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Nebraska Public Service Commission Election

Primary Date: May 10, 2016

General Election Date: November 8, 2016

November Election Winner: Mary Ridder (R) Rod Johnson (R)

Incumbent Prior to Election: Jerry Vap (R) (Chair) Rod Johnson (R)

State Executive ElectionsTop Ballot None Down Ballot Public Service Commission

Nebraskaheld elections for two seats on thePublic Service Commission onNovember 8, 2016. IncumbentRod Johnson (R) of District 4 and Republican nomineeMary Ridder of District 5 were both unopposed in the general election. Republicans maintained their 4-1 majority on the commission.

Overview

Public service commissioners are responsible for regulating a variety of public utilities. The exact regulatory scope of the commissions varies from state to state. TheNebraska Public Service Commission regulates railroads, household goods and passenger carriers, telephone companies, grain warehouses, and the construction of manufactured homes.^[1]

TheNebraska Public Service Commission has five members who are elected from five districts across the state in partisan elections.^[1] Heading into the 2016 elections, Republicans had had a 4-1 seat majority on the commission for several years. Previous elections had favored Republicans in Districts 1, 3, 4, and 5, while Democrats had won District 2 for at least the past 20 years.

Districts 4 and 5 were up for election in 2016. These two districts cover 81 of Nebraska's 93 counties.^[2] District 4 has been held by incumbentRod Johnson since he was first elected commissioner in 1992. He ran for a fifth term on the commission. District 5 has been held by incumbentGerald L. Vap since his appointment in 2001. He was elected to full terms in 2004 and 2010 and ran unsuccessfully for a third full term on the commission. No Democratic candidates filed to run in either district, ensuring that Republicans held their 4-1 majority on the commission after the 2016 elections.

Nebraska Public Service Commission District map
Clickhere for the interactive map

Candidates

Clickshow to view candidates who were defeated in the primary
Tammy Cheatum(R) Most recent position: Teacher Past experience: Farmer Dakota Delka(R) Most recent position: Farmer

District 5

Clickshow to view candidates who were defeated in the primary
Gerald Vap(R) Most recent position: IncumbentPublic Service Commissioner - District 5 (since 2001) Past experience: Advisor to the chief of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Results

District 4

Rod Johnson ran unopposed in the Nebraska public service commission, District 4 election.

Nebraska Public Service Commission District 4, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Rod Johnson (unopposed)	100.00%	115,546
Total Votes				115,546

IncumbentRod Johnson defeatedTammy Cheatum andDakota Delka in the Republican primary for Public Service Commissioner, district 4.

Republican primary for Public Service Commissioner, district 4, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Rod JohnsonIncumbent	65.23%	23,978
Tammy Cheatum	21.37%	7,856
Dakota Delka	13.40%	4,926
Total Votes (404 of 404 precincts)		36,760
Source:Nebraska Secretary of State

District 5

Mary Ridder ran unopposed in the Nebraska public service commission, District 5 election.

Nebraska Public Service Commission District 5, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Mary Ridder (unopposed)	100.00%	123,335
Total Votes				123,335

Mary Ridder defeated incumbentGerald Vap in the Republican primary for Public Service Commissioner, district 5.

Republican primary for Public Service Commissioner, district 5, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mary Ridder	50.07%	21,818
Gerald VapIncumbent	49.93%	21,761
Total Votes (384 of 384 precincts)		43,579
Source:Nebraska Secretary of State

Context of the 2016 elections

Primary elections

Aprimary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. In Nebraska, participation rules for primaries vary by the office up for election. State legislative primaries use a nonpartisantop-two primary system in which any voter can participate. Congressional primaries are partisan, but an unaffiliated voter may vote in the congressional primary of their choice. For all other statewide offices, a state party can determine whether it will allow unaffiliated voters to vote in its primary.^[3]

As of October 2025, the Democratic Party held a semi-closed primary in which registered party members and unaffiliated voters could participate, and the Republican Party held a closed primary in which only registered party members could participate.^[4][5]

Campaigns

Campaign finance

Campaign media

Declared candidates' campaign and social media sites:

Tammy Cheatum campaign website

Incumbents

The incumbents were:^[6]

Authority

TheNebraska Constitution establishes the Public Service Commission inArticle IV, the Executive Department.

Under Article IV, Section 20:

Not known as the Public Service Commission until 1972, the PSC's roots date back to the Montana Railway Commission of 1885, created to regulate railroads. The railway commission lasted until 1887, when theNebraska Legislature created a state board of transportation. The law creating the board was found unconstitutional by a 1901 supreme court ruling. The legislature took over regulating railroads until the passage of a constitutional amendment in 1906 creating a three-member elected railway commission, with members serving six-year terms. Membership was increased to five in 1964, and the state was divided into five districts, each to elect a commissioner. The name was changed to the current Public Service Commission by a general election vote in 1972.^[1]

Qualifications

Qualifications for members of the Public Service Commission are outlined in the revised state statutes:^[8]

• Be resident citizens of the state
• Registered voters
• If members of or practitioners in any profession, in good standing according to the established standards of such profession
• Be a resident of the district from which he or she seeks election
• Be a resident of the district from which he or she is elected, removal from the district shall cause a vacancy in the office
• Cannot be directly or indirectly interested in any common carrier or jurisdictional utility in the state or out of it or who is in any way or manner pecuniarily interested in any common carrier
• Not hold any other office under the government of the United States, of Nebraska or any other state and shall not, while such commissioner, engage in any other occupation

Past elections

Public service commissioners are elected to six-year terms.

2014

See also:Nebraska down ballot state executive elections, 2014

Nebraska Public Service Commissioner, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Crystal Rhoades	56.6%	46,405
	Republican	John Sieler	43.4%	35,519
Total Votes				81,924
Election results viaNebraska Secretary of State

2012

See also:Nebraska state executive official elections, 2012

IncumbentsFrank Landis (R) andTim Schram (R) ran unopposed in both the primary election and the general election onNovember 6, 2012.

Nebraska Public Service Commission District 1 General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Frank LandisIncumbent	100%	114,019
Total Votes				114,019
Election results viaNebraska Secretary of State

Nebraska Public Service Commission District 3 General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tim SchramIncumbent	100%	127,390
Total Votes				127,390
Election results viaNebraska Secretary of State

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the termsNebraska Public Service Commissioner election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

State profile

Presidential voting pattern

See also:Presidential voting trends in Nebraska

Nebraskavoted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted forDonald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting forBarack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won thesePivot 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.^[9]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In2020, 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 asRetained Pivot Counties and those won byJoe Biden (D) asBoomerang 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
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• Endorsers in Nebraska
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• More...

See also

External links

Suggest a link

• Nebraska Public Service Commission

Footnotes

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