LINCOLN- Last year, the costliest election ever recorded in Nebraska occurred, with around $29 million put toward the gubernatorial race alone. Although candidate Charles Herbster, a Trump-backed Republican, self-financed around 99% of his primary campaign, he still raised and spent around $13 million. The next highest tally was Gov. Pillen's campaign, which raised around $11.5 million in the gubernatorial primary.

Gov. Pillen benefitted greatly from donations from figures like former Gov. Ricketts, who gave around $100,000 as well as spending more than $3 million to create attacks ads against Herbster and Lindstrom, Pillen's Republican opponents in the primary. On the other side, Democratic candidate Carol Blood raised and spent around $636,000.

Lesser-known candidates in the gubernatorial race raised significant sums as well, with third-party candidate Dave Wright raising around $149,000 and Robert Borer raising $52,000. The only other candidate in Nebraska history to outraise Pillen was former Gov. Ricketts back in 2006, when he raised $13.4 million in his race against then-Sen. Ben Nelson.

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