U.S. House — NE-02 · Nebraska · 2026
General election · 3 on the certified November ballot · Open seat (no incumbent)
Model rating Leans Democratic (Tilting) on our experimental model — not a poll or a forecast.
1 poll on file from pollsters we have not verified yet — shown below, not averaged. Model inputs: 3 of 7, updated today. Sources · What is validated
News attention 19/100 — how much coverage the race gets, not who is winning. Updated today. How it works
On the November ballot (2)
Certified by the state on 2026-09-11, checked 2026-09-30.
Also on the certified ballot: Eric Michael Foreman (Libertarian).
Not on the certified ballot (6)
Filed or ran for this seat, but not on the state’s certified list for November.
Official source: https://sos.nebraska.gov/sites/default/files/doc/elections/2026/Final_Statewide_General_Candidate_Filing_List_9.11.26.pdf
Latest verified field polling
Only checksummed releases from verified (Tier V) pollsters appear here.
No verified poll has been published for this race. Vector, our experimental model rating, is below — it is not a poll.
Polling average
1 poll on file for this race, all from quarantined (U-tier) pollsters — visible below, not yet averaged.
Campaign money (FEC)
Candidate committee totals for the cycle from the Federal Election Commission (public domain), as of each committee's latest report.
| Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand | Through |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brett Lindstrom | $375,099 | $375,099 | $0 | 2026-07-15 |
| Brinker Harding | $2,034,386 | $963,618 | $1,070,769 | 2026-06-30 |
| Crystal Rhoades | $182,791 | $182,679 | $112 | 2026-05-31 |
| Denise Powell | $2,668,287 | $1,670,897 | $997,390 | 2026-06-30 |
| James Leuschen | $393,804 | $268,590 | $125,214 | 2026-06-30 |
| John Cavanaugh | $1,359,503 | $1,277,310 | $82,193 | 2026-06-30 |
| Kishla Askins | $901,522 | $901,522 | $0 | 2026-06-30 |
| Mark Edmund Johnston | $10,147 | $10,147 | $0 | 2026-03-31 |
Results
Vote counts as reported by the state; transcribed from the Wikipedia election article (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites the state's official results.
Democratic primary
| Denise Powell won | 22,516 | 38.8% |
| John Cavanaugh | 21,115 | 36.4% |
| Crystal Rhoades | 8,180 | 14.1% |
| Kishla Askins | 3,499 | 6.0% |
| Melanie Williams | 2,222 | 3.8% |
| James Leuschen (withdrawn) | 320 | 0.6% |
| Van Argyrakis | 152 | 0.3% |
Libertarian primary
| Eric Foreman won | 388 | 100.0% |
Republican primary
| Brinker Harding won | 39,689 | 100.0% |
Source: Wikipedia article revision (CC BY-SA 4.0), retrieved 2026-09-30 · parser wiki-race-1.0.0
Key dates
Official federal election dates for this state from the FEC. Registration deadlines and early voting: see the state election office.
- 2026-05-12 — Primary election: U.S. House
- 2026-11-03 — General election: U.S. House
Source: FEC election dates (public domain).
Primary and hypothetical polls (2)
Kept on file, never averaged into this race. Polls listed on the Wikipedia election article (CC BY-SA 4.0), each linked to the pollster's own release.
- Democratic primary · GBAO (partisan) · 2026-01-08–2026-01-12 · n=600 · John Cavanaugh (D) 43%, Crystal Rhoades (D) 15%, Denise Powell (D) 10%, Kishla Askins (D) 4% · release
- Democratic primary · GBAO (partisan) · 2025-07-21–2025-07-23 · n=400 · John Cavanaugh (D) 36%, Crystal Rhoades (D) 15%, Denise Powell (D) 9%, Kishla Askins (D) 4% · release
In the news
Headlines from outlets across the political spectrum, linked to the publisher. Vugol.me doesn’t write or endorse them. How we choose them · All election news
Signals (experimental)
Attention 19 Vector D · Tilting
Vugol Me Attention (attention intensity)
Attention intensity index 0–100 · not a poll · normalized nightly
Vugol Me Vector (experimental)
Directional rating without probability · experimental · model confidence: medium
Daily precision telemetry
Per-source daily series, CSV export and Vector inputs · paid plans
Sources
- Roster — official filings; fundraising from FEC datapoints where on file (https://api.open.fec.gov/).
- Attention inputs — Wikipedia pageviews (https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/) and GDELT news volume and tone (https://www.gdeltproject.org/).
- Polls and results — individual polls and primary results listed on the Wikipedia election article (CC BY-SA 4.0), each poll linked to the pollster's release; money and election dates from the FEC (public domain). How rows are checked.
- Models pulse-1.0.0 · vector-1.1.0 · attention inputs SHA-256 ac7bf119033e · methodology · license CC BY 4.0 (data license).
Band: D · Tilting (experimental). Have a say in the community poll; it is open to signed-in voters and never feeds these numbers.