Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District election, 2026 (May 12 Democratic primary)
|
← 2024
|
| Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District |
|---|
 |
| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: February 17, 2026 (incumbent) March 2, 2026 (non-incumbent) |
| Primary: May 12, 2026 General: November 3, 2026 |
| How to vote |
| Poll times:
8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Central time zone); 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Mountain time zone) |
| Race ratings |
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Tilt Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Democratic |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026 |
| See also |
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd Nebraska elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 |
A Democratic Party primary takes place on May 12, 2026, in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District to determine which Democratic candidate will run in the district's general election on November 3, 2026.
| Candidate filing deadline | Primary election | General election |
|---|---|---|
A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. In Nebraska, participation rules for primaries vary by the office up for election. State legislative primaries use a nonpartisan top-two primary system in which any voter can participate. Congressional primaries are partisan, but an unaffiliated voter may vote in the congressional primary of their choice. For all other statewide offices, a state party can determine whether it will allow unaffiliated voters to vote in its primary.[1]
As of October 2025, the Democratic Party held a semi-closed primary in which registered party members and unaffiliated voters could participate, and the Republican Party held a closed primary in which only registered party members could participate.[2][3]
This is one of 51 open races for the U.S. House of Representatives this year in which an incumbent is not running for re-election. Across the country, 21 Democrats and 30 Republicans are not running for re-election. In 2024, 45 incumbents — 24 Democrats and 21 Republicans — did not seek re-election.
This page focuses on Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District election, 2026 (May 12 Republican primary)
- Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District election, 2026
Candidates and election results
Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:
- Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
- Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies
Democratic primary
Democratic primary for U.S. House Nebraska District 2
The following candidates are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Nebraska District 2 on May 12, 2026.
Candidate | ||
Evangelos Argyrakis  | ||
 | Kishla Askins | |
 | John Cavanaugh | |
 | James Leuschen | |
 | Denise Powell | |
 | Crystal Rhoades | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Mark Johnston (D)
Candidate profiles
This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.
Do you have a photo that could go here? Click here to submit it for this profile!
Party: Democratic Party
Incumbent: No
Submitted Biography: "I am a former Immigration Attorney, who is focused on immigration reform. I strongly believe that it is time for comprehensive immigration reform legislation. The issue has been put into the forefront by president Donald Trump and something has to be done to address the situation, including a pathway to US Citizenship."
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Nebraska
Campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evangelos Argyrakis | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Kishla Askins | Democratic Party | $475,577 | $207,610 | $267,967 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| John Cavanaugh | Democratic Party | $674,114 | $263,115 | $410,998 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| James Leuschen | Democratic Party | $323,513 | $97,585 | $225,928 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Denise Powell | Democratic Party | $1,046,543 | $421,783 | $624,761 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Crystal Rhoades | Democratic Party | $112,611 | $77,478 | $35,133 | As of December 31, 2025 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
|||||
District analysis
Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.
- District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
- Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
- Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
- State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
Below is the district map in place for this election. Click the map below to enlarge it.
Partisan Voter Index
Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is D+3. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 3 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Nebraska's 2nd the 189th most Democratic district nationally.[4]
2020 presidential election results
The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.
Kamala Harris  | Donald Trump  |
|---|---|
| 52.0% | 47.0% |
Presidential voting history
- See also: Presidential election in Nebraska, 2024
Nebraska presidential election results (1900-2024)
- 6 Democratic wins
- 27 Republican wins
| Year | 1900 | 1904 | 1908 | 1912 | 1916 | 1920 | 1924 | 1928 | 1932 | 1936 | 1940 | 1944 | 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | 1968 | 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winning Party | R | R | D | D | D | R | R | R | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
Congressional delegation
The table below displays the partisan composition of Nebraska's congressional delegation as of October 2025.
| Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Nebraska | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | U.S. Senate | U.S. House | Total |
| Democratic | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Republican | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vacancies | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 2 | 3 | 5 |
State executive
The table below displays the officeholders in Nebraska's top four state executive offices as of October 2025.
| Office | Officeholder |
|---|---|
| Governor | Jim Pillen |
| Lieutenant Governor | Joe Kelly |
| Secretary of State | Bob Evnen |
| Attorney General | Mike Hilgers |
State legislature
Nebraska State Senate
| Party | As of October 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 14 | |
| Republican Party | 33 | |
| Other | 2 | |
| Vacancies | 0 | |
| Total | 49 | |
Trifecta control
Nebraska Party Control: 1992-2025
Seven years of Democratic trifectas • Twenty-seven years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
Ballot access
The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Nebraska in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Nebraska, click here.
| Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2026 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Office | Party | Signatures required | Filing fee | Filing deadline | Source |
| Nebraska | U.S. House | Ballot-qualified party | N/A | $1,740 | Incumbents: 2/17/2026, Non-incumbents: 3/2/2026 | Source |
| Nebraska | U.S. House | Unaffiliated | 20% of registered voters in the district who voted for president in 2020, or 2,000, whichever is less | $1,740 | Incumbents: 2/17/2026, Non-incumbents: 3/2/2026 | Source |
See also
- Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District election, 2026 (May 12 Republican primary)
- Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District election, 2026
- United States House elections in Nebraska, 2026 (May 12 Democratic primaries)
- United States House elections in Nebraska, 2026 (May 12 Republican primaries)
- United States House Democratic Party primaries, 2026
- United States House Republican Party primaries, 2026
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2026
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2026
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Nebraska Legislature, "Neb. Rev. Stat. § 32–912," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ Nebraska Secretary of State, "How nonpartisan voting works in Nebraska primary elections," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ Nebraska Democratic Party, "2026 Democratic Candidates," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2025 Cook PVI℠: District Map and List (119th Congress)," accessed July 1, 2025
