Much to the frustration of his opponents, Mr. Pillen skipped all of the televised debates during the primary campaign, opting instead to hold hundreds of small meetings with voters across the state. Mr. Pillen’s opponents argued that he lacked charisma and was not prepared to discuss the state’s issues; Mr. Pillen said he was building coalitions away from the prying eyes of the news media.
Mr. Lindstrom sought to rebuild the type of Republican coalitions that existed before Mr. Trump’s rise. He appealed to educated professionals in the state’s urban centers of Omaha and Lincoln and put political distance between himself and Mr. Trump — saying that the 2020 election was legitimate and that he would prefer “a new face” to lead the Republican Party in 2024.
While Mr. Lindstrom made a late charge in the polls, most of the race became a proxy fight between Mr. Ricketts and Mr. Trump, to whom Mr. Herbster yoked his political identity. He talked like Mr. Trump, adopted many of Mr. Trump’s policy positions and pledged to drain “the swamp” in Lincoln, the state capital.
In other Nebraska races, Mike Flood, a state senator from Norfolk who owns radio and television stations across the state, won the Republican nomination to the Lincoln-based congressional seat vacated by former Representative Jeff Fortenberry, who resigned after he was convicted of lying to the F.B.I. in a campaign finance investigation.
Mr. Flood defeated Mr. Fortenberry, who remained on the ballot but did not mount a campaign, and Curtis Huffman, an accountant.
Democrats in Omaha nominated Tony Vargas, a state senator, to face Representative Don Bacon, a moderate Republican who is seeking his fourth term. Mr. Vargas, the son of immigrants from Peru, is a former public-school teacher in Omaha who served on the city’s school board before he was elected to the Nebraska Legislature.
The House Democrats’ campaign arm is optimistic Mr. Vargas can be competitive in November, despite the difficult national environment for the party.