$3.5 million and rising: Nebraska legislative races hit new spending records in primary election
LINCOLN — Candidates for the Nebraska Legislature spent a record total of $3.5 million competing for spots on the November ballot this year.
That's up 44% compared to the previous record for legislative primary election spending, set four years ago, and twice the amount spent a decade earlier, according to a World-Herald analysis of campaign finance reports filed with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.
Gavin Geis, executive director for Common Cause Nebraska, a government watchdog organization, called the new numbers shocking.
"Wow!" he said, upon learning the total. "It is always surprising how much the cost of campaigns goes up. The reality is we don't know where that ends."
Perre Neilan, a political consultant and strategist who owns Neilan Strategy Group, was startled as well but said the numbers fit what he's seeing in Nebraska politics, where Republicans are trying to win 33 legislative seats to gain a filibuster-proof majority and Democrats are trying to frustrate that goal.
"We're on the cusp of that 33-vote threshold so every election matters," he said. "It's pretty high stakes."
Spending in Nebraska legislative races has soared since 2012, when the Nebraska Supreme Court tossed out the state's Campaign Finance Limitation Act. The act had used incentives to encourage candidates to abide by voluntary spending limits. The state currently has no limits.
The World-Herald analysis combined candidates' spending in 2023, the year before the election, through mid-June, the end of the primary election reporting period.
Campaign spending records shattered
The analysis showed multiple records being broken this primary season. Not only was total spending on legislative primaries the highest in Nebraska history, the average spending set a record at $49,052 for each of the 73 legislative candidates.
Geis said the current average would have been considered relatively expensive 10 years ago. The 2014 primary was the first in which a candidate crossed the $100,000 mark. This year, 10 candidates spent more than $100,000 on their primaries.
The top spender this year was Tracy Hightower-Henne, who ran for northeast Omaha's District 13. She reported spending of $180,989 on her primary. But the record remains with State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, whose campaign poured $192,092 into his legislative primary four years ago. Bostar is unopposed in his bid for reelection this year.
Despite her spending, Hightower-Henne came in third and did not advance to the general election. She did not return messages seeking comment. Neilan said the outcome of her race shows that money doesn't guarantee an election victory, especially against candidates with a strong door-knocking campaign.
But candidates with money still generally outdo those without.
The higher spending candidate came in first in 17 of 24 contested legislative races this year and placed second in six others. Only one candidate did not make the cut. In one race, the lowest spender won. That was northeast Nebraska's District 17 contest where Mike Albrecht, the husband of current Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, got the most votes.
Spending in southeast Omaha's District 5 broke the mold, however. The four candidates in that race, including one who withdrew before the May 14 primary, spent a combined total of only $22,276.
Ricketts and Pillen add money to the races
The Nebraska Legislature is nonpartisan, meaning that candidates are elected and serve without party affiliation and political parties are not part of the legislative process. But partisan politics often comes into play during campaigns and, while candidates are not identified by party on the ballot, races frequently end up pitting Republicans against Democrats.
In past years, political parties, particularly the Nebraska Republican Party, have spent money supporting or opposing candidates. But Republican fundraising and spending plummeted after a leadership shift in July 2022.
In its wake, money from the state's last two Republican governors has increased in importance. Former Gov. Pete Ricketts and current Gov. Jim Pillen, who are both multimillionaires, have been active in backing candidates who support their political agendas.
Ricketts, now a U.S. senator, has become one of the top individual donors to political candidates and causes in the state. He donated $162,500 in the primary to like-minded Republican legislative candidates.
We Are Nebraska, an independent political action committee with ties to Gov. Jim Pillen's family, spent $99,388 to boost the campaigns of four Republican legislative candidates during the May primary.
Paul Landow, a political scientist on the University of Nebraska at Omaha faculty, said the partisan battles create a campaign spending "arms race," in which each side tries to win by outraising and outspending the other. He said campaign cost increases have far exceeded inflation.
"By the time it's all said and done, you just have astronomical spending," he said. "I think it only gets worse from here."
Landow said he believes the result is harmful to the system because it either limits candidates to those with deep pockets personally or requires them to seek money from special interests.
Geis agreed, saying the cost of running for the Legislature puts the office out of reach for many potentially good candidates.
"To me, it's always a question of what does that mean for the average person who wants to run for office," he said. "It's disheartening to know that people will not run because of the fundraising required."
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