The previous incumbent lieutenant governor, Charles J. Warner, died on September 24, 1955, and thus the office of Nebraska Lieutenant Governor had been vacant for over a year when this election was held.[3] Under the Nebraska Constitution, Article IV, Section 18, this vacancy meant that Dwight W. Burney, as Speaker of the Nebraska Legislature from 1955 to 1956, was already second in line to become Governor of Nebraska before he was elected lieutenant governor in this election.[4]
Eight years after this election, the 1964 Nebraska gubernatorial election would also feature Dwight W. Burney as the Republican nominee facing Frank B. Morrison as the Democratic nominee, though in that election Morrison defeated Burney to become Governor of Nebraska.[5]
Stanley D. Long, realtor and pharmacist who served from 1927 to 1951 on the University of NebraskaBoard of Regents[6] and was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 1954
On May 15, 1956, Stanley D. Long, who had been the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 1954, won the Democratic primary to again become the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 1956.[1] However, on October 6, 1956, just one month before the election, Stanley D. Long died. On October 13, 1956, the Nebraska Democratic Central Committee selected Frank B. Morrison, former Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1948 and 1954, to replace him.[2]