The 3rd Nebraska Congressional District seat encompasses the western three-fourths of the state; it is one of the largest non-at-large Congressional districts in the country, covering 65,000 square miles, two time zones and 68.5 counties. It includes Grand Island, Kearney, Hastings, North Platte, Scottsbluff and Columbus.

Nebraska has had at least three congressional districts since 1883. The district's current configuration dates from 1963, when Nebraska lost a seat as a result of the 1960 United States Census. At that time, most of the old 3rd and 4th districts were merged to form the new 3rd District.

The district is one of the most Republican districts in the nation. Democrats have only come close to winning this district twice as currently drawn--in 1974 and 2006, and Republican presidential and gubernatorial candidates routinely carry the district with margins of 70 percent or more. Although Nebraska's state legislature is elected on a nonpartisan basis, all but one state senator representing a significant portion of the district is known to be a Republican.

It is currently held by Republican Adrian M. Smith. The previous congressman, Tom Osborne, did not seek reelection in order to wage an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for governor of Nebraska.

Representative List

Congress	Representative
48th (1883-1885)	Edward K. Valentine
49th (1885-1887)	George W. E. Dorsey
50th (1887-1889)
51st (1889-1891)
52nd (1891-1893)	Omer Madison Kem (Populist)
53rd (1893-1895)	George de Rue Meiklejohn
54th (1895-1897)
55th (1897-1899)	Samuel Maxwell (Populist)
56th (1899-1901)	John Seaton Robinson
57th (1901-1903)
58th (1903-1905)	John J. McCarthy
59th (1905-1907)
60th (1907-1909)	John Frank Boyd
61st (1909-1911)	James P. Latta
62nd (1911-1913)
	Dan V. Stephens
63rd (1913-1915)
64th (1915-1917)
65th (1917-1919)
66th (1919-1921)	Robert E. Evans
67th (1921-1923)
68th (1923-1925)	Edgar Howard
69th (1925-1927)
70th (1927-1929)
71st (1929-1931)
72nd (1931-1933)
73rd (1933-1935)
74th (1935-1937)	Karl Stefan
75th (1937-1939)
76th (1939-1941)
77th (1941-1943)
78th (1943-1945)
79th (1945-1947)
80th (1947-1949)
81st (1949-1951)
82nd (1951-1953)
	Robert Dinsmore Harrison
83rd (1953-1955)
84th (1955-1957)
85th (1957-1959)
86th (1959-1961)	Lawrence Brock
87th (1961-1963)	Ralph F. Beermann
88th (1963-1965)	David T. Martin
89th (1965-1967)
90th (1967-1969)
91st (1969-1971)
92nd (1971-1973)
93rd (1973-1975)
94th (1975-1977)	Virginia Smith
95th (1977-1979)
96th (1979-1981)
97th (1981-1983)
98th (1983-1985)
99th (1985-1987)
100th (1987-1989)
101st (1989-1991)
102nd (1991-1993)	Bill Barrett
103rd (1993-1995)
104th (1995-1997)
105th (1997-1999)
106th (1999-2001)
107th (2001-2003)	Tom Osborne
108th (2003-2005)
109th (2005-2007)
110th (2007-Present)	Adrian M. Smith