Nebraska has a U.S. Senate situation which may sound similar to Georgia in 2020: Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts (both of whom are Republicans in this red state) are both up for re-election at the same time this November due to former Governor Ricketts being appointed to fill out the remainder of Ben Sasse's term after Sasse resigned.
Nebraska Democrats are only officially running a candidate against Ricketts for his partial (2-year) term: Professor & activist Preston Love. No Democrat filed to run against Deb Fischer for the states other full, 6-year term.
However, there's an independent candidate named Dan Osborn who has been running for some time now, and he appears to be gaining traction:
In Nebraska’s U.S. Senate race, something extraordinary is happening—Dan Osborn, a nonpartisan candidate, is gaining traction at the polls, attracting national media attention, and, most importantly, securing cross-over voters.
A former union president who led a 77-day strike at Kellogg’s in 2021, Osborn was fired from the company last year and is currently an apprentice for a local steamfitter’s union in Omaha. Now, the 48-year-old father of three is spending all of his free time outside his 40-hour workweek campaigning against incumbent GOP Sen. Deb Fischer.
Sitting in a cozy Irish bar in a strip mall on the outskirts of Omaha, Osborn, a formerly registered Democrat, went over his campaign platform with USA Today—a mix of conservative and liberal ideologies, including the legalization of medical cannabis, support for the Second Amendment, expansion of reproductive rights and making it easier for unions to organize.
Coming straight from a union meeting earlier that evening, the independent candidate explained over the chatter of a group of regulars at the bar that many Nebraskans want to see a person like them in Congress.
“There’s nobody like me in the United States Senate, somebody who goes to work every day, gets dirt underneath my fingernails, comes from the working class, who’s done it for over twenty years,” Osborn said holding a Tito’s and soda while Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” played in the background. “I want to be a voice for people like me that work for a living.”
Last month, Oborn’s grassroots campaign collected the 4,000 signatures needed to get on the November ballot as a nonpartisan candidate. According to the latest fundraising reports, the campaign raised $456,000 in the last fiscal quarter, which puts him at $609,00 in funds—more money than any independent candidate has ever raised in the state.
When I checked a few weeks ago, Osborn didn't have an ActBlue page; the donation page on his website directs people to donate via DonorBox, PayPal or Venmo, and as of this writing, the Nebraska Democratic Party's website doesn't list anyone as having been endorsed by them against Fischer.
HOWEVER, two important things happened today.
First, Osborn now has an active ActBlue account set up. This is significant because ActBlue requires nonpartisan candidates to be running in races "without Democratic candidates and with an official Democratic Party endorsement."
The full-term Nebraska Senate seat definitely meets the first half of this criteria. As for the second half, that's where the other development comes in: A tweet this morning from Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb:
Nebraska has two Senate candidates--both @OsbornForSenate and @Love4Senate--that are going directly to the people from all parties all across our state. One an Independent and one a Democrat who both **care** about working and middle-class families. Meanwhile, Fischer and… https://t.co/RyWd0HGAhA
— Jane Kleeb (@janekleeb) April 24, 2024
She was actually quote-tweeting Osborn's own tweet:
KNOP highlighted my visit to North Platte to visit with postal workers and fight against the boneheaded idea to to send out mail thru Denver. https://t.co/J2rCxtSFOq
— Dan Osborn, Independent for Senate (@OsbornForSenate) April 24, 2024
While the NE Dem website hasn't been updated yet and there's been no formal press release, this sure makes it sound like an endorsement is imminent. With that in mind, I'm adding Dan Osborn to my U.S. Senate fundraising page.
