2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Nebraska

The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Nebraska were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 and elected the three U.S. representatives from the state of Nebraska. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election and an election to the U.S. Senate. Primary elections were held on May 15, 2012.

Redistricting
A redistricting plan was passed by the Nebraska Legislature on May 24, 2011, after a five-hour Democratic-led filibuster was defeated. The plan signed into law by Republican Governor Dave Heineman.

District 1
Republican Jeff Fortenberry, who has represented Nebraska's 1st congressional district since 2005, did not run for the U.S. Senate, and is running for re-election.

Nominee

 * Jeff Fortenberry, incumbent U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary

 * Dennis Parker, former professional musician and candidate for the 3rd district in 2010,
 * Jessica Turek, writer and drummer

Nominee

 * Korey Reiman, attorney

Withdrawn

 * Robert Way, Army combat medic

District 2
Republican Lee Terry, who has represented Nebraska's 2nd congressional district since 1999, did not run for the U.S. Senate, and ran for re-election.

David Wasserman of The Cook Political Report rates the race as "Likely Republican."

Nominee

 * Lee Terry, incumbent U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary

 * Paul Anderson, employee of BNSF Railway
 * Glenn Freeman, former chairman of the Douglas County Republican Party
 * Jack Heidel, the chairman of the mathematics department at the University of Nebraska at Omaha;
 * Brett Lindstrom, a financial adviser and former Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback

Nominee

 * John Ewing, Douglas County Treasurer

Eliminated in primary

 * Gwen Howard, state senator

Declined

 * Howard Warren Buffett, director of the U.S. Department of Defense's agriculture development program in Iraq and Afghanistan and the grandson of investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett

Campaign
After his primary victory, Ewing promptly took a break from fundraising before starting up again at the end of June.By the end of the fundraising quarter had only raised $300,000 to Terry's $1.3 million. The Omaha World-Herald would later describe this is "perhaps the race's defining moment" and one that prevented Ewing from gaining much traction in the general election.

Terry's campaign also made mistakes, most notably releasing an ad that inaccurately quoted a nonprofit advocacy group.

Results
Despite receiving very little help from national Democrats, Ewing outperformed Obama and lost to Terry by just 4,197 votes.

District 3
Republican Adrian Smith, who has represented Nebraska's 3rd congressional district since 2007, is running for re-election.

Nominee

 * Adrian Smith, incumbent U.S. Representative

Eliminated in primary

 * Bob Lingenfelter, farmer and former NFL offensive lineman

Nominee

 * Mark Sullivan, farmer