Independent candidate Dan Osborn launched another Senate bid Tuesday vowing to defeat Republican Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts during the 2026 midterms.
Osborn, a former Omaha union leader with notable Democratic Party support, previously made an unsuccessful bid against Republican Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer last November — but managed to keep the race within single digits. Though Osborn made the contest against Fischer surprisingly competitive in the deep red state, his second Senate run could face steep hurdles due to Ricketts’ expected financial advantage, the state’s Republican leanings and anticipated attack ads that paint him as a Democrat masquerading as an independent.
Osborn significantly outperformed former Vice President Kamala Harris in Nebraska during the 2024 election cycle. While President Donald Trump defeated Harris in the state by over 20 percentage points, Osborn only lost to Fischer by less than a 7-point margin. The former union leader had then benefited from Democrats not fielding a candidate in the race and his campaign and affiliated groups receiving significant financial backing from Democratic megadonors and Senate Majority PAC, the leading Democratic super PAC in Senate races.
In the race against Ricketts, the Nebraska Democratic Party will support Osborn’s run, arguing that not fielding a candidate will boost Democrats’ chances of defeating the Republican incumbent. The state Democratic party’s decision to back Osborn comes as some Democratic strategists have argued that supporting left-leaning independents could help make up for the party’s toxic brand in red states and be the party’s best shot at defeating certain Republican incumbents.
“Breaking up the one-party stranglehold on our state is going to take an unlikely alliance of Democrats, Republicans and independents coming together to fix a very broken Washington, D.C,” Nebraska Democratic Party chairwoman Jane Kleeb told the New York Times.
Osborn is notably using ActBlue, a major Democratic Party fundraising platform, to collect donations for his campaign.
Ricketts, who previously served two terms as governor before joining the Senate in January 2023, is one of the wealthiest members in the upper chamber and a part of the family that owns the Chicago Cubs. Republican Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen appointed Ricketts to the Senate following the resignation of Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse to lead the University of Florida.
Osborn plans to use Ricketts’ wealth as a contrast to the mechanic’s working class background, calling the incumbent “Wall Street Pete” in a campaign announcement video.
Ricketts’ campaign immediately criticized Osborn’s campaign and affiliated groups receiving large donations from out-of-state Democratic donors and suggested the former union leader would caucus with Democrats if elected to the Senate.
“Senator Ricketts has consistently worked for and voted to secure the border and cut taxes for Nebraska workers, families, and seniors,” Will Coup, a Ricketts campaign spokesperson told Politico, referring to the incumbent’s support for Trump’s tax relief and immigration enforcement bill. “Dan Osborn is bought and paid for by his liberal, out-of-state, coastal donors. Dan Osborn will side with Chuck Schumer over Nebraska families and vote with Democrats to open the border, hike taxes, and stop the America First agenda.”
Fischer’s campaign frequently dinged Osborn for declining to say which party he would caucus with if elected to Washington. Osborn claimed that as an independent candidate he would form his own “independent caucus” despite the fact that all six independent senators who served in the last two decades caucused with Democrats. The last senator to caucus with neither party was former Independent Minnesota Sen. Dean Barkley, a placeholder appointee who served for two months in the early 2000s.
Osborn is renewing his pledge to not caucus with Republicans or Democrats in his run against Ricketts.
“If I have to bring a lawn chair and then pop it between the two aisles, that’s where I sit. I’ll eat lunch by myself,” Osborn told The Hill in an interview published Tuesday. “I want to challenge the system and show people that you could be an effective senator as an independent.”
Osborn announced in April that he was exploring another run to represent Nebraska in the upper chamber. Trump endorsed Ricketts’ reelection bid just hours later and characterized Osborn as a “Radical Left Open Border Extremist, who will put our Country, and Safety, LAST,” in a post on the social media platform, Truth Social.
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