Nebraska set to have a second straight U.S. Senate election without both major parties on the ballot

Welcome to the Friday, July 24, 2026, Brew.

By: Briana Ryan

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. Nebraska set to have a second straight U.S. Senate election without both major parties on the ballot
2. 2026 statewide ballot measure certifications are within four of the full-cycle average, with three months to go
3. Rhode Island enacts three-year charter school moratorium

Nebraska set to have a second straight U.S. Senate election without both major parties on the ballot

Nebraska's U.S. Senate general election will not feature a Democrat after nominee Cindy Burbank (D) withdrew on July 17 — the 17th regular or special U.S. Senate election we identified since 2000 with no Democratic candidate, compared to four with no Republican candidate. Two of those elections with no Republican candidates were due to California's top-two primary system.

Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen (R) announced he would remove Burbank's name from the ballot on July 21. This move makes Nebraska the first state since the direct election of U.S. senators began in 1914 to hold two consecutive regular or special U.S. Senate elections with no Democratic candidate.

In the May 12 Democratic primary, Burbank defeated William Forbes (D) 90% to 10%. On her withdrawal, Burbank said, "I've looked at the numbers. I won't be your next senator. So I have withdrawn my bid for U.S. Senate." The three remaining candidates running in the general election are incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts (R), Mike Marvin (Legal Marijuana Now Party), and Dan Osborn (Nonpartisan).

Ricketts and Osborn previously ran in separate elections in 2024 for the U.S. Senate in Nebraska. Ricketts defeated Preston Love Jr. (D) in the special election 62.6% to 37.4%. Meanwhile, incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer (R) defeated Osborn in the general election 53.2% to 46.5%. The match-up between Fischer and Osborn was the first U.S. Senate election in Nebraska history not to include both a Democratic and a Republican candidate.

In the 2024 presidential election in Nebraska, Donald Trump (R) defeated Kamala Harris (D) 59.3% to 38.9%. Ricketts outperformed Trump that year, and Fischer underperformed Trump.

Osborn said he will not caucus with either party if elected. Ahead of this year's Democratic primary, Burbank's campaign website stated, "Osborn is a good man, a working man, a strike leader, and someone we can trust. He deserves a fair shot against Ricketts."

Burbank filed the withdrawal paperwork before the Aug. 3 deadline. Following Burbank's withdrawal, a representative for the secretary of state, said Evnen would consult with the Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) on whether Burbank should be allowed to withdraw.

Burbank is the 14th major-party U.S. Senate nominee to leave a race since 1976. In addition to Burbank, two other candidates left U.S. Senate elections this year: Graham Platner (D), who withdrew from the Maine general election on July 10, and then-incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who died on July 11.

There will be replacement candidates for the major parties in Maine and South Carolina — the most in a single year since 2002. However, it is unlikely that there will be one in Nebraska after the state's Democratic Party endorsed Osborn in August 2025.

According to Smart Politics' Eric Ostermeier, there are 20 states in which a Democratic and a Republican candidate have run in every U.S. Senate election since 1914. That was the year that the first U.S. Senate elections took place following the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment, which allowed for the direct election of U.S. senators.

In the other 30 states, there has been at least one U.S. Senate election that did not include either a Democratic or a Republican candidate.

Click here to read more about the general election for the U.S. Senate in Nebraska.

2026 statewide ballot measure certifications are within four of the full-cycle average, with three months to go

As of July 22, 149 measures have been certified for statewide ballots this year — more than the historical average of 128 at this point in even-numbered years from 2014 through 2024. From 2014 through 2024, an average of 153 statewide measures were certified in even-numbered years.

Over the past two weeks, 10 new measures were certified:

• Idaho Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act Initiative
• Washington Repeal Tax on Household Income Over $1 Million and Prohibit State and Local Taxes on Income Initiative
• Massachusetts Change State Tax Revenue Limit Initiative
• Massachusetts Eliminate Recreational Marijuana Sales and Allow Limited Possession Initiative
• Massachusetts Establish the Nature for All Fund Initiative
• Massachusetts Limit on Required Lot Size for Single-Family Homes Initiative
• Massachusetts Permit Collective Bargaining for Committee for Public Counsel Services Employees Initiative
• Massachusetts Permit Same-Day Voter Registration Initiative
• Massachusetts Public Records Requirements for Legislature and Governor’s Office Initiative
• Massachusetts Top-Two Primary Elections Initiative

Signatures are pending verification for 19 citizen initiatives:

• Arizona Proposition 212, Restrict Empowerment Scholarship Account Funds and Require State Board of Education Oversight Initiative
• Arkansas Fundamental Right to Initiative and Referendum and Citizen-Initiated Measures Process Amendment
• Colorado Cap Individual and Corporate Income Tax at 4.4% Initiative
• Colorado Require Plain Language and Eighth-Grade Reading Level for Ballot Measures Initiative
• Colorado Require Voter Identification Number for Mail-In Ballots Initiative
• Colorado Right to Hunt and Fish Initiative
• Colorado Right to Purchase and Sell Natural Gas for Cooking or Heating in Homes and Businesses Amendment
• Michigan Citizenship Verification and Voter Identification Initiative
• Michigan Utility and Government Contractor Campaign Finance Regulations Initiative
• Missouri Congressional Map Referendum
• Missouri Initiative and Referendum Powers and Legislative Change Requirements Amendment
• Montana CI-132, Require Nonpartisan Judicial Elections Initiative
• Montana CI-133, Add Right to Initiative and Referendum Power to Declaration of Rights Amendment
• Montana Initiative 194, Exclude Political Spending from Artificial Persons’ Charter Powers Initiative
• Nebraska Online Sports Betting Amendment
• Nebraska Regulate Online Sports Betting Initiative
• Nebraska Require a Four-Fifths Vote for Legislative Ballot Initiative Changes Amendment
• Nebraska Sex Requirement for School and College Sports Amendment
• Oregon Criminalize Hunting, Fishing, and Intentional Injury to Animals Initiative

One citizen initiative failed to qualify for the ballot after the campaign did not submit enough valid signatures:

• Idaho Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative

The next signature deadline is Aug. 3 in Colorado.

Click here for more information about the measures on statewide ballots this year.

Rhode Island enacts three-year charter school moratorium

On June 18, Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee (D) signed identical bills (S 2787 and H 7415) prohibiting the state's Council on Elementary and Secondary Education from approving the creation or expansion of any charter schools through the 2028-2029 school year. It also reduced the state's allowed number of charter schools from 35 to 28, and will prevent some previously approved charter schools from opening.

The moratorium applies to all three types of charter schools in Rhode Island: district charter schools, independent charter schools, and mayoral academies. Rhode Island has 66 school districts, at least 22 of which are charter schools that are classified as districts. Approximately 9.5% of Rhode Island's students attend charter schools.

When students transfer from traditional public schools to charter schools, their per-pupil local and state funding allocations are also transferred from their prior public school to the charter school. Rhode Island had a per-pupil expenditure of $22,110 in fiscal year 2024. New York spent the most per student at $30,012 in the same year, and Idaho spent the least at $11,056.

On June 4, the Rhode Island Senate passed S 2787 31-6 with one senator not voting. Thirty-one Democrats supported the bill, and two Democrats joined four Republicans in opposing it.

On June 10, the Rhode Island House of Representatives passed H 7415 60-12, with three representatives not voting. Fifty-four Democrats, five Republicans, and one independent supported the bill. Seven Democrats and five Republicans opposed it. On June 11, the state Senate passed H 7415 31-6.

House Education Committee Chair Rep. Joseph McNamara (D) supported the bill, saying that the state's education funding formula was not adequately funding public education, and that charter schools were taking too much money from traditional public schools.

McNamara said, "We desperately need a more equitable formula. This would give us time, because we cannot continue to develop, nor can we afford, to have two parallel school systems in the state… .It's financially impossible."

Kelsey Bala, Senior Policy Associate for Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, an education advocacy organization, opposed the bill, saying it would revoke the recent approval of expanded and newly established charters.

Bala said, "We know that many have concerns about how charter schools are funded … however, we do not agree that students and families that are seeking school options should be denied opportunities to a high-quality public charter school while we work to improve the funding formula and investment strategy."

Other states have instituted some form of a moratorium on charter schools. For example, California had a moratorium on new non-classroom-based charter schools from January 2020 to January 2026. According to the California Charter Schools Association, non-classroom-based charter schools "are schools in which students spend less than 80 percent of their time physically in the classroom."

Ballotpedia maintains research on school board authority and responsibilities in all 50 states, including on school board authority over charter school establishment.

Click here to read more about school board authority and constraints on school board authority in Rhode Island.