Flood, Smith advance to general to face Blood and Ebers

Nebraska voters in the state's 1st Congressional District, top row, will see a faceoff between two former colleagues: (top row) Democratic State Sen. Carol Blood and U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb. For Nebraska's 3rd Congressional District, Dan Ebers, a Democrat (lower left), will face U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb. (lower right). (Photos courtesy of the candidates; Capitol photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

BELLEVUE — Incumbent House Republicans had a big day Tuesday in Nebraska’s primary election after hearing months of complaints from GOP partisans saying they wanted change.

Republican U.S. Reps. Mike Flood and Adrian Smith both cruised to victory over lesser-funded, lesser-known GOP opponents. Flood led former gubernatorial candidate Michael Connelly 82%-18% as of 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Flood faces Democratic State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue in the 1st District general election. Blood lost a bid for governor in 2022 against Jim Pillen, then a University of Nebraska regent.

Flood, of Norfolk, embraced voter concerns about immigration enforcement that Democrats and others say are a long way from his less partisan past, when he served as Speaker of the Legislature.

Blood said the problem falls on Congress’ shoulders and is theirs to fix.

Flood ‘a Nebraska conservative’

Flood discounts the narrative that he’s somehow more conservative now than he was in the Legislature. He has said his style might be conservatism with a smile, but it’s still conservative.

Flood said he hasn’t changed, that he’s still “a Nebraska conservative from Madison County.” In the 2022 general election, he won 11 of the 12 counties in eastern Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, all except Lancaster County, home of Lincoln.

“I’m confident I’m in the mainstream of Nebraska Republicans and am doing a good job,” Flood said. “And I’m hopeful the votes tonight illustrate the same.”

Blood said Nebraskans need someone in Congress to “protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.” She said she learned to see policy over party while representing a GOP-leaning Sarpy County district in the Legislature.

“People are sick and tired of the hyper-partisanship and sticking to party lines and using that as an excuse for why they aren’t getting anything done,” Blood said. 

Smith wins again

Smith defeated Hastings discount store owner John Walz, 74%-19%. Walz’s bid embraced former President Donald Trump’s “MAGA approach” and was endorsed by the Nebraska Republican Party.

The State GOP endorsed none of Nebraska’s five all-Republican congressional delegation. And no members of the delegation sought the party’s endorsement.

But Smith, running for a tenth term, did what he has done in each of his more recent races for re-election, by pointing to his record of working to lower taxes and cut regulations.

“I always enjoy talking to people directly … on the front lines of the economy,” Smith said. “That’s what I’ve done. I’m gratified that it seems to be accepted on a night like tonight. I think we’ve made a positive difference. The path ahead, in terms of the direction for our country, is huge, and we can all achieve more together.”

Walz had said he wanted to give Republicans a choice of someone who would draw a harder line against Democrats and make the government more openly “Judeo-Christian.”

The third Republican in the race, Robert McCuiston, a welder from Holdrege, secured 7% of the vote. He was mayor of Tamora, Neb., for five years in the mid-1990s.

Ebers looks likely to win Dem nomination

Smith appears poised to face Democrat Daniel Ebers this fall. Ebers, who attended middle school with Smith in Gering, led David Else, a previous 3rd District candidate, 53%-47% as of 12:30 a.m.

Ebers, who moved to Lincoln recently from Cambridge, Neb., for his job in hotel management, has said he wanted to give voters a choice. He said his approach to governing would be more collaborative than Smith’s, he said.

Else, a rural Overton farmer known for criticizing Nebraska governors when calling in to their statewide radio shows, had argued that former President Donald Trump’s trade war with China has cost farmers. 

Both Democrats had said they want to give voters a choice. The Democratic nominee faces a steep climb in one of the country’s most conservative districts — 63% Republican and 18% Democrat. It includes central and western Nebraska and edges to the east.

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