STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Some other news. Yesterday was primary day in Nebraska and voters delivered a surprise. Both parties were choosing candidates for a Senate race.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: And the Republican primary started with a pattern that has become familiar. The leading candidate was backed by traditional Republican leaders but was challenged by another candidate with Tea Party support and a lot of outside money.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: It became a fierce campaign, but here's where the pattern was broken. Neither contender won.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: A third candidate, little known State Senator Deb Fischer, rose about it all.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: In that Republican-leaning state, she is now an earlier favorite against the Democrat, former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey. Democrats hold the Senate by just four seats and Nebraska is one of the states that could affect who wins the majority in November.
Nebraska state Senator Deb Fischer won the Republican nomination Tuesday to run for a U.S. Senate seat in November. She will face former Senator Bob Kerrey, a Democrat who represented the state from 1988-2000.