Nebraska Attorney General election, 2022 (May 10 Republican primary)
- Primary date: May 10
- Mail-in registration deadline: April 22
- Online reg. deadline: April 22
- In-person reg. deadline: May 2
- Early voting starts: April 11
- Early voting ends: May 9
- Poll times: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Absentee/mail-in deadline: May 10
2026 →
← 2018
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| Nebraska Attorney General |
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| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: February 15, 2022/March 1, 2022 |
| Primary: May 10, 2022 General: November 8, 2022 Pre-election incumbent(s): Doug Peterson (Republican) |
| 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) Voting in Nebraska |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| Federal and state primary competitiveness State executive elections in 2022 Impact of term limits in 2022 State government trifectas State government triplexes Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2022 |
| Nebraska executive elections |
| Governor Lieutenant Governor |
A Republican Party primary took place on May 10, 2022, in Nebraska to determine which candidate would earn the right to run as the party's nominee in the state's attorney general election on November 8, 2022.
Mike Hilgers advanced from the Republican primary for Attorney General of Nebraska.
This page focuses on Nebraska's Republican Party Attorney General primary. For more in-depth information on Nebraska's Democratic Attorney General primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- Nebraska Attorney General election, 2022 (May 10 Democratic primary)
- Nebraska Attorney General election, 2022
Candidates and election results
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Attorney General of Nebraska
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mike Hilgers | 67.2 | 151,709 |
 | Jennifer Hicks  | 32.8 | 73,906 | |
| Total votes: 225,615 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
State profile
| Demographic data for Nebraska | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nebraska | U.S. | |
| Total population: | 1,893,765 | 316,515,021 |
| Land area (sq mi): | 76,824 | 3,531,905 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White: | 88.1% | 73.6% |
| Black/African American: | 4.7% | 12.6% |
| Asian: | 2% | 5.1% |
| Native American: | 0.9% | 0.8% |
| Pacific Islander: | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| Two or more: | 2.2% | 3% |
| Hispanic/Latino: | 10% | 17.1% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate: | 90.7% | 86.7% |
| College graduation rate: | 29.3% | 29.8% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income: | $52,997 | $53,889 |
| Persons below poverty level: | 14.6% | 11.3% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Nebraska. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | ||
Presidential voting pattern
- See also: Presidential voting trends in Nebraska
Nebraska voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.
Pivot Counties (2016)
Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, one is located in Nebraska, accounting for 0.5 percent of the total pivot counties.[1]
Pivot Counties (2020)
In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nebraska had one Retained Pivot County, 0.55 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.
More Nebraska coverage on Ballotpedia
- Elections in Nebraska
- United States congressional delegations from Nebraska
- Public policy in Nebraska
- Endorsers in Nebraska
- Nebraska fact checks
- More...
Election analysis
Click the tabs below to view information about demographics, past elections, and partisan control of the state.
- Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the state.
- Statewide elections - Information about recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections in the state.
- State partisanship - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
- Demographics - Information about the state's demographics and how they compare to the country as a whole.
Presidential elections
Cook PVI by congressional district
| Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index for Nebraska, 2022 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| District | Incumbent | Party | PVI |
| Nebraska's 1st | Mike Flood |  Republican |
R+9 |
| Nebraska's 2nd | Don Bacon | Republican |
Even |
| Nebraska's 3rd | Adrian Smith | Republican |
R+29 |
2020 presidential results by 2022 congressional district lines
| 2020 presidential results in congressional districts based on 2022 district lines, Nebraska[2] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| District | Joe Biden 
|
Donald Trump 
| ||
| Nebraska's 1st | 43.3% | 54.3% | ||
| Nebraska's 2nd | 52.2% | 45.8% | ||
| Nebraska's 3rd | 23.1% | 74.9% | ||
2012-2020
How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Below, four categories are used to describe each county's voting pattern over the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:
| County-level voting pattern categories | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | |||||||
| Status | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | ||||
| Solid Democratic | D | D | D | ||||
| Trending Democratic | R | D | D | ||||
| Battleground Democratic | D | R | D | ||||
| New Democratic | R | R | D | ||||
| Republican | |||||||
| Status | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | ||||
| Solid Republican | R | R | R | ||||
| Trending Republican | D | R | R | ||||
| Battleground Republican | R | D | R | ||||
| New Republican | D | D | R | ||||
Following the 2020 presidential election, 53.4% of Nebraskans lived in one of the state's 90 Solid Republican counties, which voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 46.2% lived in one of two Trending Democratic counties: Douglas and Lancaster. Overall, Nebraska was Solid Republican, having voted for Mitt Romney (R) in 2012, Donald Trump (R) in 2016, and Donald Trump (R) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in Nebraska following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.
| Nebraska county-level statistics, 2020 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solid Republican | 90 | 53.4% | |||||
| Trending Democratic | 2 | 46.2% | |||||
| Trending Republican | 1 | 0.3% | |||||
| Total voted Democratic | 2 | 46.2% | |||||
| Total voted Republican | 91 | 53.8% | |||||
Historical voting trends
Nebraska presidential election results (1900-2020)
- 6 Democratic wins
- 25 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Statewide elections
This section details the results of the five most recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections held in the state.
U.S. Senate elections
The table below details the vote in the five most recent U.S. Senate races in Nebraska.
| U.S. Senate election results in Nebraska | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race | Winner | Runner up |
| 2020 | 62.7% |
24.4%
|
| 2018 | 57.7% |
38.6%
|
| 2014 | 64.4% |
31.5%
|
| 2012 | 57.8% |
42.2%
|
| 2008 | 57.5% |
40.1%
|
| Average | 60.0 | 35.4 |
Gubernatorial elections
- See also: Governor of Nebraska
The table below details the vote in the five most recent gubernatorial elections in Nebraska.
| Gubernatorial election results in Nebraska | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race | Winner | Runner up |
| 2018 | 59.0% |
41.0%
|
| 2014 | 57.2% |
39.2%
|
| 2010 | 73.9% |
26.1%
|
| 2006 | 73.4% |
24.5%
|
| 2002 | 68.7% |
27.5%
|
| Average | 66.4 | 31.7 |
State partisanship
Congressional delegation
The table below displays the partisan composition of Nebraska's congressional delegation as of November 2022.
| Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Nebraska, November 2022 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 November 2022.
| State executive officials in Nebraska, November 2022 | |
|---|---|
| Office | Officeholder |
| Governor | Pete Ricketts
|
| Lieutenant Governor | Mike Foley
|
| Secretary of State | Bob Evnen
|
| Attorney General | Doug Peterson
|
State legislature
The table below highlights the partisan composition of the Nebraska State Senate as of November 2022.
Nebraska State Senate
| Party | As of November 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 17 | |
| Republican Party | 32 | |
| Independent | 0 | |
| Vacancies | 0 | |
| Total | 49 | |
Trifecta control
As of November 2022, Nebraska was a Republican trifecta, with a majority in the state legislature and control of the governorship. The table below displays the historical trifecta status of the state.
Nebraska Party Control: 1992-2022
Seven years of Democratic trifectas • Twenty-four years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
Demographics
The table below details demographic data in Nebraska and compares it to the broader United States as of 2019.
| Demographic Data for Nebraska | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nebraska | United States | |
| Population | 1,961,504 | 331,449,281 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 76,817 | 3,531,905 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White | 85.3% | 70.4% |
| Black/African American | 4.8% | 12.6% |
| Asian | 2.5% | 5.6% |
| Native American | 0.9% | 0.8% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| Other (single race) | 2.5% | 5.1% |
| Multiple | 3.9% | 5.2% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 11.2% | 18.2% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate | 91.6% | 88.5% |
| College graduation rate | 32.5% | 32.9% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income | $63,015 | $64,994 |
| Persons below poverty level | 10.4% | 12.8% |
| Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020). | ||
| **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | ||
See also
| Nebraska | State Executive Elections | News and Analysis |
|---|---|---|
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
- ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' presidential results by congressional district for 2020, 2016, and 2012," accessed September 9, 2022
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