Ricketts and Osborn Locked in Unusual Race for US Senate Seat for Nebraska

OMAHA, Neb.—The race between incumbent Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts and independent Dan Osborn for Nebraska’s U.S. Senate seat has the makings of a heartland political thriller.

The intrigue started in last May’s primaries when Democrats accused the Republicans of putting a ruse candidate on the Democratic ballot to foil the Democrats’ plan to support an Independent.

Ricketts is running for his first six-year term. Gov. Jim Pillen appointed him in January 2023 to complete then-Sen. Ben Sasse’s term after he left office to become president of the University of Florida. Ricketts soundly defeated a Democratic challenger for the seat in a Special General Election in 2024. The term ends in January 2027.

Fuel Prices

Nebraska voters are concerned about the rising cost of living, especially higher prices for fuel. In a state that depends on agriculture for up to 44 percent of its economic output—according to the Nebraska Farm Bureau—the cost of diesel to keep farm equipment running is a major issue.

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the war in Iran have driven up the price of fuel, putting pressure on farmers and providing Osborn an opening he is working to exploit.

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Ricketts told The Epoch Times that Republicans averted a tax increase by passing the Working Families Tax Cuts Act of 2025, more commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. In addition, he noted no tax on tips and no tax on overtime as ways to provide financial relief to Nebraska families.

He said he supports the war with Iran and expects prices to moderate once the war is ended. He said stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon will benefit the world in the long term.

“Eighty-eight percent of seniors are not paying federal income tax on Social Security. We’re going to continue to look for ways [to save taxpayers money], like we did with the Road to 21st Century Housing Act. So we’re going to continue to look for ways to put more money back in people’s pockets,” Ricketts said.

Affordability is an issue that Osborn has hammered during his campaign. During town hall-style campaign stops, like one in Omaha on Oct. 14. in the back room of a Mexican restaurant, the Navy veteran and mechanic said he would work to bring people together to address the issues working people face.

Osborn said tariffs, along with the Iran war, amount to a tax on America’s working class. He said he wants to ensure the average citizen is represented in Washington.

“You add in the fact that anybody who’s putting gas in their cars or diesel fuel in their John Deeres, they’re really starting to rethink this whole thing. [Some Republicans] say ‘I hate my party right now, but I hate my party a little bit less than I hate the other party,’” Osborn told the group. “So, it is about trying to get past this tribalism.”

The Democratic Ticket

The campaign has included accusations of ballot chicanery. Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to sabotage their campaign by running one of their own in the Democratic primary.

Republicans responded by accusing the Democrats of attempting to fool the voters into supporting an independent who they say would vote like a Democrat.

Lutheran pastor William Forbes says he is a pro-life Democrat. Other Democrats doubt that. They say he voted for President Trump and has espoused conservative positions in his Sunday morning sermons at Paxton New Life Lutheran Church in Paxton, Nebraska.

A candidate’s website lists Forbes’s positions on various issues. The list includes strong border protection, fidelity to the Constitution, as well as support for religious freedom.

Forbes publicly denounced both parties, describing himself as a “real Democrat in the mold of JFK and Ben Nelson.” In a statement to KETV in Omaha, Forbes accused Ricketts of “destroying our safety net” and “pushing his extreme agenda.”

“It’s time for Nebraska Democrats to unite behind a real Democrat who puts Nebraska first,” he wrote.

When he declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination, party leadership snubbed him, having already decided to back Osborn, who they believe has the better chance of defeating Ricketts. They accused Forbes of being a Republican plant.

The Democratic strategy is to consolidate its base with independents and disaffected Republicans to build a majority sufficient to unseat the incumbent. But Osborn’s relationship with Democrats has not always been so cozy.

In a May 15, 2024, press release, Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb accused the independent of betrayal.

Kleeb wrote that Osborn had been in talks with the party about keeping its ballot open for the 2024 General Election for the U.S. Senate. According to Kleeb, Osborn ultimately went his own way. As a result, the Democrats had no viable candidate to challenge Republican incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer.

The Democrats were not pleased.

“We kept our word to Dan and now that he has betrayed that trust we will put forward a write-in candidate,” Kleeb wrote in a May 14, 2024, statement on the party’s webpage.

However, Osborn reclaimed some of his political luster when the final tally was announced. While he lost to Fischer, Osborn outperformed the Democrat who challenged Ricketts.

Osborn took 46.5 percent to Fisher’s 53.2 percent of the vote. Democrat Preston Love came away with 37.4 percent of the vote to Ricketts’ 62.6 percent.

Democrats decided to back Osborn in 2026. But with Forbes’s candidacy threatening to draw votes away from Osborn, the Democrats needed to do something. Then, along came Cindy Burbank.

On March 2, 2026, the 62-year-old retired pharmacy technician threw her hat into the Democratic ring, filing her statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission the next day.

Republicans successfully got her removed from the ballot for allegedly violating an oath the candidates agree to, stating they will serve if they are elected. Burbank sued, and the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that Burbank had violated no law and the Nebraska secretary of state had no legal grounds to remove her from the ballot. The court ordered her name restored.

From the beginning, Burbank voiced support for Osborn. She promised to withdraw from the race if she saw no path to victory, and she encouraged voters to support Osborn over Ricketts. The day after it was confirmed that Osborn had gathered enough signatures to be placed on the ballot, Burbank withdrew from the race.

“We were not going to be bullied and pushed around and let our Democratic voters and ballot line be hijacked by Ricketts and his billionaire buddies,” Kleeb wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

“They lost. We won.”

She said that whom Osborn chooses to caucus with is up to him. The independent’s positions on most issues generally mesh with the Democrats.

“The D.C. bubble might be obsessed with caucuses, but the people just want D.C. to get the work done for our families and communities,” Kleeb’s email reads.

Osborn has adamantly denied that he will side with one party or the other. Speaking in that Mexican restaurant on Oct. 14, he said Ricketts is the only one bound by partisan politics.

“It’s about talking about the campaign finance reform, the things that transcend the two parties that everybody can agree on, and the corruption and the grift and people enriching themselves. It’s both sides are doing it,” Osborn said. “There is a lot of folks that are just upset with the whole system. … I tell them the system’s working exactly the way it was designed to work—for them.”

Ricketts has two terms as Nebraska’s governor behind him and has been endorsed by President Donald Trump. He cites his record in Washington as proof that he can stand up for Nebraskans in a system often run by partisan politics.

Ricketts said the issues that Osborn hits on are real, and Republicans are addressing them. But, he says, there are other, larger challenges facing America that the GOP has also been dealing with.

“During the Biden administration, we saw 40-year high inflation. Grocery prices went up 20 percent and that put a lot of pressure on families’ budgets,” Ricketts said. “Gas prices came down. Now they’re back up again with the conflict.”

Ricketts said the prices will come down as the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran are dealt with.

“They’ve killed tens of thousands of their own people, and they would kill hundreds of thousands of ours. So we got to continue to keep the pressure on Iran and look for additional ways to continue to put more money back in people’s pockets, like we did with the Working Families Tax Cut, and like we did with the Road to the 21st Century Housing Act.”

Ricketts alleged that the independent’s blue tint extends well beyond his collar.

Ricketts told a group of 45 people during an Oct. 13 campaign stop in Norfolk that Osborn, whom he calls “Democrat Dan,” is not as independent as he claims.

“He was recruited by Democrat socialists. Democrats run his campaign. Democrats fund his campaign,” Ricketts said.