and NV). Indeed, a sizable number of those who voted for either the female or the felonious major party nominee crossed over (or, well, just abstained) to vote for the opposite party nominee for the US Senate (I am counting Osborn as the de facto Democratic candidate, even though he was a far less partisan candidate than ex-MD Governor Hogan was in their respective bids).
    – If I were advising Dan I would urge him to seek either the Lincoln-anchored House seat (which he actually carried as Senate aspirant last time) or the Senate seat. Since the Democrats will assuredly prioritize the gubernatorial and the CD-02 contests (and will presumably have a deep enough bench to slate at least those slots) Osborn might well become the sole non-Republican contender for the aforementioned offices.

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