Independent Dan Osborn makes another run at Nebraska Senate
Independent populist Dan Osborn, whose insurgent Senate campaign seriously threatened one of Nebraska’s Republicans from securing a third term last year, is now taking on GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts — one of the wealthiest members of Congress.
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Osborn, who has already met with state Democrats, announced his candidacy against the former Nebraska governor Tuesday via campaign video.
A Navy veteran and mechanic by trade, Osborn is aware he won’t be able to duplicate the out-of-nowhere grassroots campaign he deployed last cycle, when he outperformed Vice President Kamala Harris significantly in the state.
“There is no element of surprise [this time],” Osborn told POLITICO, adding that he expects Ricketts and his allies to “come out with a lot of money and go very negative right from the beginning.”
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National polling
hints at a growing discontent among independents, Democrats and some Republicans over Trump’s policies, including the passage of his megabill last week that critics predict will add trillions to the national deficit and boot millions off Medicaid.
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As POLITICO reported in November, Chuck Schumer
touted the race in a virtual rallydays before the election. The Senate Democratic campaign arm and its main allied super PAC
also made late donationsto Osborn or groups supporting him. Democrats didn’t recruit a candidate into the race last year and aren’t planning to do so next year either, giving Osborn a chance to carry Democrats and the state’s many independent voters, according to Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jane Kleeb.
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Kleeb said for Osborn to win, he’ll have to make up ground in Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District, which broke heavily for Fischer last cycle. She said it’s possible.
“We just think that there is so much anger at what is happening with all of the cuts, in particular in rural communities, that if there was ever an opening to win statewide, [2026] is the year.”
But Osborn vows to remain independent, saying: “I have no problem sitting at lunch by myself.”