When Dan Osborn ran for one of Nebraska’s two US Senate seats in 2024, the political unknown nearly upset the proverbial apple cart, coming in just 7 percentage points shy of beating Republican Deb Fischer in a state where Donald Trump won by 20 points.
Now, the political Independent and former mechanic is squaring up against senator and former governor Pete Ricketts, a Republican multimillionaire whose political platform has been defined as of late by his staunch opposition to medical marijuana laws.
Osborn quit his job as a steamfitter in April to focus on his second-chance run for Senate, pointing out that doing so could mean he ultimately loses his house in the prohibitively expensive process. In the meantime, Ricketts has received $350,000 in campaign contributions from the crypto industry and more than $863,000 from the AI industry to support his run.
So far, Osborn walks the walk. Integrity Index—a site run by the super PAC Political Integrity Project—grades political candidates based on the transparency of their fundraising and spending data to determine who’s “putting their personal interest over the people they represent.”
The site rated Osborn, who has raised $3.8 million in this election cycle, with an A grade. Ricketts, who’s raised about $4.9 million for the current race—plus additional funds through a separate joint fundraising committee called the Pete Ricketts Victory Fund—received an F.
The race is…complicated
As it currently stands, three candidates will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot for the Senate seat. Ricketts is running as a Republican, Mike Marvin won the Legal Marijuana Now nomination, and Cindy Burbank won the Democratic primary.
Osborn still has one more technical hurdle to overcome: getting his name on the ballot as an Independent. His campaign submitted 12,700 petition signatures to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s office on June 11—more than three times the 4,000 required—which will now be reviewed by state election officials. If they check out, Osborn will become the fourth candidate.
Or will he?
Burbank has said she launched her primary candidacy to block William Forbes—a pastor accused by Democrats of being a Ricketts plant to split the opposition vote in November. She successfully defeated him in the primary with 89.2% of the vote. But if Osborn makes the ballot, she’s pledged to drop out of the general election to support him. She has until Aug. 3 to formally withdraw.
Marvin has been accused by Republicans of planning to drop out and endorse Osborn as well, though he hasn’t said whether he’ll do so. He has, however, denied being a “plant.”
Two Republicans—former state Sen. Lydia Brasch and Derek Schwartz, a La Vista police officer who unsuccessfully ran for the state Legislature—have filed complaints with the Nebraska attorney general alleging that Burbank and Marvin committed perjury by swearing they intended to serve if elected when their actual plan was to clear the field for Osborn. An assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law said the complaints lack merit.
When filing to run, candidates sign a commitment that reads: “I hereby swear that I will abide by the laws of the State of Nebraska regarding the results of the primary and general elections, that I am a registered voter and qualified to be elected, and that I will serve if elected.”
In the meantime, Osborn has earned endorsements from the Nebraska Democratic Party and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Pete Ricketts (R)
Ricketts, a former Nebraska governor, is reportedly worth about $208 million. He, his siblings, and his father (who is a billionaire) bought the Chicago Cubs in a 2009 deal for $845 million. Ricketts served on their board until 2019, when he decided to focus on his role in office.
The Omaha native served as Nebraska’s 40th Governor from 2015-2023. He was then appointed to his Senate seat after the resignation of Ben Sasse, making this his first official run for Senate.
For years, Ricketts has repeated that legalizing medical marijuana is dangerous, going so far as to claim that “if you legalize marijuana, you’re gonna kill your kids. That’s what the data shows from around the country.” It’s unclear which data he was referring to.
He opposed the state’s medical marijuana initiative in 2020.
Ricketts is backed by the Nebraska Farm Bureau, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has campaigned for him.
Dan Osborn (Independent)
Osborn served in the US Navy as well as the Nebraska National Guard. He lives in Omaha, where he spent the latter half of his career working as a mechanic and union leader. He quit his job as a steamfitter for Grunwald Mechanical Contractors and Engineers in April to focus on the race.
In an interview with the Organized Money podcast, he said running for this year’s campaign as a “self-funder” has been so expensive, he could lose his house at the end of the race. He summed up adversaries like Ricketts who come from wealthier backgrounds as “lawyers, college professors, and business executives,” and counted himself among the “steam fitters, plumbers, carpenters, and lunch ladies” for whom running is fundamentally harder.
One of his primary goals is to “get the money out of politics” through campaign finance reform.
“If you want to work in DC, you have to take their money, and if you take their money, you have to do their bidding,” he said on the podcast, citing 2024 research from Duke and Loyola universities that said less than 2% of state legislators are from the working class.
After his last campaign for Senate, Osborn formed Working Class Heroes, a PAC aimed at helping other working class candidates run for office.
