Cherry County Results From 2026 Nebraska Primary Election May 12

KVSH Radio had election coverage live shortly after the polls closed Tuesday evening.

Out of 3,653 registered voters in Cherry County, just under 2,000 voted. 1,989 ballots were cast for a total voter turnout of 54.45%.

According to the unofficial results presented to KVSH News by Cherry County Clerk Samantha Leonard, local results are as follows,

For Cherry County Sheriff, two of the current deputies were running for office, hoping to replace current Sheriff Rusty Osburn who announced that he would retire at the end of the year after decades of service to the county. Erick Wickman finished the race with 1,123 votes. Max Renning got 579.

For Cherry County Commissioner, one incumbent and one challenger were pronounced the winners. Challenger Duane Kime got the most votes out of the field of 4 with 957 followed by incumbent Mike McConaughey with 846. Wade Andrews and Nina Nelson got 769 and 754 votes, respectively.

For Middle Niobrara NRD Representative At Large, Mark Monroe ended the night with the most votes, 721 to Jeff Ward's 638 and Tonny Beck's 243.

Unless a successful write-in campaign is conducted in the fall, this all but guarantees a win for Wickman for Sheriff, and Kime and McConaughey for county commissioner.

Other county-wide winners were Pete Ricketts for US Senate with 1,366 votes, and David Huebner for NE-3 Congress with 877 compared to incumbent Adrian Smith's 830 votes.

Pillen was the clear winner in the Governor's race in Cherry County with 1,057 votes. Scott Petersen won the Secretary of State's race locally with 921 votes to Bob Evnen's 623.

Statewide, Ricketts won the Republican primary for US Senate with 82% of the vote. Cindy Burbank will challenge Ricketts in the fall as well as independent challenger Dan Osburn.

Jim Pillen won the governor's race on the Republican ticket with 76% of the vote. Democrat Lynne Walz will challenge Pillen in the fall.

Across the state, Scott Petersen beat Bob Evnen in a tight race with 55% of the vote to Evnen's 45%. Sarah Slattery was the clear winner on the Democrat's ticket.

Statewide, the Secretary of State's office reported only 29.9% turnout, which is pretty typical for a mid-term primary.