2000 United States Senate election in Nebraska
United states senate election
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The 2000 United States Senate election in Nebraska was held on November 7, 2000. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey retired after two terms in office, and Democrat Ben Nelson, a former two-term governor, won the open seat despite Republican nominee George W. Bush winning the state in the concurrent presidential election. This is the last time that Nebraska voted for a Senate candidate and a presidential candidate of different political parties.
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November 7, 2000
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 County results Nelson: 50–60% 60–70% Stenberg: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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Democratic primary
Candidates
- Ben Nelson, former Governor of Nebraska and 1996 Democratic nominee for the United States Senate
- Al Hamburg, perennial candidate
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ben Nelson | 105,661 | 92.12% | |
| Democratic | Al Hamburg | 8,482 | 7.39% | |
| Democratic | Write-ins | 558 | 0.49% | |
| Total votes | 114,701 | 100.00% | ||
Republican primary
Candidates
- Don Stenberg, Attorney General of Nebraska
- Scott Moore, Secretary of State of Nebraska
- David Hergert
- George Grogan
- John DeCamp, former State Senator
- Elliott Rustad
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Don Stenberg | 94,394 | 49.99% | |
| Republican | Scott Moore | 41,120 | 21.77% | |
| Republican | David Hergert | 32,228 | 17.07% | |
| Republican | George Grogan | 8,293 | 4.39% | |
| Republican | John DeCamp | 7,469 | 3.96% | |
| Republican | Elliott Rustad | 5,317 | 2.82% | |
| Republican | Write-ins | 21 | 0.01% | |
| Total votes | 188,842 | 100.00% | ||
General election
Candidates
- Ben Nelson (D), former Governor of Nebraska and 1996 Democratic nominee for the United States Senate
- Don Stenberg (R), Attorney General of Nebraska
Debates
- Complete video of debate, September 21, 2000
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ben Nelson | 353,093 | 51.00% | −3.78% | |
| Republican | Don Stenberg | 337,977 | 48.82% | +3.81% | |
| Write-in | 1,280 | 0.18% | — | ||
| Majority | 15,116 | 2.18% | −7.60% | ||
| Total votes | 692,350 | 100.00% | |||
| Democratic hold | |||||
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
- Burt (largest village: Tekamah)
- Box Butte (largest city: Alliance)
- Butler (largest city: David City)
- Clay (largest city: Sutton)
- Colfax (largest city: Schuyler)
- Furnas (largest city: Cambridge)
- Gosper (largest city: Elwood)
- Harlan (largest city: Alma)
- Hitchcock (largest city: Culbertson)
- Knox (largest city: Creighton)
- Kearney (largest city: Minden)
- Merrick (largest city: Central City)
- Nemaha (largest city: Auburn)
- Nance (largest city: Fullerton)
- Boone (largest city: Albion)
- Polk (largest city: Stromsburg)
- Richardson (largest city: Falls City)
- Sarpy (largest city: Bellevue)
- Thayer (largest city: Hebron)
- Washington (largest city: Blair)
- Franklin (largest city: Franklin)
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
- Lincoln (largest city: North Platte)
