Top-two candidate election margins expand in Omaha legislative races
The top two legislative candidates across four crowded primary races in Omaha's District 11, top left; District 13, top right; District 5, bottom left; and District 7, bottom right. Nearly 500 provisional ballots remain to be counted in Douglas County. (Photos courtesy of the candidates; Capitol photo by Rebecca Gratz for the Nebraska Examiner)
OMAHA — With most early ballots from the Tuesday primary election counted in Nebraska’s largest county, the top two finishers in a tight legislative district race expanded their leads.
The Douglas County Election Commission counted more than 8,000 votes Friday morning, widening the leads for first and second finishers in north-central and southeastern legislative districts. The top two finishers in North Omaha and South Omaha districts also swapped places.
The commission said 465 provisional votes remain to be counted next week in Douglas County.
Jackie Ourada, a spokesperson for the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office, said about 1,500 provisional ballots are left to be reviewed and counted by next Thursday, May 23, which is not confined to Douglas County and the next largest, Lancaster County.
Those two counties alone counted 11,521 early voting ballots leftover from the day of the election this week, Ourada said.
North-central and North Omaha districts
At midday Friday, Ashlei Spivey expanded her five-vote lead in the north-central District 13 to 36 votes over Tracy Hightower-Henne. With 29 more votes to count next week, Nick Batter and Spivey led with 37.73% and 23.91% of votes tallied, respectively.
Hightower-Henne had 23.29% of votes tallied, and Matthew Clough had 14.52%. State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha currently represents the district.
Next door, in North Omaha’s District 11, State Sen. Terrell McKinney moved into first place coming out of the primary, but he was only three votes ahead of former State Sen. Ernie Chambers, who served in the Legislature for 46 years across two separate stints due to modern term limits.
McKinney held 44.32% of votes tallied, compared to Chambers’ 44.22% at midday Friday. At the end of Tuesday, Chambers had led McKinney by 21 votes.
In third was Calandra Cooper, who finished with 10.82% of the vote Friday, or with 327 votes. Thirty-six votes remain to be counted in the district.
Southeastern and South Omaha districts
The gap in the southeastern District 7 also widened for second-place finisher Tim Pendrell. He had a 26-vote lead over third-place finisher Ben Salazar on Tuesday night, which rose to 50 votes after Friday’s counting. Pendrell had 24.42% of the votes; Salazar had 22.18%.
Dunixi Guereca finished first with 33.83% of tallied votes, while Christopher Geary finished fourth, at 19% of votes, with 17 votes to be counted next week. State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha currently represents the district.
In South Omaha District 5, Margo Juarez, a member of the Omaha Schools Board, moved into first and was 61 votes ahead of Gilbert Ayala on Friday. Flint Harkness finished third with 26.09% of votes.
Juarez and Ayala will face off to succeed State Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha.
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