Adrian Smith wins U.S. House District 3; Mike Flood clinches District 1
While the national spotlight focused on Omaha's tight District 2 race for the U.S. House of Representatives, incumbent Reps. Mike Flood and Adrian Smith, both Republicans, appeared to have won re-election in the contests for Districts 1 and 3.
District 1
Flood, of Norfolk, held a double-digit lead over Democrat Carol Blood of Bellevue in the race for the 1st Congressional District when the Associated Press called the race in his favor at 11:35 p.m. The 1st District is centered on the city of Lincoln and includes parts of 12 counties (among them, Cass and eastern Sarpy) in east-central Nebraska.
Flood, 49, is the owner of a communications firm. He served 10 years in the Nebraska Legislature and was speaker of the Legislature for six of those years.
Flood has served in Congress since June 28, 2022, when he defeated Democrat Patty Pansing Brooks 53% to 47% in a special election to fill a seat vacated when Jeff Fortenberry resigned. He defeated her 58% to 42% in a general-election rematch.
Blood, 63, also consults for a communications firm she started. She served on the Bellevue City Council for eight years and has served in the Nebraska Legislature since 2017. She lost to Jim Pillen in the race for governor in 2022.
District 3
Smith, of Gering, cruised to apparent victory in his race for a 10th term representing the 3rd District, comprising all or part of 80 Nebraska counties. He led his Democratic opponent, Daniel Ebers, by a more than 4-1 margin in the heavily Republican district. AP projected him the winner at 9:52 p.m.
Smith, 53, has worked in the housing industry and was elected to the Gering City Council in 1994. He served two terms in the Nebraska Legislature before his election to the House in 2006.
Smith serves on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and is co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Rural Caucus. He touted his work on trade and export issues, which are important in his agriculture-oriented district, and promoting telehealth.
Ebers, 53, ran a low-budget campaign in a longshot bid to win a district that has never elected a Democrat since adopting its current configuration in 1963. He had not previously held elective office.
Though he now lives in Lincoln because of a recent job transfer, he grew up in the Panhandle and later lived in McCook. He said he got into the race to ensure that Smith had a Democratic opponent.
Smith thanked his supporters at a GOP election-night party in Bellevue.
"There's not a day that goes by that I take for granted the opportunity to represent Nebraskans," he said.
World-Herald staff writer Jon Walker contributed to this story
; twitter.com/Steve Liewer
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