2016 Nebraska Legislature election

2016 Nebraska Legislature election

← 2014 November 8, 2016 Officially nonpartisan 2018 →
25 out of 49 seats in the Nebraska Legislature 25 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Galen Hadley (term-limited) None Ernie Chambers (de facto) Party Republican Democratic Independent Leader since January 7, 2015 January 9, 2013 Leader's seat District 37 District 11 Last election 35 13 1 Seats after 31 16 1 Seat change 4 3   Fourth party   Leader Laura Ebke (de facto) Party Libertarian Leader since January 7, 2015 Leader's seat District 32 Last election 0 Seats after 1[a] Seat change
Speaker before election Galen Hadley Republican Elected Speaker Jim Scheer Republican

The 2016 Nebraska Legislature election was held on November 8, 2016, to determine which party would control the Nebraska Legislature for the following two years in the 105th Nebraska legislature. The 25 odd-numbered seats out of 49 seats in the Nebraska Legislature were up for election and the primary was held on May 10, 2016. Prior to the election, 35 seats were held by Republicans, 13 seats were held by Democrats and 1 seat was held by an Independent. The general election saw Democrats gaining 3 seats, this however meant that Republicans maintained their majority in the State Legislature.^[1][2]

Retirements

Democrats

1. District 5: Heath Mello was term-limited.
2. District 13: Tanya Cook was term-limited.
3. District 21: Ken Haar was term-limited.
4. District 41: Kate Sullivan was term-limited.

Republicans

1. District 17: Dave Bloomfield was term-limited.
2. District 25: Kathy Campbell was term-limited.
3. District 27: Colby Coash was term-limited.
4. District 35: Mike Gloor was term-limited.
5. District 37: Galen Hadley was term-limited.
6. District 39: Beau McCoy was term-limited.
7. District 47: Ken Schilz was term-limited.

Defeated incumbents

In primary

Republicans

1. District 7: Nicole Fox lost the primary to Democrats Tony Vargas and John Synowiecki.

In general

Republicans

1. District 3: Tommy Garrett lost re-election to Democrat Carol Blood.
2. District 15: David Schnoor lost re-election to Democrat Lynne Walz.
3. District 23: Jerry Johnson lost re-election to fellow Republican Bruce Bostelman.
4. District 33: Les Seiler lost re-election to fellow Republican Steve Halloran.
5. District 43: Al Davis lost re-election to fellow Republican Tom Brewer.

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 35, 0.66% (gain)
2. District 13, 2.32%
3. District 15, 2.78% (gain)
4. District 3, 3.12% (gain)
5. District 31, 4.14%
6. District 43, 4.52%
7. District 37, 6.52%
8. District 39, 9.74%

Results^[b]

District 1

District 1 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Watermeier (incumbent)	13,916	100.0%
Total votes			13,916	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 3

District 3 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carol Blood	7,959	51.56%
	Republican	Tommy Garrett (incumbent)	7,476	48.44%
Total votes			15,435	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 5

District 5 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mike McDonnell	7,120	70.16%
	Republican	Gilbert Ayala	3,028	29.84%
Total votes			10,148	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 7

District 7 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tony Vargas	5,244	61.75%
	Democratic	John Synowiecki	3,248	38.25%
Total votes			8,492	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 9

District 9 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sara Howard (incumbent)	10,552	79.19%
	Nonpartisan	Larry Roland	2,773	20.81%
Total votes			13,325	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 11

District 11 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Ernie Chambers (incumbent)	7,763	81.81%
	Nonpartisan	John Sciara	1,726	18.19%
Total votes			9,489	100.0%
	Independent hold

District 13

District 13 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Justin Wayne	6,920	51.16%
	Nonpartisan	Jill Brown	6,605	48.84%
Total votes			13,525	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 15

District 15 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lynne Walz	7,601	51.39%
	Republican	David Schnoor (incumbent)	7,189	48.61%
Total votes			14,790	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 17

District 17 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Joni Albrecht	6,825	60.53%
	Nonpartisan	Ardel Bengtson	4,451	39.47%
Total votes			11,276	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 19

District 19 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jim Scheer (incumbent)	12,908	100.0%
Total votes			12,908	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 21

District 21 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Hilgers	8,588	56.67%
	Nonpartisan	Larry Scherer	6,567	43.33%
Total votes			15,155	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 23

District 23 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bruce Bostelman	8,693	55.57%
	Republican	Jerry Johnson (incumbent)	6,950	44.43%
Total votes			15,643	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 25

District 25 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Suzanne Geist	12,899	55.70%
	Democratic	Jim Gordon	10,258	44.30%
Total votes			23,157	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 27

District 27 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Anna Wishart	9,930	74.93%
	Nonpartisan	Dick Clark	3,657	25.07%
Total votes			14,587	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 29

District 29 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kate Bolz (incumbent)	14,281	82.95%
	Nonpartisan	Melody Vaccaro	2,936	17.05%
Total votes			17,217	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 31

District 31 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Rick Kolowski (incumbent)	9,762	52.07%
	Nonpartisan	Ian Swanson	8,985	47.93%
Total votes			18,747	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 33

District 33 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Steve Halloran	9,164	60.22%
	Republican	Les Seiler (incumbent)	6,053	39.78%
Total votes			15,217	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 35

District 35 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dan Quick	5,743	50.33%
	Nonpartisan	Gregg Neuhaus	5,668	49.67%
Total votes			11,411	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 37

District 37 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Lowe	8,600	53.26%
	Nonpartisan	Bob Lammers	7,547	46.74%
Total votes			16,147	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 39

District 39 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lou Ann Linehan	11,729	54.87%
	Nonpartisan	Bill Armbrust	9,646	45.13%
Total votes			21,375	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 41

District 41 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tom Briese	14,080	100.0%
Total votes			14,080	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 43

District 43 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tom Brewer	9,169	52.26%
	Republican	Al Davis (incumbent)	8,376	47.74%
Total votes			17,545	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 45

District 45 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sue Crawford (incumbent)	8,774	56.58%
	Nonpartisan	Michael Cook	6,734	43.42%
Total votes			15,508	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 47

District 47 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Steve Erdman	10,739	67.25%
	Nonpartisan	Karl Elmshaeuser	5,230	32.75%
Total votes			15,969	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 49

District 49 election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Murante (incumbent)	15,137	100.0%
Total votes			15,137	100.0%
	Republican hold

Notes

1. Switched from Republican to Libertarian in 2016.
2. All Nebraska state legislative elections are technically non-partisan; therefore, parties listed here are from candidates' websites and official party endorsement lists. Candidates all appear on the ballot without party labels..

References

1. "Nebraska State Senate elections, 2016". ballotpedia.org. Retrieved December 6, 2025.
2. "General 2016 Canvass Book" (PDF). sos.nebraska.gov. Retrieved December 6, 2025.