Mark Cohen runs nonpartisan bid for U.S. House in Nebraska’s 3rd District

NOV 28

NEBRASKA EXAMINER | BY: JUAN SALINAS II-NOVEMBER 25, 2025 5:00 AM

LINCOLN — Mark Cohen, a former Air Force attorney and karate instructor, is running a nonpartisan bid in Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District against U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith in the 2026 midterms.

The state’s rural, sprawling 3rd Congressional District includes central and western Nebraska and much of the state’s northeastern and southeastern edges. It’s one of the nation’s most conservative congressional districts by political party registration and voting history.

U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., talking at St. Teresa Catholic School in Lincoln on Sept. 29, 2025. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner)

Cohen’s bid comes after launching an exploratory committee in August. Smith already faces a Republican primary challenger in former U.S. Border Patrol agent David Huebner. Democrat Becky Stille, an agricultural lab tech, is running for the Democratic nomination.

Cohen, from Lemoyne near Lake McConaughy, said in a statement, “Nebraskans are fed up with a two-party system that forces us to choose between extremists.”

Cohen’s campaign website says he supports responsible gun rights, legalizing and regulating marijuana and ensuring that crops can be grown in Nebraska, because the agriculture sector is particularly vulnerable to climate change. He also wants to “require paper ballots in every election,” he wrote on his site, as he doesn’t “fully trust electronic voting machines,” and says he believes in regulated capitalism.

He said voters are “tired of a system that rewards politicians for speaking in sound bites … I won’t sit quietly while those who should represent us destroy agriculture and cut rural healthcare to give tax cuts to billionaires.”

Cohen added he “will represent rural Nebraskans, not party bosses or big donors.”

Smith campaign spokesman Chris Peterson has previously said Smith’s “conservative record reflects the priorities” of the 3rd District.

“Congressman Adrian Smith is a proven and trusted conservative fighting for Nebraskans alongside President Trump to secure the border and stop illegal immigration,” Peterson said.

Cohen would be another nonpartisan candidate in Nebraska’s 2026 election. Former Omaha labor leader Dan Osborn, a registered nonpartisan, is in a competitive race against Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts.