Incumbent Jeff Fortenberry, Mike Flood, and John Weaver are running in the Republican primary for Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District on May 10, 2022. This is the first contested Republican primary in the district since 2014 and the first for Fortenberry after a 2021 federal indictment stemming from a 2016 campaign finance investigation.
A federal grand jury indicted Fortenberry on Oct. 19, 2021, after the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California alleged he lied to investigators during a 2016 investigation concerning illegal contributions made to his re-election campaign. Fortenberry said he was unaware that said contributions had been made and that he had cooperated with investigators. He pleaded not guilty on Oct. 20, 2021. The trial is slated to begin in March.
Media attention in the race has focused on Fortenberry and Flood, with the Lincoln Journal Star‘s Don Walton describing the matchup as “the first bigtime GOP contest in the eastern Nebraska congressional district since … 2004.”
