Nebraskans head to the polls as Democrats vote in primaries ahead of House and Senate races

Candidates jostle to represent the second congressional district, and a Republican’s Senate seat looks ripe to flip

• US politics live – latest updates

Nebraska Democrats are bullish about Republican losses in the right-leaning Plains state – but their prospects depend on today’s Democratic primaries, which include accusations of planted candidates and inadvertently depriving Democrats of power.

A crowded Democratic primary in the state’s second congressional district, referred to as its “blue dot”, has focused around concerns that if a state senator wins, the Republican governor will replace him with a Republican who would help overturn Nebraska’s divided electoral college vote system.